WRITTEN QUESTION No. 607/98 by José VALVERDE LÓPEZ to the Commission. Social and economic cohesion
Date: 1998-03-09
Institutions: European Parliament, VALVERDE LOPEZ
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, Community budget, Economic and Monetary Union, Structural Funds, development aid, economic and social cohesion, regional aid

9. 10. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 310/101

Each year the Commission indicates in the applicants(cid:146) guide the priority activities that it intends to support in the
field  of  adult  education,  and  that  also  take  into  account  equality  of  opportunity,  access  for  the  disabled,  and
preference for rural and disadvantaged regions. Most of the projects financed are initiated by associations and
NGOs and relate in particular to the integration of disadvantaged groups (migrants, the disabled, the illiterate, the
unemployed), European citizenship and cooperation in adult education (comparison of systems, exchanges of
good practice).

The  Commission  is  very  aware  that  in  a  society  undergoing  rapid  economic,  social,  cultural,  scientific  and
technological  change  every  citizen  must  have  the  opportunity  for  lifelong  learning.  This  objective  will  be  a
priority in the next Socrates programme.

(98/C 310/135)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0607/98

by Jose· Valverde Lo·pez (PPE) to the Commission

(9 March 1998)

Subject: Social and economic cohesion

Before accepting the financial guidelines, Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee have both called
for guarantees from the Commission to the effect that those guidelines will not jeopardize the progress of social
and economic cohesion in the European Union.

The governments of the countries which benefit from cohesion fear that the reduction in solidarity and on the
volume  of  transfers  may  adversely  affect  the  results  they  have  achieved  in  their  efforts  to  catch  up  with  the
economically more developed countries and regions of the European Union.

What  decisions  or  supplementary  proposals  is  the  Commission  intending  to  make  in  order  to  remove  these
uncertainties,  which  are  creating  unease  and  insecurity  amongst  the  general  public  and  in  political  debate  at
national level?

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

(14 April 1998)

In its communication (cid:145)Agenda 2000: for a stronger and wider Europe (1)(cid:146), the Commission proposed increasing
the Structural Funds budget for the current 15 Member States to ECU 218.3 billion (1999 prices) for the period
2000-06.

About two thirds of this funding will go to the regions lagging behind in their development eligible for Objective
1  under  the  reformed  Structural  Funds.  Objective  criteria  will  be  used  to  allocate  this  funding,  i.e.  eligible
population,  the  gap  between  regional  wealth  and  the  Community  average,  national  wealth  and  a  high
unemployment  level.  This  method  will  make  it  possible  to  concentrate  funding  in  the  regions  with  the  most
serious difficulties.

As regards the Cohesion Fund, the Commission has proposed that Member States whose gross national product
(GNP) per capita is less than 90% of the Community average should continue to qualify, whether they take part in
the third phase of economic and monetary union (EMU) or not.

There is therefore no doubting the Commission(cid:146)s determination to maintain the policy priority of economic and
social cohesion and to show solidarity with the least well-off Community regions. The Commission showed this
determination  on  18  March  1998  by  adopting  the  draft  Regulations  on  the  Structural  Funds  and  the
communication  to  the  Council  and  to  Parliament  on  the  establishment  of  a  new  financial  perspective  for  the
period 2000-06.

(1)  COM (97) final 2000.