WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1045/96 by Iñigo MÉNDEZ DE VIGO to the Commission. The Community Interreg II.C. and Regis II initiatives
Date: 1996-05-03
Institutions: European Parliament, MENDEZ DE VIGO
Subjects: Spain, Structural Funds, drought, economic development, environmental policy, regional development













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91996E1045

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1045/96 by Iñigo MÉNDEZ DE VIGO to the Commission. The Community Interreg II.C. and Regis II initiatives  


Official Journal C 385 , 19/12/1996 P. 0002 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1045/96 by Iñigo Méndez de Vigo (PPE) to the Commission (3 May 1996)Subject: The Community Interreg II.C. and Regis II initiativesOn 4 October 1995, the Commission decided to allocate the budgetary reserve for the Community Initiatives, estimated at ECU 1665 million.A third section was added to the Interreg II initiative (Interreg II.C.), endowed with ECU 415 million, with the objective of improving international cooperation on water management and helping create a more balanced European area in the field of spatial planning.Water shortages, inadequate rainfall measurement and over-exploitation of aquifers are only some of the more serious problems affecting the Canary Islands and the Commission should be aware of this situation.1. What possibility is there that the Commission might set up a programme analogous to Interreg II.C for non-frontier regions, with the purpose of fighting drought?2. What criteria has the Commission followed when allocating the Community Initiative reserve?3. Why has the Regis II initiative for ultra-peripheral regions not been increased?Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (5 June 1996)1. Unlike the Interreg II A initiative, Interreg II C is not designed solely for transborder regions and can cover any part of the Community. However, financing for regions not eligible under Objectives 1, 2, 5b and 6 of the structural funds must not be over half the total.All areas of Spain are therefore eligible for Interreg II aid. Part of the initiative includes measures to combat drought and it is up to the Spanish authorities to send proposals for eligible regions to the Commission.2. In accordance with Parliament's wishes, funding from the Community Initiative Reserve is primarily shared out along thematic lines. The three main areas on which the Commission based its proposal are industrial restructuring, human resources, and urban and rural development together with spatial planning.Account has also been taken of the guidelines set by the Edinburgh European Council and the spending limit for Objective 1. As a result, the proposal is:- to strengthen the four industrial initiatives (Retex, Rechar, Resider and Konver) and extend them to 1999;- to add two extra components - Emploi 'Integra' and Adapt 'a' - to the Emploi and Adapt initiatives;- to amend the guidelines for the Urban initiative and adopt a new initiative, Interreg II C.3. Given the above priority criteria for sharing out reserve funds, no extra money could be proposed for the Regis initiative. Significantly, however, funding for ultraperipheral areas under Objective 1 and the Regis II initiative for the period 1994-99 is more than double that allocated for the period 1989-93. In duly substantiated cases, these regions can also receive money from Community initiatives in their own Member States provided the total amount of funding for each is not exceeded.