Opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 13 April 2000 on the "Expiry of the ECSC Treaty"
Date: 2000-04-13
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: ECSC, ECSC Treaty

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Opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 13 April 2000 on the ‘Expiry of the ECSC Treaty’

(2000/C 226/14)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the decision taken by the COR Bureau on 15 September 1999, under the fifth paragraph
of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to issue an opinion on the expiry of
the ECSC Treaty and to instruct its Commission 1 — Regional Policy, Structural Funds, Economic and
Social Cohesion and Cross-border and Inter-regional Cooperation — to prepare the opinion;

having regard to the draft opinion adopted by Commission 1 (CdR 489/99 rev. 1) on 2 February 2000
(Rapporteurs: Mr Mernizka, member of the Assembly of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia (D, PSE),
and Mr Collignon, minister for the Budget, Culture and Sport, Government of the French-speaking
Community in Belgium, (B, PSE));

having regard to the resolution on growth and employment adopted by the European Council in
Amsterdam on 16 and 17 June 1997; in its resolution the European Council called upon the European
Commission to put forward appropriate proposals to enable the reserves outstanding after the expiry of
the ECSC Treaty in 2002 to be used to establish a research fund for the benefit of the sectors linked to
the coal and steel industries;

having regard to the European Commission’s communication of 10 October 1997 on the expiry of the
ECSC Treaty — financial activities (COM(97) 506 final);

having regard to the resolution adopted by the Council and the representatives of the governments of the
Member States meeting in the Council on 20 July 1998 on the expiry of the Treaty establishing the
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (1);

having regard to the resolution adopted by the Council and the representatives of the governments of the
Member States meeting in the Council on 21 June 1999 on the expiry of the Treaty establishing the
European Coal and Steel Community (2);

having regard to the European Parliament’s report on the draft ECSC operating budget for 2000
(SEK(1999) 0803-C5-9917/1999);

having regard to the resolutions of the ECSC Consultative Committee on the expiry of the ECSC Treaty,
in particular the resolutions dated 25 March 1999, 2 April 1998, 10 October 1997, 8 November 1996
and 28 May 1995,

adopted the opinion set out below at its 33rd plenary session held on 12 and 13 April 2000 (meeting of
13 April).

1.

Introduction

1.1.
The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC Treaty), which came into force on 23 July
1952, represented the first step towards the political and
economic unification of Europe, ultimately leading, via the
introduction of the subsequent treaties and their expansion, to
the European Union which we know today. In signing the
ECSC Treaty, the founder countries sought to end the rivalries
which had divided them for centuries,
to establish and
consolidate lasting peace in Europe and to enhance the
prosperity of its people. The European coal and steel industries
thus played a pioneering role in the European integration
process.

1.2.
accomplished this task.

The European Coal and Steel Community has fully
It has made a key contribution

(1) OJ C 247, 7.8.1998, p. 5.
(2) OJ C 190, 7.7.1999, p. 1.

to bringing about and consolidating peace in Europe and
promoting political and economic integration, thereby laying
the foundations for further progress towards European unifi-
cation. The ECSC Treaty provided a statutory framework for
industry and has
structural change in the coal and steel
continued to this day to prove its worth by offering a flexible,
effective tool for shaping the economic and social aspects of
structural change in the coal and steel industries and regions
of the Union; it has done so even though a number of the
economic policy instruments provided for under the Treaty
have not been used for a long time. In some respects the level
of integration provided for under the ECSC Treaty is sharply
in advance of that set out under the EC Treaty.

1.3.
The ECSC Treaty established a framework for dialogue
and cooperation geared to securing consensus between
employers, workers and consumers on decisions on economic
and social matters affecting the coal and steel industries. This

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enabled the difficult sectoral and regional adjustment processes
to be largely implemented on a socially acceptable basis. The
ECSC Treaty thus also, to a certain extent, paved the way for
the European economic model.

1.4.
All 15 EU Member States have coal and steel enterprises
which are subject to the ECSC Treaty; the relative importance
of these enterprises in the respective Member States varies
widely. The majority of the applicant states have relatively
large coal and steel industries.

