WRITTEN QUESTION P-3401/97 by José Pomés Ruiz (PPE) to the Commission (16 October 1997)

Subject: Situation concerning projects

Pamplona, the capital of the autonomous community of Navarre in Spain, is a city increasingly afflicted by structural unemployment, surrounded by a largely rural hinterland where economic opportunities are few.

A number of projects, which would be of major benefit in terms of economic support for the area, have been submitted for approval by the Commission.

Can the Commission provide information on the state of the dossiers concerning the city of Pamplona and the other proposed projects for the Navarre region of Spain?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf- Mathies on behalf of the Commission (14 November 1997)

For information on assistance from the Structural Funds in 1994-99 in the region of the Navarre, the Commission would ask the Honourable Member to refer to its answer to written question E- 2102/97 from Mr Campoy Zueco ((OJ C 60, 25.2.1998, p. 97. )).

With regard more specifically to the municipality of Pamplona, the districts of La Milagrosa, Chantrea/Orvina and Rochapea/San Jorge are eligible for assistance from the European Regional Development Fund under Objective 2, which covers a population of 67 000 (out of a total of 180 000 according to the data from the census of 1991) and a surface area of 14 square kilometres.

The concrete projects part-financed by the ERDF in Pamplona during the period as part of regionalised schemes (current or finished) are those in the Objective 2 operational programme for 1994-96 and are as follows:

- aid for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in these districts, in accord with the procedures laid down by the regional authorities and involving production equipment for manufacturing companies (either reduced interest on loans or grants-in-aid), equipping and rehabilitating tourist businesses, and promoting quality and the design (measures 1.1, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 under this priority);

- constructing and fitting out glasshouses, workshops and trial plots at the agricultural college (measure 3.1);

- equipping of laboratories in the colleges of industrial engineering and telecommunications engineering (measure 3.2);

- rehabilitation of track at the railway station (RENFE) (measure 4.2).

The projects part-financed under the Cohesion Fund in the region of Navarre are as follows:

- a water treatment plant at Eguillor: a project to provide water supply to Pamplona worth ECU 1 146 000;

- a sewage treatment plant at Arazuri Comarque de Pamplona worth ECU 18 911 662;

- solid waste recycling at Ribera-Tudela, worth ECU 2 485 310;

- the trunk road 121-A Port de Velate, worth ECU 24 154 308;

- a project involving technical assistance towards industrial discharges in Navarre, worth ECU 492 954.

The following projects concern several regions of Spain, including Navarre:

- Pichra: a project involving an integrated plan for the river basin, including water management and forestry restoration work, conservation of the soil and regularisation of water courses;

- reforestation and an additional work to fight against erosion and desertification as well as to help the regeneration of ecosystems damaged by fires in the catchment area of the Ebro, worth ECU 15 352 436.

The Honourable Member is reminded that summaries of the decisions granting Cohesion Fund assistance are published in the Official Journal.