WRITTEN QUESTION No. 485/98 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Continuity and change in eligible areas between different structural fund programming periods
Date: 1998-02-27
Institutions: European Parliament, HOWITT
Subjects: EU aid, EU financing, European Regional Development Fund, Structural Funds, eligibility criteria, less-favoured region, structural policy

9. 10. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 310/73

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

(27 April 1998)

The Commission is collecting the information it needs to answer the question. It will communicate its findings as
soon as possible.

(98/C 310/96)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0482/98

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission

(27 February 1998)

Subject: Projections of regional performance during the next programming period

Given  the  fact  that  structural  fund  programmes  are  intended  to  assist  current  changes  in  regional  and  local
economies and have too often in the past been based on out-of-date statistics, which studies has the Commission
undertaken or will it undertake on projection(s) for regional performance and by industrial sector for the period
2000-2006? What are the Commission(cid:146)s preliminary findings in this respect? How does the Commission intend
to incorporate this analysis into the content of programmes for the new period after 1999?

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

(30 March 1998)

The decisions on the eligibility of regions under objective 1 and the new objective 2 proposed by the Commission
on 18 March 1998 (1) must be based on the most recent data. The time lags for the availability of such data vary.
For example, for statistics on the gross domestic product (GDP), the time lag for regional data is just over two
years. For regional unemployment rates the time lag is one year. Given that objectives 1 and 2 address structural
problems, which by definition change only slowly over time, these delays are well within acceptable limits and
remain a sound basis for eligibility decisions.

Such data represent a considerably more solid basis for decisions on the eligibility of regions than information
deriving from sectoral or regional projections. The levels of uncertainty surrounding such projections are beyond
acceptable limits given the many factors which determine economic performance. The Commission therefore
has no plans to develop new regional criteria in this respect.

(1)  COM(98) 131 final.

(98/C 310/97)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0485/98

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission

(27 February 1998)

Subject: Continuity and change in eligible areas between different structural fund programming periods

Will the Commission provide a table of figures which show the level of continuity in terms of number of areas
and percentage of funding totals for eligible areas retaining eligibility at each successive reform of the Structural
Funds  for  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund  in  1988  and  1993?  Will  the  Commission  provide
projections,  based  on  current  estimates,  for  the  same  figures  in  respect  of  the  new  programming  period
1999-2006?  Which  studies  has  the  Commission  undertaken  on  the  benefits  of  continuity  between  periods  to
enable  the  completion  of  structural  change,  as  against  changes  in  eligibility  in  order  to  target  need  more
effectively? What preliminary conclusions does the Commission draw in this respect?