The coal industry and the iron and steel industries have
1.5.
for many years been in the throes of a radical restructuring
process which has proved particularly painful for their work-
forces. This process will continue over the next few years and
be intensified by the accession of new Member States from the
CEEC; the process will assume dramatic proportions in the
accession states. The necessary radical changes in the coal and
steel
industries in these states will represent a particularly
serious challenge for the EU.

Coal mining and the iron and steel

1.6.
industries are
heavily concentrated in particular regions. The entire economic
development of the regions concerned depends largely on the
structural adjustment processes to be carried out in these two
industries. By virtue of the instruments which it has deployed
for providing social and regional support, the ECSC has
recognised the tremendous responsibility for regional develop-
ment. For this reason, the COR, too, should address the
impending expiry of the ECSC Treaty and the attendant
consequences for the regions.

2. Unresolved issues linked to the expiry of the ECSC

Treaty

The ECSC Treaty, which came into force in 1952, was limited
to 50 years, expiring on 23 July 2002. From this date, EU coal,
iron and steel industries will, in principle, be subject to the
provisions of the EC Treaty. Although a number of problems
relating to the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and the application
of the EC Treaty to the coal and iron and steel industries have
been solved or nearly solved, unresolved issues remain in other
areas.

2.1. Use of the ECSC reserve funding

The ECSC established a reserve to secure its loans
2.1.1.
and lending activities; it now has considerable assets and a
decision will have to be taken on the use of these resources
once the ECSC Treaty has expired. The reserve was established
via a levy on steel and mining enterprises, geared to turnover.
The levy was reduced to zero on 1 January 1998. Precise
calculations of these assets — and in particular, the total
amount in hand in 2002 — are not available. The European
Commission currently calculates that when the ECSC Treaty
expires, outstanding assets will total some EUR 1.25 bn. The
final sum involved will also depend upon the measures to be
funded by the ECSC from own resources before 2002.

industry.

the coal and steel

2.1.2.
The Amsterdam European Council, held on 16 and
17 June 1997, called upon the European Commission to put
forward appropriate proposals to enable the ECSC reserves
to be used to establish a research fund following the expiry
of the ECSC Treaty in 2000; the research fund would assist
ancillary sectors of
In its
resolution of 20 July 1998,
the Council of Ministers
proposed that the ECSC assets should be transferred to a
separate EU fund, administered by the European Commission
and used specifically to fund a research programme for the
coal and steel industry and ancillary sectors. In a working
document of 16 November 1998, the European Commission
assessed the legal and financial implications of the Council
proposal
future
involvement of the applicant states, who had not made any
contribution to the ECSC assets.
In a further resolution
the Council of Ministers
adopted on 21 June 1999,
reaffirmed that the ECSC assets and liabilities were to be
transferred to the other Communities but to be managed
separately from other EU funding and to be devoted
specifically to research in the coal and steel industries. The
results of this research should be made accessible to the coal
and steel industries in the CEEC (technology transfer).

and also considered the question of

The COR is pleased that

2.1.3.
the Council plan will
ensure that the ECSC assets, raised by levies on coal and
steel enterprises, will benefit these industries. The ECSC levy
placed a sustained financial burden on these enterprises and
they are therefore entitled to ECSC assets once the Treaty
has expired.

2.1.4.
The European Commission should however, ensure
optimal transparency about the scale of ECSC assets when
the Treaty expires and draw up a final balance sheet of all
the ECSC’s assets and liabilities; this document would also
constitute an initial balance sheet for the special fund to be
managed by the European Commission. The assets must not
be spent on funding routine expenditure up to expiry of the
Treaty to the extent that the special fund is no longer able
to fulfil its intended role. Furthermore, this expenditure will
have to be regarded as non-compulsory and will have to be
charged to the budget without regard for the budgetary
stabilisation principle laid down at
the Berlin European
Council
in 1999. It is also essential to define clearly the
is
ancillary sectors to be assisted from ECSC assets;
important to ensure that appropriate use of the funding for
the coal and steel
industry is not undermined. It is also
essential to lay down precise limits for the allocation of
in terms of the nature and objectives of the
ECSC assets,
proposed projects. A fair solution also has to be found for
inclusion of the applicant states.

it

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2.2. Promoting research

ECSC efforts to promote research go back much
2.2.1.
further than those of the EC itself (cf. the framework pro-
grammes for research); there are also considerable differences
between the research work carried out by the two Communi-
ties in terms of objectives and management. ECSC activities
are not exclusively geared to cutting-edge research; they cover
a much broader range of subjects. The fact that funding from
the ECSC accounts for some 10-15 % of overall expenditure
on research in EU coal and steel industries makes it more
significant for this sector than EU work in promoting research
in other sectors. ECSC work in promoting research into mining
technology is of much greater significance. ECSC work in these
fields has thus made a tremendous contribution to improving
the technological competitiveness of the EU coal and steel
industries. This more applied and more market-orientated kind
of research should continue after ECSC Treaty expiry and not
be hindered by EU competition policy.

