WRITTEN QUESTION No. 484/98 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Transitional arrangements for KONVER areas losing eligibility after 1999
Date: 1998-02-27
Institutions: European Parliament, HOWITT
Subjects: European Regional Development Fund, Structural Funds, arms industry, eligibility criteria, eligible region, industrial conversion

2. 10. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 304/115

In  order  to  promote  diversity  based  on  assessment  of  need  by  local  partnerships  within  eligible  regions,  the
Commission has ensured that regional SPDs are developed on the basis of genuinely regional plans developed by
the partnerships concerned. Each programme is then overseen by its own monitoring committee, which includes
local authorities and other relevant economic actors at the regional level, and each monitoring committee has
devised  its  own  administrative  processes  and  project  selection  criteria.  In  this  context,  the  Commission
welcomes the decision of the United Kingdom government to extend membership of the programme monitoring
committees to social partners. The Commission attaches great importance to the regional identity of structural
funds  programmes  and  their  local  ownership.  Where  possible,  the  Commission  encourages  a  bottom-up
approach to the development of solutions to local economic and employment problems and in many instances the
development of local strategies, e.g. for business support, is a prerequisite for aid.

The production of guidelines for the application of the structural funds is an important tool for ensuring a focus
on  core  European  issues  while  addressing  local  needs.  The  Commission  does  not  agree  that  they  should  be
abandoned.  For  instance,  priorities  defined  by  the  European  Council  in  Madrid  in  November  1995  were
subsequently  developed  into  the  guidelines  which  informed  the  Commission(cid:146)s  general  approach  to  the
negotiation of all objective 2 SPDs in 1996-1997. The guidelines were essential in the production of regional
frameworks which match local needs to Community priorities, and each of the new programmes in the United
Kingdom contains a specific chapter identifying how priorities have been taken into account in the local process.

(98/C 304/172)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0484/98

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission

(27 February 1998)

Subject: Transitional arrangements for KONVER areas losing eligibility after 1999

Given the fact that fifty per cent of the designated areas for the KONVER Community Initiative Europe-wide fall
outside eligible areas under mainstream ERDF programmes, will the Commission consider funding transitional
arrangements for such areas which are no longer eligible within the new Structural Fund programmes after 1999?
If not, what explanation can the Commission give for treating such areas different from Objective 2 areas which
lose eligibility but which are intended to benefit from transitional arrangements?

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

(31 March 1998)

The Commission guidelines on the Community Konver initiative, published in 1994 (1), permit Member States to
propose areas not eligible for support under the Structural Funds › provided that the percentage of such areas
does not exceed 50% of the total Community contribution.

In terms of the Community contribution, the published list of eligible areas (2) proposes only around 35% of areas
not eligible for support under the Structural Funds.

Moreover, under the review of the Structural Funds, the Commission envisages permitting a transitional period
only for areas which are currently eligible under Objectives 1 and 2 and which would no longer be so during the
period 2000-2006. Thus eligibility is a prerequisite for a transitional period, and areas not eligible would not be
entitled to such a period.

However,  areas  falling  outside  Objectives  1  and  2  could  be  covered  by  the  new  Objective  3  measures.  The
purpose  of  this  Objective  is  to  develop  measures  to  modernise  the  labour  markets  in  coordination  with  the
multi-annual employment plans and the new chapter on employment in the Treaty of Amsterdam. Priority will
also be accorded to measures aimed at adapting and modernising systems of education, training and employment
with a view to increasing the Community economy(cid:146)s competitiveness and to providing support for the economic
and social changes throughout the EU.

(1)  OJ C 180, 1.7.1994.
(2)  OJ C 402, 31.12.1994.