EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/438

(2004/C 88 E/0444)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2796/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(19 September 2003)

Subject: Uncertainties regarding the need for financial compensation by national authorities for regional projects no longer receiving EU regional funding after 2006

1. Can the Commission confirm that, with regard to the EU Structural Funds, in the near future a choice will have to be made between two options: (a) a preference on the part of the current beneficiary regions for strong growth, in order to be able both to preserve the existing grants and to pay for major projects in new Member States, and (b) a preference on the part of some Member States for stabilising the current level of expenditure and, in future, assigning priority in projects to solidarity and internal EU development aid for the most disadvantaged regions in the present and future Member States with the lowest per capita Gross National Product?

2. Is the Commission aware that in the Netherlands, pending the decision between these options, a difference of opinion is arising between the north-eastern provinces, which expect to be able to continue to draw on the Structural Funds after 2006, and the government, which considers it probable and desirable that such regions in more affluent Member States will then no longer be eligible for aid? Is the Commission aware whether there are other regions in the EU where uncertainty about the amount of funding available from the Structural Funds and its mode of deployment after 2006 is giving rise to such differences of opinion and problems in the preparation of projects?

3. Does the Commission agree that it is desirable that the Member States and their regional or local authorities should be promptly informed about the amount of future EU cofinancing and the need for national authorities to compensate regional and local authorities financially for the loss of EU grants (‘renationalisation’), to enable them to draw up multiannual financial estimates and formulate policies for regional projects in and after 2006?

4. How will the Commission inform all authorities concerned as quickly as possible about the amount of money which will be available from the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund in future, how it will be allocated and what regions in the present Member States will or will not again be eligible for such funding after 2006?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(22 October 2003)

The Commission is currently in the process of formulating proposals for reforming regional and cohesion policies for the post-2006 period. These proposals will be made in the Third Cohesion report, which should be adopted by the end of 2003. The proposals will be consistent with the global proposals on the new financial perspectives covering the same period, which also need to be decided. It is therefore too early to speculate on the nature of the Commission's proposals in the field of regional and cohesion policy, although it can be said that the options for the future are not necessarily limited to the two mentioned by the Honourable Member.

The Commission is aware of the debate taking place in the Netherlands, and other Member States. A stable planning framework for regional policy is clearly important, which is why the proposals on the future are being drawn up for the attention of the Parliament and the Council at the earliest possible moment.

The aim is to decide the new regulations in sufficient time to allow Member States, regional and local authorities to prepare a new generation of programmes for implementation from the beginning of 2007.

Decisions on the eligibility of regions and on financial allocations must follow the adoption of the new regulations. Where the decisions are the responsibility of the Commission, they will be taken as quickly as possible, and the results published in the Official Journal.