WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1799/98 by José BARROS MOURA to the Commission. Financing of Spain's water supply scheme from Community funds
Date: 1998-06-11
Institutions: BARROS MOURA, European Parliament
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, EU financing, European Regional Development Fund, Portugal, Spain, environmental impact, hydraulic works, hydrology

C 31/82

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.2.1999

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

(15 July 1998)

The Commission is sending direct to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat of Parliament a list of Spanish
projects in receipt of part-financing as part of the cross-border cooperation between Spain and France under
Interreg II A.

The projects in question have been chosen by the cross-border working parties introduced during the last meeting
of the Interreg monitoring committee in October 1997, in the Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre regions. In the
Basque Country, cross-border projects are funded under the (cid:145)Euskadi-Aquitaine Cooperation Fund(cid:146). Provided
they meet the eligibility requirements and rules of the programme, these projects will be part-financed under
Interreg II A.

As for the projects involved in transnational cooperation under Interreg II C, and more particularly in the
operational programmes for the Mediterranean area, the Commission cannot anticipate in the preparatory phase
which projects will be involved, as these programmes have not yet been submitted for approval.

(1999/C 31/109)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1799/98

by JosØ Barros Moura (PSE) to the Commission

(11 June 1998)

Subject: Financing of Spain(cid:146)s water supply scheme from Community funds

The (written) answer to my Oral Question H-0466/98 (1) at least represents a step forward by comparison with the
Commission(cid:146)s previous replies, since it now recognizes the existence of a Spanish (cid:145)National Water Supply
Scheme(cid:146) financed by the ERDF, albeit only in part. However, the Commission answer restricts the scope of this
approach to the truth by going on to conceal the fact that ERDF funding in Alqueva amounts to only ECU 96.6
million and not ECU 300 million. This amalgamation of ERDF funding with other Community funding in the
Alentejo region clearly makes it more difficult to compare ERDF funding for water supply projects in Portugal
and in Spain.

Given that, as part of the Spanish National Water Supply Scheme, the Commission intends to invest 13 times
more through the ERDF than the amount which the ERDF is investing in Alqueva, and without questioning the
volume of funding but merely the different conditions applied to funding in the two countries.

I should like once again to put the following questions:

1. Does the Commission believe that it used balanced and impartial methods of analysing the conditions for

investment in the above two Member States?

2. Did it investigate the environmental impact of work linked to Spain(cid:146)s National Water Supply Scheme in the

Guadiana basin in particular? What preventive measures did it take?

3. Can it provide a list of major projects involving diversions and dams financed under the ERDF and the

Cohesion Fund in the Guadiana basin, together with the respective budget?

(1) Debates of the European Parliament (May 1998).

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

(25 September 1998)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to his Written Question E-1447/98 (1).

(1) OJ C 386, 11.12.1998.