WRITTEN QUESTION E-0272/00 by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission. Legal basis of PPPs.
Date: 2000-02-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: legal basis, purchasing power parity

21.11.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 330 E/113

(2000/C 330 E/126)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0272/00

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(7 February 2000)

Subject: Legal basis of PPPs

In the first two paragraphs of its reply to question E-2218/99 (1) the Commission takes the view that the
use of PPPs in Community rules is (cid:145)based on these texts(cid:146), i.e. on Community rules themselves.

It may be inferred from this that, as far as the Commission is concenred, the credibility of PPPs is based on
the fact that they are used in Community rules, whilst the use of PPPs in Community rules is based on the
fact that they are credible.

Does the Commission not regard this as a tautological and circular argument?

(1) OJ C 219 E, 1.8.2000, p. 124.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(30 March 2000)

The argument put forward in the first two paragraphs of the answer to the Honourable Member(cid:146)s written
question E-2218/99 (1) was not intended to be tautological or circular but to give a full explanation.

Firstly,
it was necessary to refer to the political agreement reached at the Berlin European Council
(24 and 25 March 1999) and to the assent of the European Parliament (6 May 1999). On 21 June 1999
the Council formally adopted the new Structural Funds Regulations for the period 2000-2006. These
include Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the
Structural Funds (2), Article 3 of which provides that (cid:145)the regions covered by Objective 1 shall be regions
corresponding to level II of the Nomenclature of Territorial Statistical Units (NUTS level II) whose per
capita GDP, measured in purchasing power parities and calculated on the basis of Community figures for
the last three years available on 26 March 1999, is less than 75 % of the Community average(cid:146). They also
include Council Regulation (EC) No 1267/1999 of 21 June 1999 establishing an Instrument for Structural
Policies for Pre-accession (ISPA) (2), Article 4 of which provides that (cid:145)an indicative allocation between
beneficiary countries of the total Community assistance under ISPA shall be made by the Commission on
the basis of the criteria of population, per capita GDP in purchasing power parities and surface area(cid:146).

The use and therefore the usefulness of purchasing power parities (PPPs) have thus been shown officially
by both Council and Parliament even without a legal basis for the production of the PPPs themselves.

Secondly, it was necessary to underline the fact that for several years international institutions (cid:129) World
Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN), Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development
(OECD) (cid:129) public authorities, universities, research institutes, public and private
enterprises, banks, the media and individuals have themselves been using PPPs.

(1) OJ C 219 E, 1.8.2000, p. 124.
(2) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.