2.2.2.
The decision to use ECSC assets to promote research
in the coal and steel industries does, in principle, pave the way
for further efforts to promote research in these two industries.
It is essential to ensure that the tried and trusted processes for
allocating funding are retained. As has been the case up to
now, back-up research in the social field — including research
into industrial safety in the coal and steel industry and research
into environmental aspects and measures to rehabilitate pol-
luted industrial sites — should also be continued. Research in
this field should, however, be linked as closely as possible to
technical research. The procedures for allocating funds for
research should be coherent with the principles underlying the
environmental policies of the EU. Research in the coal and
steel sector funded by the EU must contribute to the aim of
improved environmental protection.

The coal and steel industries have the same right as
2.2.3.
all other industries to participate in the framework pro-
grammes for research funded from general EU resources. The
fact that a special fund has been established through levies on
the coal and steel industries of the EU, and that this fund is to
provide special support for research in these fields, does not
warrant any discrimination under the framework programme
for research. The COR also supports the suggestions of the
Commission to direct a part of the EU funds towards RES
research.

2.3. Provisions on financial aid

The coal and steel

2.3.1.
industries are both subject to
special conditions of competition in view of the particular
characteristics of their products and the specific conditions
governing the market (the steel industry is a cyclical industry
producing uniform products in a market hallmarked by highly
volatile prices and world-wide overcapacity; the coal industry,
for its part, helps to supply the energy market with indigenous
sources of energy under unfavourable conditions of cost).
These particular conditions of competition require aid pro-
visions geared to the specific needs of each industry.

2.3.2.
The payment of subsidies is, in principle, banned
under the ECSC Treaty. Aid to the coal and steel industry is
subject to derogations under Article 95 of the ECSC Treaty.
When the ECSC Treaty expires the coal and steel industries
will be wholly subject to the general provisions on financial
aid set out in the EC Treaty. The Treaty provisions do, in
principle, provide an appropriate basis for granting financial
aid to the coal and steel industries. Enterprises, trade unions
and the Member States concerned have however long been
highlighting the need to establish, in good time, satisfactory,
binding follow-up instruments based on the EC Treaty pro-
visions, which are in tune with the conditions governing the
coal and steel industries.

The European Commission has provided the frame-
2.3.3.
industry, thereby
work for such derogations for the coal
making it possible to grant state aid. These measures were
provided for under a number of decisions, which received
unanimous Council approval; the most recent one dated
28 December 1993, covered the period 1 January 1994 to
the European
23 July 2002. By making these decisions,
Commission has recognised the need for the coal industry to
continue to ensure that the EU enjoys security of supply in
energy products and to help curtail the EU’s growing depen-
dence on fuel imports. This can, however, only be achieved
through subsidies.

2.3.4.
The Committee of the Regions believes that the case
for reviewing the aid arrangements provided for under the EC
Treaty should be discussed, with a view to including a specific
reference to the coal industry. Even without such revision,
however, there is an urgent need to take the requisite steps to
establish a specific framework, via a Council Regulation issued
under Article 89, for aid to the coal industry. The European
Commission has, however, so far failed to table such a
regulation. The COR believes that it is essential for such a
proposal to be submitted without delay — or at least well
before the ECSC Treaty expires — in order to enable enterprises
to plan ahead.

The iron and steel

2.3.5.
industry is facing a different
situation as regards competition. In the past countries fre-
quently sought to outbid each other in providing disastrous
levels of subsidies. In order to counteract this phenomenon,
the Council of Ministers, acting on a proposal from the
European Commission, some time ago adopted a code of
practice governing aid to the steel industry. The ECSC Treaty
was the legal basis for this proposal. This code authorises
subsidies in the fields of research and development,
the
environment, and social issues. It will now have to be brought
into line with the EC Treaty provisions on competition.

