WRITTEN QUESTION No. 630/98 by Johanna MAIJ-WEGGEN , Jan SONNEVELD to the Commission. Renovation of the railway line between Enschede (NL) and Gronau (D)
Date: 1998-03-09
Institutions: European Parliament, MAIJ-WEGGEN, SONNEVELD
Subjects: EU financing, North Rhine-Westphalia, Overijssel, cross-border cooperation, frontier region, operational programme, rail network, rail transport, transport policy













EUR-Lex - 91998E0630 - EN






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91998E0630

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 630/98 by Johanna MAIJ-WEGGEN , Jan SONNEVELD to the Commission. Renovation of the railway line between Enschede (NL) and Gronau (D)  


Official Journal C 323 , 21/10/1998 P. 0058 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-0630/98 by Johanna Maij-Weggen (PPE) and Jan Sonneveld (PPE) to the Commission (9 March 1998)Subject: Renovation of the railway line between Enschede (NL) and Gronau (D)1. The Dutch province of Overijssel and the municipality of Enschede, as well as the German municipality of Gronau and the German federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, wish to restore the old railway line between Enschede and Gronau in order to intensify cross-border cooperation.2. Around NLG 25 million would be needed to restore the 8 km line.3. Has the Commission already received an application from the Euregio and the Netherlands Government for financial assistance with this project?4. What facilities does the Commission have for financing this project, and how can the Euregio draw on EU funds?Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (29 April 1998)The Commission is aware that the province of Overijssel and the municipality of Enschede in the Netherlands, on one side, and the Land North Rhine-Westphalia and the municipality ofGronau in Germany on the other wish to rebuild the railway line linking these two municipalities within the Euregio. In the operational programme submitted by the Netherlands and Germany under the Community's Interreg IIA Initiative, the national authorities drew the Commission's attention to this gap in the rail network between the two Member States. Nevertheless, measure 1 proposed by that operational programme provides only for establishing framework conditions and filling in missing links so as to improve infrastructural aspects and attract private investors. The Commission has also received no formal application for part-funding of the railway line.The notice to the Member States laying down guidelines for operational programmes under Interreg IIA ((OJ C 180, 1.7.1994, (point 14(j)). )) provides for shared funding of improvements to transport and other communication systems within and between border areas, subject to certain conditions and in areas seriously deficient in infrastructures, by the creation or modernisation of infrastructures. An application for part-financing of the railway line in question under Interreg IIA in the Euregio would have to be submitted by the project sponsor to the Euregio secretariat and approved by the programme's steering committee.It should be pointed out that part-funding of the railway line only on the Dutch side under the single programming document for the regions covered by Objective 2 in the province of Overijssel is not possible, since that document provides only for such railway infrastructures as are directly connected with economic activities (links to industrial sites, freight terminals).