WRITTEN QUESTION No. 486/98 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Enforceability of guidelines, as agreed at the informal Council in Ireland (November 1996), in structural fund programmes
Date: 1998-02-27
Institutions: European Parliament, HOWITT
Subjects: EU financing, EU programme, European Commission, Ireland, Structural Funds, adaptation of financial perspectives, financing method, ministerial meeting, regional policy, town and country planning

C 323/40

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

21. 10. 98

Does the Commission agree  that such  contracts agreed in  advance of negotiations about SPDs would ensure
higher levels of participation from organisations and individuals within regions as well as facilitating greater
congruence with existing regional economic development programmes, thereby ensuring maximum effective-
ness of the funds?

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

(6 April 1998)

The Commission considers that (cid:145)regional support contracts(cid:146) would risk duplicating the strengthened consultative
arrangements  already  proposed  by  the  Commission  for  the  period  after  1999.  These  arrangements  include
enlargement of the current definition of partnership to include regional, local and environmental authorities and
any  others  concerned  by  the  programme,  including  those  responsible  for  equality;  a  confirmation  of  the
application  of  this  principle  at  each  stage  of  the  programming  process;  the  Commission  to  appraise  each
development  plan  proposed,  taking  into  account  the  opinion  of  the  partners,  and  the  measures  proposed  for
associating them at Community support framework/single programming document level; and a clearer definition
of the roles and responsibilities of the partners in the field of monitoring and evaluation.

Under these proposals, all the partners would therefore participate throughout the programming process, up to
and including negotiations on actual programming documents and on any arrangements necessary for a smooth
transition from the current programming period to the new.

(98/C 323/51)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0486/98

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission

(27 February 1998)

Subject: Enforceability  of  guidelines,  as  agreed  at  the  informal  Council  in  Ireland  (November  1996),  in

structural fund programmes

What is the Commission(cid:146)s view on the extent to which these guidelines are obligatory for Member States and
individual project Monitoring Committees in delivering structural fund programmes and to which they provide
voluntary  guidance  only?  What  mechanisms  exist  for  the  Commission  to  enforce  the  guidelines,  and  what
sanctions are and can be imposed where guidelines are not followed? Does the Commission plan any changes in
this respect for the new structural fund programming period 1999-2006?

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

(6 April 1998)

The Commission has made clear that the purpose of the guidelines was to provide a general policy and priority
framework within which to make adjustments to current programmes. It would not be the intention to touch
projects which were already under way and being satisfactorily implemented. This approach was endorsed by the
informal  meeting  of  ministers  responsible  for  regional  policy  and  spatial  planning  held  in  Ireland  on
14-15 November 1996.

Part IV of the Commission(cid:146)s document (1) on this subject also states that it will be for the monitoring committees
and relevant authorities to decide what adjustments are needed to ensure maximum value for money from public
funds for the period to the end of 1999. Commission proposals for the new structural funds programming period
again provide for the issuing of guidelines at the start of the preparation for the new period in order to make sure
that the Commission(cid:146)s priority themes regarding regional policy are known in sufficient detail to be incorporated
adequately in the programming process at national level.

(1)  Priorities for the adjustment of structural fund programmes to the end of 1999 › Commission guidelines.