2.3.6.
To this end, the Commission has since put forward a
proposal, in the form of a Community framework measure,
industries. This
governing state aid to the iron and steel
proposal essentially extends the strict rules on subsidies set out
in the existing code of practice on aid to the steel industry; a
number of adjustments are, however, made to bring it into
line with the EC Treaty measures for the supervision of
financial aid. Consideration should be given in this respect to
drawing up a Council Regulation based on Article 89.

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2.4. Regulatory instruments

2.6. Supporting social-policy measures

The ECSC Treaty comprises a large number of
2.4.1.
regulatory instruments designed to ensure the smooth-oper-
ation of the markets in coal and steel; some aspects of these
instruments differ sharply from their counterparts under the
EC Treaty. They reflect, to a certain extent, the particular
market conditions governing the coal and steel industries, such
as short-term economic volatility; they do, however, in some
cases also reflect a different basic approach to economic policy
which was in vogue when the EC Treaty was signed. With the
expiry of the ECSC Treaty, it will be necessary to bring the coal
and steel industries in the EU under the regulatory instruments
enshrined in the EC Treaty.

2.4.2.
In this context, the Committee of the Regions calls
for the retention of the ECSC instruments which have proved
their worth in the past and will continue to be required to
ensure the optimal, smoothest operation of the coal and steel
markets. Take for example the special statistical information
instruments, which are on a different scale of importance in
sectors which produce uniform products; these instruments
could also be retained as a back-up for Eurostat’s current work.
A further example is the possibility of introducing voluntary
crisis-management measures in the coal and steel industries.
The necessary measures should be taken under EU law to
enable the abovementioned instruments to be retained. Steps
should be taken to prevent any cut-back in the more far-
reaching provisions of EU law (the ‘acquis communautaire’)
applying to the coal and steel industries in those areas in which
they have proved their worth. It should also be emphasised in
this context that full account should be taken of developments
in the WTO and in the European Union’s trade relations with
the United States.

2.5. Energy policy objectives

2.5.1.
It is in the EU’s interests to maintain a coal-mining
industry which is justifiable in macro-economic terms and can
help curtail the EU’s current growing dependence on imported
energy.

Community energy policy measures must also take
2.5.2.
account of coal. To date preliminary steps only have been
taken in pursuing such an approach. What we need is a
positive Community strategy for the entire coal industry which
underlines the future benefits of sustainable coal-mining and
coal-use in Europe and highlights the global importance of
modern European coal technology. Such a policy is also
necessary against the background of enlargement.

2.6.1.
The structural adjustment process in the coal and
steel industries will also go on after the ECSC Treaty expires in
2002 and will accelerate with the accession of the new Member
States. Up to now resources have been available from the
ECSC budget for adjustment, training and retraining measures.
Once the ECSC Treaty is wound up, this legal basis will no
longer be available. As a result the continued availability of
social adjustment aid — a prerequisite for socially-acceptable
restructuring of the coal and steel industries after 2002 — will
be in jeopardy. The central and eastern European applicant
states (CEEC) will have no prospect of receiving comparable
aid to enable them to carry through the much more radical
changes with which their coal and steel industries have to
contend.

2.7. Supporting measures in the field of regional policy

In order to support regional-policy measures, the
2.7.1.
ECSC for a long period provided soft loans to promote job
creation in industries outside coal and steel. These loans ceased
from 1 January 1997. A large part of the regions in which the
European coal-mining and steel industries are located is eligible
for assistance under Objective 1 or Objective 2 of the ESF. EU
aid can therefore be used in these areas to support measures
geared to restructuring the coal and steel
industries and
creating jobs in other industries. As a result of the reduction in
the number of eligible areas and the expiry of Resider and
Rechar on 31 December 1999, a sizeable number of coal and
steel-producing areas have, however, lost their entitlement to
EU regional aid. These areas, too, may have to undergo major
restructuring in the next few years.

2.7.2.
The European Commission should therefore show
flexibility — within the framework of the population ceilings
established for Objective 1 and Objective 2 — in responding
to such developments and should, where appropriate, correct
the lists of eligible areas. The European Commission should
also promote cooperation between coal and steel-producing
areas — inter alia under strand C of the Interreg programme
— for example in regard to exchange of information on best
practice. Regions not eligible for assistance under Objectives 1
and 2 should also be eligible for these measures.

