WRITTEN QUESTION E-1795/01

by Michael Gahler (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(19 June 2001)

Subject: EU enlargement: fundamental impact on local and regional authorities in the acceding countries as implementing and authorising bodies need for new administrative structures and capacities

The incomplete implementation of EU law is being confirmed in every acceding country in annual progress reports by the EU Commission; the problems lie predominantly with local and regional structures. At the same time however the assimilation capacity of national administrations appears to be posing a growing problem. Attention has already been drawn to this by the EP, the CoR and national urban networks. One response to the situation has for example been the Local and Regional Partnership Programme (LRPP), an initiative that seeks to extend partnerships to include efforts to promote the implementation of EU law locally at other than national level.

1. What difficulties are responsible, in the Commission's view, for the fact that in the acceding countries regional and local measures are being implemented only in isolated instances, even although the 1999 Phare implementing provisions explicitly specify institution-building operations at regional level?

2. Does the Commission share the view that its current initiatives and mechanisms (partnerships, the new twinning light, Interreg IIIc, ISPA and Sapard) are insufficient to make good existing deficiencies in local and regional government capacities of the acceding countries? How is the Commission planning to strengthen local-government capacity for implementing EU law in the those countries?

3. Does the Commission recognise that the most approachable and least costly sources of experience in local and regional government for the acceding countries are their counterparts in the EU? Why is the Commission not actively supporting such partnerships by drawing on existing budget entries, as already called for by the EP in the Brok report A5-0250/2000, paragraph 106?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2001)

Regional and local authorities in candidate countries may have an important role to play in adopting and implementing the Acquis, depending on the structure of the country concerned. While the main effort for establishing and developing regional and local structures and for enhancing their capacities will need to come from the candidate countries themselves, all PHARE national programmes include a wide range of Institution Building measures, notably through twinning, and support to Investment in Economic and Social Cohesion, in line with the PHARE Guidelines of 13 October 1999(1). In border regions, regional and local authorities are actively involved in programming and implementing PHARE Cross Border Cooperation projects.

As PHARE is moving towards the Structural Funds, including decentralised management, and twinning was made more flexible and allows for shorter term assignments, reflecting regional and local authorities' needs, it is expected that these authorities' involvement in PHARE programmes will continue to increase.

The two other pre-accession assistance instruments Sapard and ISPA will also contribute to enhancing capacities at the local and regional level. Under ISPA, technical assistance will be made available to beneficiaries, including local institutions, to assist in enhancing their administrative capacity for managing projects in the fields of transport and environment, including supervision and financial control. This technical assistance will also help preparing to manage Community assistance for regional development becoming available upon accession. The Sapard programmes for agriculture and rural development, which are subject to fully decentralised management and follow rules similar to those applied to Member States, may also contribute to regional and local authorities' better knowledge and understanding of certain aspects of Community law, notably in relation with the Community Agricultural Policy, and help with preparation of administrative structures for Union accession.

The Commission has thus made available a wide range of pre-accession tools which will support candidate countries' own efforts to raise capacities at the regional and local level. Lastly, in the context of the Communication on Border Regions adopted by the Commission on 25 July 2001, it is envisaged to provide funding from Phare CBC for co-financing Interreg III C programmes, allowing regional and local authorities from member States and candidate countries to engage into networking and exchange of best practice in the course of 2002.

(1) SEC(1999) 1596 final.