WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1116/98 by Franz LINSER to the Commission. Structural funding for Tyrol
Date: 1998-04-08
Institutions: European Parliament, LINSER
Subjects: Austria, Structural Funds, economic and social cohesion, economic priority, eligible region, less-favoured region, rural region, urban area













EUR-Lex - 91998E1116 - EN






Avis juridique important




|



91998E1116

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1116/98 by Franz LINSER to the Commission. Structural funding for Tyrol  


Official Journal C 013 , 18/01/1999 P. 0020 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1116/98by Franz Linser (NI) to the Commission(8 April 1998)Subject: Structural funding for TyrolThe Land of Tyrol, Austria, receives EU structural funding only under the funding for Objective 5b regions. Following the reforms of the European Union's structural payments, the current Objective 5b regions are to be incorporated into Objective 2 funding. The following important questions arise for Tyrol:1. What are the arguments in favour of this course of action?2. What effect will this reform have on Tyrol, Austria?3. As a result of these reforms, will there be a reduction in areas in Tyrol, which will receive support?4. Will the total amount of aid made available to Tyrol be reduced?Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission(8 June 1998)The Commission has proposed a new objective 2 for areas experiencing the effects of economic and social restructuring. The causes of restructuring are varied and the new objective 2 would offer support to areas undergoing socio-economic change in the industrial and service sectors, declining rural areas, urban areas in difficulty and depressed areas dependent on fisheries.Apart from contributing to a simplification of the Community's cohesion policies, by reducing the number of priority objectives, there are two main advantages of the new, unified objective 2. First, the Commission has proposed that there should be only one objective 2 programme per region - defined in general at the nomenclature of territorial statistical units (NUTS) 2 level - combining actions for all the eligible areas within it. This would reduce the number of programmes and the associated administrative overheads. Second, by combining the different eligible areas within a single programme, new opportunities to create synergies could be exploited. For example, programmes could address the improvement of links between eligible urban and rural areas, helping to develop urban service areas for the benefit of rural areas.The list of areas eligible for the new objective 2 would be determined in partnership between the Commission and the national authorities. The final list would be drawn up by the Commission, after the regulation has been adopted, on the basis of lists of areas proposed by the Member States and in the light of the most recent data.It is at this stage too early to speculate on the future eligibility of any given region. The same applies to budgetary allocations under the new objective 2. These can only be decided once the list of areas is known.In addition, outside the interventions under the structural funds, the Commission has also proposed that rural development measures should be available throughout the Community as part of the reform of the common agricultural policy.