WRITTEN QUESTION E-1991/01 by Hans Modrow (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. EU enlargement.
Date: 2001-07-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Central and Eastern Europe, EU industrial policy, accession criteria, accession negotiations, cooperation on agriculture, enlargement of the Union

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Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.4.2002

(2002/C 81 E/104)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1991/01

by Hans Modrow (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(6 July 2001)

Subject: EU enlargement

Despite major efforts, not least by yourselves, the process of enlargement of the Union through the
accession of Central and Eastern European countries is proving considerably more complicated than
previously anticipated.

Can the Commission answer the following:

1. How is it intended that the development of the Euroregions between the Member States and the
applicant countries should proceed in future and be expanded in partnership? Is the Commission
preparing a special programme of assistance?

2. What is the Commission(cid:146)s intended approach with regard to transitional periods?

3. What

is being done to ensure that

the essential economic structural change proceeds without
prejudice to the EU(cid:146)s quota policy while avoiding the deindustrialisation of whole regions, such as is
already observable in Northern Moravia? Will the new L(cid:228)nder in the Federal Republic of Germany
remain an Objective 1 region, or are changes to the subsidy criteria proposed, in favour of the CEECs?

4. What will the Commission do to counter the growing rejection of EU membership in some quarters in
the CEECs by means of greater transparency about the accession negotiations and more precise
information about the consequences of membership of the EU?

5. How will agricultural cooperative production companies in the applicant countries be preserved and

supported under the CAP?

6. What is the Commission(cid:146)s view of the demand by German politicians for repeal of the so-called Benes
Decrees, which are based on the internationally binding Potsdam Agreement, as a precondition for the
Czech Republic(cid:146)s accession to the EU?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(2 October 2001)

1.
The practice of creating Euroregions relies wholly on the initiative of the partners concerned. The
Commission is not planning a special programme of assistance for the Euroregions as organisations.
However, already Euroregions including frontier regions between the EU and the candidate countries are
actively involved in implementing cross-border cooperation programmes supported financially by the
Community via Interreg and Phare CBC. The programmes are based on the partnership principle, involving
common structures and programming documents, and provide for cooperation to continue beyond
accession. In addition, on 21 July 2001 the Commission adopted a special project aimed at developing
Community initiatives for regions bordering the candidate countries (1).

2.
The Commission approach to transitional periods was set out in the enlargement strategy paper
adopted in November 2000 (2). The transitional measures will be limited in time and scope. They must not
involve changes to EU rules or policies, or hamper their smooth operation, or lead to serious distortions of
competition. There are three categories of transitional measures: acceptable, negotiable and unacceptable
measures.

Industrial restructuring in the candidate countries is a matter

3.
the countries themselves.
Community pre-accession assistance totalling some € 3,2 billion a year (for Phare, Ispa and Sapard) is
helping the countries concerned to adopt and implement Community legislation, in industry as well. The
Phare programme already devotes a substantial proportion (one-third) of its budget to economic and social
cohesion. As part of the priority given to institution building, it contributes to developing the machinery
which will be needed for future structural
It also cofinances
investment aimed at ensuring support for economic and social cohesion in the candidate countries.

fund intervention following accession.

for

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Note also that there are no quotas for exports of industrial products from the candidate countries to the
Community.

After accession, the Structural Funds could support the reconversion process in industrial regions in the
candidate countries and contribute in this way to economic and social cohesion. The new L(cid:228)nder in
Germany will keep their Objective 1 status at least until 2006, the end of the current programme period.
The selection criteria for Objective 1 for the period after 2006 have not yet been decided; they will have to
be approved by the current and new Member States. Forecasts on the status of the current Objective 1
regions in Germany after 2006 are therefore not possible at the moment.

4.
The Commission has adopted a communication strategy to be implemented in the candidate
countries and the Member States in a decentralised manner. It is especially important for it to be closely
and continuously coordinated with the activities of governments, parliaments and various other groups in
society.

5.
The Sapard programmes may support producer groups until the candidate countries join the EU. The
programmes approved for Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia provide for specific assistance for
such groups. In addition, several programmes allow more generous access to other measures for producer
associations.

Neither the common agricultural policy (CAP) policy on prices and markets or its rural development policy
is geared to supporting particular social organisations. On the other hand, agricultural cooperatives can
obtain support for producers(cid:146) associations under several common organisations of the market, and support
for improving the processing or marketing of agricultural products under Council Regulation (EC) No
1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance
and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (3).

6.
The Benes Decrees were adopted and implemented before the Community was founded and before
the Treaty of Rome entered into force. When they accede, the candidate countries will have to fulfil the
criteria set out by the Copenhagen European Council, in particular the political criterion that requires them
to have stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and respect for and the
protection of minorities.

(1) COM(2001) 437 final.
(2) COM(2000) 700 final.
(3) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(2002/C 81 E/105)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1995/01

by Mar(cid:237)a Rodr(cid:237)guez Ramos (PSE)
and Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Expiry of the ECSC Treaty and coal aid

(6 July 2001)

In the Annex to the Green Paper entitled (cid:145)Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply(cid:146),
the Commission states that the security-of-supply argument cannot under any circumstances exempt the
Member States from the requirement to rationalise the coal sector.

The ECSC Treaty contains a specific reference to this concept (unlike the other Community Treaties), for
which reason it could be argued that responsibility for the security of energy supply continues to lie with
the Member States.

What legal basis has the Commission taken for the purpose of notifying the Member States that they
cannot argue security of supply in order to justify aid to coal production when coal is in any case scarcely
traded within the Community?