2.8. Social dialogue

2.5.3. Without wishing to re-open the debate on the
creation of a legal basis for an EU energy policy — a matter
which was raised in the negotiations on the Maastricht and
Amsterdam Treaties — the Committee takes the view when
the coal industry is brought under the EC Treaty, this will
provide an opportunity for recognising the legitimacy of
including the objective of security of supply in the EC Treaty.

2.8.1.
One of the key features of the ECSC Treaty is
the institutional social dialogue between representatives of
industry, workers and consumers, within the ‘Consultative
Committee’. This committee has been, and continues to be,
more than just an effective consultation tool for the European
Commission; it has also promoted a readiness to cooperate

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and helped to create a particular spirit of consensus within the
coal and steel industries; this may serve as an example, above
in the light of the structural adjustment
all to the CEEC,
processes with which they will soon have to contend. In terms
of optimum partnership, the involvement in the social dialogue
of the regional authorities concerned could represent added
value.

The COR believes that

2.8.2.
this dialogue should be
continued in an appropriate, institutionalised form. With this
aim in view, it is essential to provide for mandatory consul-
tation of the consultative committee and for it to have a
right of initiative in matters relating to coal and steel. The
Commission should submit a proposal for establishing an
appropriate legal basis for these measures, in consultation with
the coal and steel industries.

2.9. Coal and steel industries in the CEEC

At about the time the ECSC Treaty expires, the
2.9.1.
European Union will be faced with a particular challenge as a
result of the impending radical changes in the coal and steel
industries of the applicant CEEC. For this reason the pace of
industries must be
restructuring within the coal and steel
considerably stepped up. Enterprises and trade unions within
the coal and steel industries are prepared — as are also the
coal and steel-producing regions of the current EU Member
States — to support the states and regions concerned, and the
European Commission, in carrying out this difficult task.

2.9.2.
In the context of the enlargement process, there is a
need to consider precisely what aspects of existing EU law on
coal and steel must be adopted forthwith by the applicant
states. A clear position should be adopted, before specific
negotiations get underway with the applicant states on this
issue; this position should set out the terms of the exemptions
which could be granted to the applicant states in the area of
competition.

to make provision,

The COR calls upon the Commission, the Council
2.9.3.
and the European Parliament
in the
programmes for assisting the CEEC and preparing for their
accession to the EU,
for adequate assistance for back-up
measures to cushion the process of structural change in coal
and steel. Account should also be taken of the need for such
the administrative aid to the CEEC (b)
assistance in (a)
programmes for promoting regional cooperation, such as
strand C of Interreg III and (c) the Instrument for Structural
Policies for Pre-Accession (ISPA).

2.10. Environmental Protection

The coal and steel industries have traditionally been a source
of major environmental pollution. They also create large-scale
emissions of CO2. Standards have been adopted under the EC
Treaty for the purpose of protecting the environment and, in
particular, of limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The Com-
mittee takes the view that these standards should be extended
to include the coal and steel sectors once they are brought
under the EC Treaty.

2.11.

Institutional aspects

The Committee of the Regions believes there is a need to
consider the precise changes which would have to be made to
the EC Treaty in order to accommodate the sectors currently
governed by the ECSC Treaty. Consideration should be given
to the possible introduction of interim measures. The changes
made should, at all events, reflect a number of specific aspects
of the coal and steel sector, such as the financial arrangements,
the need for security of supply, aid schemes, and, possibly, the
retention of a number of powers vested in the Commission.

3. Conclusions

The COR highlights the ECSC’s key contribution
3.1.
towards achieving and safeguarding peace in Europe, promot-
ing political and economic integration and raising the level of
prosperity; the ECSC has therefore fully accomplished its
original objectives. In particular, it has substantially facilitated
structural change in the coal and steel industries and helped to
shape this change in a socially acceptable way.

