WRITTEN QUESTION E-3857/00

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Enlargement and regional policy: European territorial strategy (ETS)

After two years of negotiations with the applicant countries in the Luxembourg Group (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus) talks started last April on the application of the acquis of the structural funds (Chapter 21 of the negotiations) with the six countries in that group. In this context the European Parliament adopted a resolution in October this year (R5-0417/2000(1) of 4 October 2000) on the enlargement of the European Union, setting out the EP's requests with regard to the accession procedure and the negotiations being held on the subject.

Could the Council indicate the approximate timetable for the debate on Chapter 21, the stage reached in the negotiations and the progress made so far? Can it say roughly when it envisages starting the debate on Chapter 21 with the applicant countries in the Helsinki Group (Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Malta) in the context of the accession negotiations which began on 28 March this year?

In paragraph 109 of the EP's resolution on the enlargement of the EU Parliament considers that the European Spatial Development Perspective must be taken into account during the enlargement process, in a manner consistent with the subsidiarity principle, and tied clearly to regional policy, with a view to the reform of the Structural Funds in 2006, in order to provide an adequate response to the development needs of the enlarged Union, and calls on the Commission, in this connection, to analyse the impact of the enlargements on employment, cohesion and economic migration with a view to taking prompt measures to prevent the emergence of regional imbalances;.

Can the Council say to what extent it is taking this request into account in the accession procedure and its negotiations with the Luxembourg Group in the context of Chapter 21, particularly as regards the ETS?

How will the ETS promote the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the outer maritime regions currently under Objective 1 by combating the increase in the peripheral nature of these regions which enlargement will entail?

(1) Texts adopted of 4 October 2000, p. 1.

Joint answer to Written Questions E-3855/00 and E-3857/00

(8 March 2001)

With regard to the accession negotiations with Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia on Regional Policy, it has not yet been possible for the Union to take a position on a number of substantive issues, in particular regarding the Structural and Cohesion Funds. This is because the necessary information, in particular in the form of Community figures, is not yet available to decide on questions such as the eligibility of individual candidates for assistance from these Funds. As a result, such issues will have to be examined at a later stage of the negotiations. Consequently, the road map for the accession negotiations suggested by the Commission, and welcomed by the Council in its conclusions of 4 December 2000, provides for the Union to define, where appropriate, EU common positions on Regional Policy during the first half of 2002, including on outstanding substantive issues, with a view to the provisional closure of this chapter once the conditions are met.

As for Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria, with whom the Regional Policy chapter has not yet been opened, it should be recalled that the Feira European Council considered that it should be feasible to open negotiations in all areas of the acquis with the most advanced of these candidates as early as possible in 2001. As a result, the Swedish Presidency intends to open the Regional Policy chapter with Malta, Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania.

As is the case for all the chapters of the acquis under negotiation, the accession negotiations are carried out on the basis of the acquis in force. New acquis adopted before the conclusion of the negotiations will be taken into account as appropriate. As a result, the Council is unable to take a position, at this stage, on the other specific questions raised by the Honourable Parliamentarian. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the Council is keenly aware of the problems for social and economic cohesion raised by extending EU structural policies to new Member States, as has been underlined by the European Parliament.