WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2662/98 by Jan ANDERSSON to the Commission. Structural aid to cities
Date: 1998-09-01
Institutions: ANDERSSON JAN, European Parliament
Subjects: EU initiative, less-favoured region, metropolis, regional development, structural policy, urban area

28.6.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 182/17

The report devotes considerable attention to the last issue the Honourable Member raises, concerning the
introduction of new own resources, and it stresses that, although there are various possibilities, at present it is
unlikely that a new own resource will emerge. Nevertheless, if there was the political will to do so, a modulated
value added tax resource, as advocated by the 1994 Parliament Langes report, offers the most promising
prospect.

(1)

available on the World Wide Web in the following site: http://europea.eu.int/comm/dg19/index_j.htm, where J=EN for
English, J=FR for French, J=D for German etc.

(1999/C 182/021)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2662/98

by Jan Andersson (PSE) to the Commission

(1 September 1998)

Subject: Structural aid to cities

Aid to particularly deprived areas of major cities is a completely new feature of European structural policy. The
application of the rules on aid to urban areas contained in the Commission’s proposal for a programme for
cities in the European Union is, therefore, a somewhat inappropriate instrument in countries with a small,
sparsely distributed population since the rules are geared to regions and not parts of cities. The Commission
should, therefore, exempt certain areas with low population density from the nominal criterion of 100 000
inhabitants.

What action does the Council intend to take on this matter to avoid the somewhat inconsistent treatment
ensuing from the present proposal?

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

(8 October 1998)

During the present programming period, the Community has intervened in the major cities, notably as part of
the programmes in Objective 1 (least developed) regions and Objective 2 (industrial) regions. In addition,
special programmes have been run in deprived city areas under the Community initiative URBAN. For the
future, the Commission proposes to build on this experience by extending mainstream assistance to deprived
urban areas under the new objective 2.

The urban areas eligible under the new Objective 2 would be selected on the basis of a proposal from the
Member States in accordance with criteria in the proposed new general regulation (1). The proposed regulation
imposes no minimum size of area, such as the threshold of 100 000 inhabitants mentioned by the Honourable
Member. Rather, it is important that the eligible areas are of sufficient scale to allow regional development
programmes to be put in place, which is why the Commission’s proposal refers to areas that are ‘sufficiently
substantial.’

(1) COM(98) 131 final.

(1999/C 182/022)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2731/98

by Jens-Peter Bonde (I-EDN) to the Commission

(1 September 1998)

Subject: EU aid for full-fat school milk

In its answer to my question E-2246/96 (1) of 13 September 1996 the Commission refused to give the same
aid to all types of milk.