WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3342/97 by Angela SIERRA GONZÁLEZ , María SORNOSA MARTÍNEZ to the Commission. Statements made by the Director-General for Regional Policy, Mr Landáburu, on the exclusion of the Canaries as an Objective 1 region
Date: 1997-10-22
Institutions: European Parliament, SIERRA GONZALEZ, SORNOSA MARTINEZ
Subjects: Canary Islands, EU financial instrument, European Investment Bank, Structural Funds, eligibility criteria, gross domestic product, local authority, peripheral region, terms for aid

C 134/142

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

30. 4. 98

(98/C 134/190)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3342/97

by Angela Sierra Gonza·lez (GUE/NGL)
and Mar(cid:14)·a Sornosa Mart(cid:14)·nez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(22 October 1997)

Subject: Statements made by the Director-General for Regional Policy, Mr Landa·buru, on the exclusion of the

Canaries as an Objective 1 region

Recently, during a conference on Europe and local authorities held by the Spanish Federation of Municipal and
Regional Authorities (FEMP), the European Commission(cid:146)s Director-General for Regional Policy said that the
Canaries might lose their status as an Objective 1 region next year.

He  based  his  statement  on  the  fact  that  the  GDP  of  the  Canaries  would  rise  above  75%  of  the  Community
average, set as the ceiling for Objective 1 regions in Council Regulation 2081/93 (1).

Mr Landa·buru said that the regions which may be excluded from Objective 1 (the Canaries, Cantabria and the
Region of Valencia) would be given a (cid:145)generous(cid:146) transitional period to allow them to adjust (cid:145)smoothly to the new
situation(cid:146). During this period they would continue to receive funding, but less and less.

However, Article 8 of the above-mentioned Regulation 2081/93 includes the Canaries under Objective 1 because
of  their  remote  location,  in  the  same  way  as  the  Azores,  Madeira  and  the  French  overseas  departments,  not
because their GDP is below the Community average.

Does this mean that the Commission intends to amend Article 8, deleting the reference to the Canaries, if they
exceed 75% of Community GDP in the near future?

Has the Commission assessed the need to take account of the special characteristics of the islands in order to keep
them under Objective 1 and the wording of Article 227(1) of the Treaty of Amsterdam on the outermost regions?

What would the programme of (cid:145)generous transition(cid:146) for the exclusion of the Objective 1 regions consist of and
how much would Community funding for the islands be reduced if they were excluded from Objective 1?

(1)  OJ L 193, 31.7.1993, p. 5.

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(13 November 1997)

The Commission plans to propose new structural Regulations at the beginning of 1998. The article concerning
Objective  1,  Article  8  of  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2052/88  on  the  tasks  of  the  Structural  Funds  and  their
effectiveness and on coordination of their activities between themselves and with the operations of the European
Investment Bank and the other existing financial instruments, as amended (1), will then be replaced by a new
article based on the guidelines given in the Agenda 2000 communication (2), in particular the statement that the
outermost regions, to which the Canary Islands belong, are to be eligible under Objective 1.

By proposing that the outermost regions should be eligible under Objective 1 for the next programming period
irrespective of their per capita gross domestic product (GDP), the Commission is taking account of the many
specific and permanent handicaps with which these regions are confronted.

The Commission can confirm that the transitional provisions it will propose for those regions which are currently
eligible under Objective 1 but which will soon cease to be so will involve generous long-term assistance, the
exact details of which will be laid down in the proposals for new Regulations on the Structural Funds.

(1)  OJ L 193, 31.7.1993.
(2)  COM(97) 2000 final.