WRITTEN QUESTION E-2625/99

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(12 January 2000)

Subject: EU funds for the earthquake in Umbria

Since September 1997, when an earthquake devastated Umbria, thousands of people who lost their homes in the earthquake have been living in containers. Reconstruction in the earthquake-stricken areas, with the exception of certain historic monuments, has not yet begun and local people, about to face another winter, are exhausted. The European Union has earmarked funds to help the people affected by this natural disaster.

Can the Commission answer the following:

1. Has it actually allocated funds to the Italian Government in respect of the above earthquake?

2. What is the amount of these funds?

3. For what precisely had these funds been earmarked?

4. For what were they actually used?

5. Will it set up a committee of inquiry on human rights to help the earthquake victims and to ascertain that the Community funds have actually been used for reconstruction and to help the displaced persons?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(17 February 2000)

By the Commission decisions of 4 August 1998 amending the decisions approving the single programming documents (SPDs) for Community structural assistance under Objective 5(b) in the Marche and Umbria Regions, the national authorities and the Commission provided for new operations under the SPDs

to contribute towards the reconstruction of areas affected by the 1997 earthquake. Those decisions granted additional financial resources amounting to EUR 500 million, of which EUR 325 million was for the SPD for the Umbria Region and EUR 175 million for the SPD for the Marche Region. Those resources were made available in particular through the solidarity of the other Italian regions, which agreed to reduce their share of the Community funds originally allocated to them. In the Region of Umbria alone, the contribution from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) amounts to EUR 190 million and that from the ERDF to EUR 102 million. The remainder, which is contributed by the European Social Fund (ESF), is for targeted training measures.

In the two Regions, assistance part-financed by the EAGGF is used for rebuilding the production potential of agriculture, reconstructing farmers' principal dwellings and rural infrastructure and restoring the architectural heritage in rural villages. Assistance part-financed by the ERDF is used in part for rebuilding non-agricultural production potential and reconstructing infrastructure for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and in part for rebuilding and restoring the public and private architectural heritage (integrated projects). Such operations are eligible solely in areas affected by the earthquake.

The Commission is kept constantly up to date on the way the Structural Funds are used thanks to the partnership system and in particular through Monitoring Committee meetings attended by its officials. At its latest meeting on 9 December 1999, the Monitoring Committee for the Umbria Region was told that the Region was in a position to commit the whole allocation within the time limit laid down.

Since reconstruction work will not be completed before the deadline on 31 December 2001, details of progress can be neither exhaustive nor final. However, according to a recent estimate, the Region has now selected and financed approximately 3 000 reconstruction projects, about one third of which are now under way. At this stage the Commission does not intend setting up a committee of inquiry and regards these measures as having been adequately monitored and inspected in accordance with the regulations governing the operations of the Structural Funds.