The COR believes that,

3.2.
the ongoing
tremendous pressure for restructuring, the expiry of the ECSC
Treaty on 23 July 2002 will trigger serious economic and
social problems for the coal and steel industries and the EU
regions concerned. These issues will need to be resolved.

in view of

3.3.
The COR notes that the special ECSC Treaty arrange-
ments are scheduled to expire definitively, with the coal and
steel
industries then coming under the EC Treaties. The
Committee takes the view that in those areas where the higher
level of integration provided for under the ECSC Treaty than
under the EC Treaty has proved its worth, the requisite
provisions should be retained in respect of coal and steel, and
an appropriate legal basis should accordingly be established
under the EC Treaty; in line with EU energy policy objectives,
lignite should be included as well as coal.

3.4.
The COR welcomes the proposed transfer of ECSC
assets to a special fund to be administered by the European
Commission; this fund is to be used to finance (a) research
projects for the benefit of coal and steel enterprises and
(b) research into supporting scientific, technical, environmen-
tal and social measures. In the Committee’s view, steps should
be taken to ensure maximum transparency in the very near
future as regards the actual scale of the ECSC’s assets; to this
end, the Committee proposes that a final balance sheet be
drawn up which would at the same time constitute an initial
balance sheet for the special fund. The tasks funded by the
ECSC in the run-up to expiry must not absorb such a large
amount of the ECSC assets as to prevent the special fund from
fulfilling its intended tasks.

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3.5.
As well as benefiting from special aid for research
funded from ECSC assets, the coal and steel industries are also
entitled to participate fully in the EU’s framework research
programme. The Committee of the Regions feels that research
for the coal and steel industries funded by the EU should be
compatible with other EU policy aims, notably in the area of
environmental protection. The general EU research funds
should also be (partly) directed towards renewable energy
sources.

3.6.
The COR believes that the EC Treaty provisions for
supervising state aid do in principle provide an appropriate
basis for establishing follow-up instruments for aid arrange-
ments for the mining and iron and steel industries. Would a
Council regulation adopted under Article 89 provide an
appropriate legal basis for such measures?

3.7.
The COR broadly welcomes the Commission proposal
that a new code be introduced in respect of aid to the steel
industry, under the EC Treaty; the code would continue to
provide for a strict ban on aid, in line with the specific situation
applying to this industry, in order to prevent countries out-
bidding each other in offering disastrous levels of subsidies.

3.8.
The COR also calls upon the Commission to submit,
well before 2002, a proposal setting out viable provisions for
aid, to cover the coal industry, taking account of the fact that
it is in the EU’s interest to maintain a vigorous coal-mining
industry. The Committee of the Regions urges the Commission
to present a communication on the situation with regard to
aid arrangements for the coal sector, and — where necessary
— proposals for amendments to the arrangements.

3.9.
The ECSC Treaty instruments which have ensured
smooth, optimal operation of the coal and steel markets should
be maintained; these include the statistical data instrument
arrangements for voluntary crisis-management measures. The

Brussels, 13 April 2000.

Committee calls upon the Commission to formulate an
appropriate legal basis for such action under the EC Treaty, in
consultation with the coal and steel industries.

3.10.
The expiry of the ECSC Treaty will remove the legal
basis for funding social adjustment measures under Article 56.
This also constituted a key provision for funding redundancy
programmes in the coal and steel industries. The COR therefore
urges the Commission and the Member States to provide for
appropriate supporting measures for social adjustment in the
coal and steel
industries, when planning ESF activities for
2000-2006. Similar support for CEEC in advance of enlarge-
ment is also in urgent need.

3.11.
The COR is concerned that the scaling-down of the
areas eligible for assistance under Objectives 1 and 2 of the
Structural Funds, coupled with the expiry of Resider and
Rechar on 31 December 1999, has meant that a number of
coal-mining and steel areas will in future no longer receive EU
regional aid.

Social dialogue within the ECSC consultative com-
3.12.
mittee is, the COR thinks, an exemplary way of promoting
cooperation between representatives of industry, employees
and consumers; the COR requests the European Commission
to submit a proposal for the continued operation of the
consultative committee and providing for mandatory consul-
tation of this committee.

3.13.
The incorporation of the CEEC and the dramatic
changes which enlargement will entail for the coal and steel
industries will, in the Committee’s view, constitute a special
challenge for the entire EU. The Committee believes that
account should be taken of the experience gained by coal and
steel producing regions in the current EU Member States, when
implementing the structural adjustment process. The requisite
provisions should be incorporated in the programmes for
preparing the applicant states for EU membership.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT