WRITTEN QUESTION No. 476/98 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Consultation with local and regional partners in east and south-east England regarding structural fund reform
Date: 1998-02-27
Institutions: European Parliament, HOWITT
Subjects: Structural Funds, United Kingdom, consultation of information, local government, regional government, social partners

9. 10. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 310/71

(98/C 310/92)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0472/98

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission

(27 February 1998)

Subject: Negotiating period for SPDs in the new structural fund programming period 1999-2006

Does the Commission accept that an unacceptable cause of delayed starts for structural fund programmes during
1994-99  was  the  lengthy  period  of  negotiations  under  some  programmes  and  with  some  Member  States  for
approval of SPDs? Will the Commission provide a league table of the average time in respect of each Member
State  during  the  programming  periods  between  the  Commission(cid:146)s  publication  of  its  draft  SPD  and  final
agreement  with  the  Member  States  concerned?  What  measures  does  the  Commission  propose  to  tackle  this
problem in the new period 1999-2006? Could this include a target date for completion with a fixed mechanism
for arbitration if agreement is not reached in that period?

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

(6 April 1998)

The considerable volume of financial resources involved and the large number of draft programming documents
(cid:151)  some,  in  the  Commission(cid:146)s  view,  of  insufficient  quality  ›  meant  that  extra  time  was  needed  to  meet  the
quality criteria set out in the regulations, especially those requiring precise quantification of objectives, prior
appraisal of the expected impact, environmental information and compliance with the principle of additionality.

Since the single programming documents differ in their scope and intentions, the Commission does not consider
it appropriate to publish a (cid:145)league table(cid:146) by Member State comparing the times taken to reach final approval.

For  the  next  programming  period  the  Commission  will  do  everything  it  can  to  ensure  that  work  on  the  new
programmes starts as soon as possible and is conducted expeditiously. However, it is the legislator(cid:146)s decision on
the amounts of funding available which will determine the content of the programming documents to be drawn
up by the Member States and the date from which their preparation can begin.

Experience of previous programming periods shows that agreement between Commission and Member States
within  the  partnership  is  consistently  achieved  despite  the  sometimes  insufficient  quality  of  the  original
submissions. A situation of fundamental and irreconciliable disagreement on development priorities has not yet
been  encountered.  Because  it  is  essential  to  start  a  programming  period  with  sound  and  well-balanced
programming documents which will ensure that Community resources are used effectively and efficiently, it is in
the interests of both Commission and Member States to devote the necessary time and effort to ensuring that this
is  the  case.  The  Commission  does  not  therefore  feel  that  it  would  be  helpful  to  impose  a  deadline  on  their
preparation and approval.

(98/C 310/93)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0476/98

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission

(27 February 1998)

Subject: Consultation with local and regional partners in east and south-east England regarding structural fund

reform

Could the Commission list the contacts it has made with and the representations it has received from local and
regional agencies and social partners regarding reform of the structural funds from eastern and south-eastern
regions of England (outside London), since and at the time of the Cohesion Forum in April 1997? What further
consultations does the Commission plan in this respect?