WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1505/98 by Daniel VARELA SUANZES- CARPEGNA to the Commission. The information society and social and economic cohesion
Date: 1998-05-13
Institutions: European Parliament, VARELA SUANZES-CARPEGNA
Subjects: European Regional Development Fund, Structural Funds, co-financing, economic and social cohesion, exchange of information, information, information policy, new technology, regional policy, telecommunications

C 31/48

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.2.1999

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-1500/98 and E-1502/98
given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(22 June 1998)

A list of the information society projects launched as part of the innovative measures referred to in Article 10 of
the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Regulation (1) for the 1994-99 programming period is being
sent directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat.

The (cid:145)information society(cid:146) aspect comprises two types of measure:

› RISI 1: regional strategies for the information society

› RISI 2: multiregional pilot applications.

These measures have been launched in collaboration with the European Social Fund, which part-finances eight
RISI 1 projects and two RISI 2 projects.

The nine (and not ten) pilot projects cited in the Honourable Member(cid:146)s written question 1502/98 are the so-called
RISI 2 applications financed under Article 10 of the FEDER Regulation. They do not concern Community
initiative (CI) activities. However, an estimate of information society-related measures within the framework of
the 1994-99 CI is given in the following table, expressed in million ecus.

Telecoms (1)

Telematics (2)

Member States

Private

Public

6

66

41

112

Community
Structural Funds

41

166

Total

88

344

(1) Priorities or measures covering telecommunications infrastructure and services.
(2) Telematics applications in several fields such as health, transport, education. This includes e.g. teleworking, telemedicine and

multimedia applications.

(1) OJ L 193, 31.7.1993.

(1999/C 31/064)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1505/98

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission

Subject: The information society and social and economic cohesion

(13 May 1998)

In her appearance before Parliament(cid:146)s Committee on Regional Policy on 23 January 1997 in connection with the
presentation of the Commission Communication on cohesion and the information society (COM(97) 7 final of
22 January 1997), Mrs Mathies, Commissioner, said that there would be greater support for information and
communication technologies (ICTs), particularly in relation to the current Objectives 1 and 2, on the basis of their
contribution to the transition to the information society.

Could the Commission provide information regarding all the ICT projects which have so far been co-financed by
the Commission under the current Objectives 1 and 2, and also those which will be co-financed between now and
the end of the current planning period, specifying the regions concerned, the total cost of implementation and the
extent of Community co-financing?

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

(22 June 1998)

The data contained in the Commission(cid:146)s communication on (cid:145)Cohesion and the information society(cid:146) resulted from
an internal study by the Commission and represent an estimate of the actions related to telecommunications co-
financed by the structural funds. The estimate is based on the programmes submitted by the Member States at the
beginning of the current 1994-1999 structural funds programming period. An evaluation ex-post will be launched
at the end of the programming period.