WRITTEN QUESTION E-3754/00 by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Spatial planning in the EU: TERRA programme.
Date: 2000-12-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU programme, less-favoured region, sustainable development, town and country planning

C 187 E/38

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.7.2001

The Commission is aware that a lack of consistency in this matter exists and intends to address this in the
near future, in the context of its new VAT strategy for the improvement of the operation of the VAT
system within the Internal Market (4).

(1) OJ L 145, 13.6.1977.
(2) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989. As a result of this Directive, products based on blood constituents, which are prepared
industrially by public or private establishments are considered to be medicinal products derived from human blood
or human plasma. This is the case with albumin, coagulating factors and immunoglobulins of human origin.

(3) OJ L 214, 24.8.1993.
(4) COM(2000) 348 final, available on the Europa site at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/publications/official_doc/com/com.htm.

(2001/C 187 E/040)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3754/00

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

(4 December 2000)

Subject: Spatial planning in the EU: TERRA programme

TERRA was one of the programmes adopted in the framework of the innovatory measures regulated by
Article 10 of the ERDF Regulation for the period 1994-1999, under which a number of projects were
financed in the period 1997-1999. The TERRA programme was conceived, together with the Community
initiative Interreg II C, as a laboratory for testing new instruments and methods of spatial planning and
evaluating the options proposed by the European Spatial Strategy (ESS).

Can the Commission provide information on the results of TERRA and the conclusions it has drawn from
those results, as well as their relationship to and influence on the ESS, especially regarding the outlying
maritime regions of Objective 1 as it applies to the existing EU?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(25 January 2001)

The TERRA programme was conceived as a laboratory for testing new spatial planning approaches and
procedures. Various orientations emerged that can serve as guidance for other projects at local, regional,
national and Community level, such as the need for new approaches to spatial planning itself, prioritisation
of sustainability in local development, the importance of partnership between local people and local
administrations, the synergies yielded by interregional cooperation, and development of new instruments
such as support observatories for integrated development policies.

A number of TERRA projects involved outlying maritime regions.

The LORE project, coordinated by the local authority for Ikaria in Greece in partnership with Alcamo and
Ragusa in Sicily and Iraklio and Magnisia in Greece, permitted establishment and operation of local
observatories tasked with setting up a coordination and control mechanism for spatial planning hitherto
the province of local authorities and other local agents.

The DIAS project, coordinated by the Cretan regional authority in partnership with Siracusa in Sicily, is
concerned with spatial planning focused on protection, management and promotion of the natural
environment and cultural heritage of zones displaying common features and problems. Development
strategies have been proposed for certain Mediterranean, mountain and coastal zones with great environ-
mental and cultural richness but at serious risk owing to population pressure.

3.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 187 E/39

The strategic framework provided by the European Spatial Development Prospective gave the appropriate
political context and the necessary orientation to TERRA, which has taught local officials to (cid:145)look beyond(cid:146)
the limits of their administrative and geographical responsibility and tackle wider questions.
It has
confirmed the relevance of the ESDP political options for local action by drawing attention to the
problems posed by networking of divergent spatial planning cultures and administrative competences.

(2001/C 187 E/041)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3756/00

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

(4 December 2000)

Subject: The European Spatial Strategy and the EU(cid:146)s Objective 1 outlying maritime regions

At the informal Council of Ministers responsible for spatial planning held in Potsdam in May 1999, the
Member States and the Commission adopted a document on the (cid:145)European Spatial Strategy(cid:146)
(ESS),
embodying a strategic vision of spatial planning at Community level and incorporating perspectives in
this area with a view to EU enlargement.

In its resolution of 7 February 1998 on spatial planning and the European Spatial Planning Perspective,
Parliament emphasised (in paragraphs 17 and 18) the need to adopt policies for the development and
renewal of the Union(cid:146)s ports, especially those situated in the remote and outermost regions, as well as the
need to encourage a global maritime policy aimed at developing communications within and outside
Europe by promoting maritime transport, as an environment-friendly mode which contributes to reducing
land transport congestion but is at present insufficiently developed, especially in the remote and outermost
regions.

Can the Commission comment on the form in which these positions of Parliament have been taken up in
the ESS?

What options are put forward in the ESS with a view to furthering economic, social and spatial cohesion
in the EU(cid:146)s Objective 1 outlying maritime regions?

Does the Commission not consider that a global maritime policy on the EU(cid:146)s part could make a decisive
contribution to economic, social and spatial cohesion in the EU(cid:146)s Objective 1 outlying maritime regions in
the context of those regions(cid:146) particular characteristics,
in the same fashion as the EC Treaty currently
recognises the particular characteristics of the Union(cid:146)s outermost regions?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(19 February 2001)

The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) was approved in May 1999 at the meeting of
ministers responsible for regional planning in Potsdam. It provides a guidance framework for the sectoral
policies of the Community and the Member States.

With regard to the role of ports, the ESDP states that (cid:145)setting up a European network of large sea ports,
including regional sub-systems of ports, would be in the interests of all regions.(cid:146) With more specific
reference to the outlying and outermost regions, the ESDP notes that (cid:145)access to the networks should be
improved, particularly by connecting insular, landlocked and peripheral areas to the central areas.(cid:146)

A feature of the Community(cid:146)s territory is the very high concentration of economic activity and population
in the central area. One of the main options of the ESDP is to promote the balanced and polycentric
development of the Community. To achieve this, it notes that (cid:145)the creation and enlargement of several
dynamic global economy integration zones provides an important instrument for accelerating economic
growth and job creation in the EU, particularly also in the regions currently regarded as structurally weak
(Objective 1 and 6 Areas of the current regional funds).(cid:146)