WRITTEN QUESTION E-3090/01 by Sérgio Marques (PPE-DE) to the Commission. URBAN II programmes.
Date: 2001-11-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU initiative, European Regional Development Fund, Portugal, Structural Funds, economic development, executive power, local authority, quality of the environment, social integration, urban area

C 134 E/196

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2002

(2002/C 134 E/203)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3090/01

by Sérgio Marques (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 November 2001)

Subject: URBAN II programmes

At Parliament’s request the Commission agreed to increase the number of cities benefiting under the
URBAN initiative from 50 to 70. As result of this increase Portugal now has a maximum number of three
urban areas eligible under the programme (instead of the original two).

The URBAN II initiative has a budget of EUR 700m, funded exclusively by the ERDF, which allocated EUR
18m for Portugal.

With reference to the three programmes submitted by Portugal (Oporto 4 Gondomar, Lisbon 4 Alcantara
and Amadora 4 Damaia and Buraca) can the Commission say:

1. when these programmes will be approved and implemented;

2. whether this will entail the use of the whole amount allocated to Portugal;

3. what conclusions it reached in its evaluation of the extent to which urban and territorial dimensions
were taken into account in Objective 1 programming, as a way of assessing the overall contribution of
regional policy for the benefit of European cities?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(11 January 2002)

Under the Urban II Community Initiative 70 urban areas are the subject of an integrated development
programme which includes measures for economic development, the fight against social exclusion and the
improvement of the environment. In Portugal, the three urban areas involved are Lisbon 4 Vale de
Alcântara, Amadora 4 Damaia and Buraca and Oporto 4 Gondomar. The aim of these programmes is
innovation, promotion of the principle of partnership and the development of an integrated approach.

These three programmes were submitted officially to the Commission on 11 May 2001 and declared
eligible on 28 May. Negotiations with the national authorities proceeded well and the programmes were
approved in December.

Since expenditure on the programmes is eligible since the date of their submission, some assistance is in
progress and their implementation has already started. The sum committed for the three programmes is
€ 19,2 million, which accounts for the whole of the budget allotted by the Commission to this Community
Initiative in Portugal.

Chapter I-6 of the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: The results of the programming of the
Structural Funds for 2000-2006 (Objective 1) (1) states that the urban priorities selected in the programmes
are duly taken into account in the programme complements and that the assistance planned is fully in line
with the framework of action for sustainable urban development, which is closer to the Structural Funds
programmes than to the European Spatial Development Programme.

Certain programmes have a very marked urban dimension. Some of the topics advanced in the framework
of action, whether the fight against exclusion, the exercise of the powers available to the local authorities
or the regeneration of the environment, are horizontal in nature and appear in most of the Objective 1
strategies. It should be noted that some programmes are designed to promote complementarity between
the Urban Community Initiative and the Objective 1 strategy.

(1) COM(2001) 378 final.