WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3466/97 by José GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL to the Commission. Agenda 2000: Spain, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic and the Cohesion Fund
Date: 1997-10-31
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, European Commission, Spain, Visegrad countries, accession to the European Union, coordination of aid, economic and social cohesion, eligibility criteria, enlargement of the Union, gross national product

16. 6. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 187/11

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission

(20 January 1998)

The  Commission(cid:146)s  statistics  show  that  staff  lodge  complaints  under  Article  90  of  the  Staff  Regulations  and
appeal  to  the  Court  of  First  Instance  without  any  substantial  quantitative  differences  regarding  places  of
employment. It is understandable in Ispra(cid:146)s case that Italians would avail themselves of these facilities more than
other nationalities as there is a higher representation of this nationality than any other in that organisation.

(98/C 187/14)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3465/97

by Jose· Garc(cid:14)·a-Margallo y Marfil (PPE) to the Commission

(31 October 1997)

Subject: Agenda 2000: Spain, the Czech Republic and the Cohesion Fund

The Agenda 2000 presented by the Commission on 15 July 1997 (COM(97) 2000 final) proposes to maintain the
Cohesion Fund in its present form, reaffirming thus that this Fund will continue to be the principal instrument to
help the less wealthy countries to pursue their efforts at economic recovery and convergence. At the same time,
however, it is stressed that the Cohesion Fund will constitute an instrument of great interest to future Member
States, the investment needs of which are considerable particularly in this regard, whilst provision is made for an
interim review of eligibility (at the mid-way point, i.e. in 2003) according to the criterion of a per capita GNP
below 90% of the Community average.

Although the meaning of the above seems to be that Member States which have major deficiencies as regards
infrastructure,  i.e.  the  peripheral  regions,  shall  continue  to  receive  the  same  level  of  aid  which  is  of  vital
importance to enable them to approach the level of development of more central Member States, it could be
interpreted in other ways.

What proportion of the Structural Fund would be allocated to Spain in 2003 in the event that the Czech Republic
were to be a Member State of the European Union, in view of the present macro-economic prospects of that
country, of Spain and of the other Member States of the Union?

(98/C 187/15)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3466/97

by Jose· Garc(cid:14)·a-Margallo y Marfil (PPE) to the Commission

(31 October 1997)

Subject: Agenda 2000: Spain, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic and the Cohesion Fund

The Agenda 2000 presented by the Commission on 15 July 1997 (COM(97) 2000 final) proposes to maintain the
Cohesion Fund in its present form, reaffirming thus that this Fund will continue to be the principal instrument to
help the less wealthy countries to pursue their efforts at economic recovery and convergence. At the same time,
however, it is stressed that the Cohesion Fund will constitute an instrument of great interest to future Member
States, the investment needs of which are considerable particularly in this regard, whilst provision is made for an
interim review of eligibility (at the mid-way point, i.e. in 2003) according to the criterion of a per capita GNP
below 90% of the Community average.

Although the meaning of the above seems to be that Member States which have major deficiencies as regards
infrastructure,  i.e.  the  peripheral  regions,  shall  continue  to  receive  the  same  level  of  aid  which  is  of  vital
importance to enable them to approach the level of development of more central Member States, it could be
interpreted in other ways.

What proportion of the Structural Fund would be allocated to Spain in 2003 in the event that Poland, Hungary
and  the  Czech  Republic  were  to  be  Member  States  of  the  European  Union,  in  view  of  the  present
macro-economic prospects of these countries, of Spain and of the other Member States of the Union?