WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4195/97 by José GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL to the Commission. Agenda 2000 and Objective 1: state aid 1993-1997
Date: 1998-01-21
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: State aid, Structural Funds, agricultural statistics, common agricultural policy, control of State aid, economic and social cohesion, economic statistics, regional aid

22. 6. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 196/99

(98/C 196/138)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4195/97

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

(21 January 1998)

Subject: Agenda 2000 and Objective 1: state aid 1993-1997

At the end of November the Director-General of Regional Policy and Cohesion, Eneko Landa¤buru, suggested, in
the presence of press representatives, that 11 European regions, including Valencia (Spain), were to lose their
Objective  1  status  under  the  terms  of  the  Commission  proposals  to  reduce  the  Structural  Funds  before  the
accession of new Member States.

Mr  Landa¤buru(cid:146)s  calculations  were  based  on  the  provisional  data  currently  available  to  the  Commission.
However,  in  the  specific  case  of  Valencia,  official  Eurostat  statistics  show  that,  in  1993,  the  Valencia
Autonomous Community(cid:146)s GDP was 74.9% of the European average and that, in 1994, the figure was even lower
(73.6%). The threshold for Objective 1 eligibility is 75%, hence there are no grounds for supposing that Valencia
is going to fail the eligibility test in the near future.

Should  the  average  income  of  the  various  regions  during  the  1993-1997  period  be  taken  as  the  criterion  for
calculating GDP, it is important that the macro-economic data for each region should be known for all of the
years concerned.

How much state aid was granted in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 to the 15 Member States and the following
regions:

›  Anatolia, Macedonia, Thessaly, Crete, Pelopennese, Central Greece, Ipiros, Attica, Ionian Islands, Aegean,

Sterea (Greece)

›  Hainaut (Belgium)

›  Thuringia, Brandenburg, East Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Munster (Germany)

›  Galicia,  Extremadura,  Castilla  la  Mancha,  Castilla  y  Leon,  Ceuta  and  Melilla,  Valencia  Autonomous

Community, Asturias, Andalusia, Canary Islands, Murcia (Spain)

›  Valenciennes, Avesnes, Douai, Overseas Departments (France)

›  Ulster, Connaught, Leinster (Ireland)

›  Molise, Apulia, Sicily, Basilicata, Sardinia, Calabria, Campania (Italy)

›  Flevoland (Netherlands)

›  Burgerland (Austria)

›  Northern Region, Alentejo, Algarve, Lisbon, Tagus Valley, Central Region (Portugal)

›  Western Isles, Highlands, Merseyside, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)?

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission

(18 February 1998)

The Honourable Member will find below the available aggregate figures for state aid granted under national
regional aid schemes (Article 92(3)(a) of the EC Treaty):

Annual average for the period 1992-94 (in MECU)

B

DK

D

GR

E

F

IRL

I

L

NL

P

UK

EUR 12

0

0

11 666

217

56

515

343

5 742

0

0

151

244

18 933

The figures for subsequent years are not yet available. The Commission would inform the Honourable Member
that  it  is  not  provided  with  a  regional  breakdown  of  aid  granted  under  horizontal  schemes  such  as  those  for
research and development (R&D) and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).