WRITTEN QUESTION E-1317/03 by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Implementation of Community programmes in Slovakia.
Date: 2003-04-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, Slovakia, accession to the European Union, action programme, cross-border cooperation, implementation of the budget, pre-accession aid

C 88 E/350

Official Journal of the European Union

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8.4.2004

The Commission refers the Honourable Member to the Council conclusions on Indonesia of 14 April
2003 stressing ‘the importance of full implementation of the letter and spirit of the SAL in Aceh and
Papua’ and ‘the need for clarification of the relation between the SAL for Papua and the recent Presidential
Decree’, and expressing ‘its concern on the delays on the Indonesian side in accepting international support
for the implementation of the SAL’.

Since the SAL is awaiting implementation, it is not yet possible to give details on its precise form and
effect.

The Community Delegation in Jakarta is monitoring the situation in co-ordination with the representatives
of the Member States and will recommend possible actions when appropriate.

(2004/C 88 E/0357)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1317/03

by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(7 April 2003)

Subject: Implementation of Community programmes in Slovakia

Will the Commission please provide a detailed account of Slovakia’s use of ISPA, PHARE and Sapard
funding for 2000, 2001 and 2002 (tables, implementation and distribution by region)?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(12 June 2003)

With regard to PHARE, almost EUR 240 million were committed to the Slovak Republic in the frame of
Phare assistance in the period 2000-2002. The overall allocations listed in the table below include inter
alia funding for the National Programme, Cross-Border Co-operation (CBC) Programmes, participation in
Community programmes and agencies and assistance in the field of nuclear safety (Decommissioning of
the Bohunice NPP).

Year

Commitments

Contracted

2000 (1)

2001 (2)

2002 (3)

78 818 979

80 500 000

79 100 000

76 800 648

14 307 444

7 497 800

(1)
(2)
(3)

The contracting period expired on 31 December 2002.
The contracting period will expire on 30 November 2003.
The contracting period will expire on 30 November 2004.

%

97,44

17,77

9,48

Phare assistance has aimed at supporting Slovakia’s efforts to fulfil
legislative
approximation and the implementation of the ‘acquis’ in accordance with the commitments made in the
context of the negotiation process. The Action Plan for the reinforcement of the administrative and judicial
capacity, elaborated jointly with the Slovak authorities, identified the steps to be undertaken in order for
the Slovak Republic to achieve an adequate level of administrative and judicial capacity by the time of
accession. The activities were selected to match the priorities listed in the Accession Partnership and in line
with the Slovak National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA).

the commitments of

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As regards the geographical distribution of Phare assistance, in 2000 and 2001, the projects financed in
the frame of Economic and Social Cohesion (National Programmes) were located in the regions identified
i.e. Kosˇice, Presˇov and Banská Bystrica.
by the Slovak Government as the least developed areas,
EUR 6,3 million and EUR 18,4 million were allocated in 2000 and 2001 respectively for Economic and
Social Cohesion activities.

The Cross-Border Co-operation Programmes provide funding to a certain number of infrastructure projects
(notably in the environment, transport and economic development fields) to the following eligible regions:

(cid:1) CBC Slovakia/Hungary: Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Banská Bystrica and Kosˇice;

(cid:1) CBC Slovakia/Poland: Zilina and Presˇov;

(cid:1) CBC Slovakia/Austria: Bratislava and Trnava.

The relevant CBC allocations for the period in reference are as follows:

Slovak/Hungarian border

Slovak/Polish border

Slovak/Austrian border

Overall total

2000

2001

2002

Total

2

4

6

12

2

4

6

12

2

4

6

12

6

12

18

36

Detailed information on PHARE implementation can be found in the PHARE annual reports for 2000 and
2001 (http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/pas/phare/publist.htm). The PHARE annual report for 2002
will be adopted later this year.

For ISPA, a total of EUR 278 million have been allocated to Slovakia in 2000, 2001 and 2002 of which
EUR 106 million in the environment sector and EUR 172 million in the transport sector respectively.
Together with national co-financing this corresponds to a total project value of EUR 511 million.

During the first three years of ISPA implementation 11 environment projects were financed focusing
mainly on supporting Slovakia’s compliance with the drinking and waste water Directives and they are
equally spread over the country.

Projects in the transport sector consist of three rail projects, aiming at upgrading the international rail
corridor between Bratislava and Zilina, as well as one motorway project located in Bratislava. Detailed
information on ISPA implementation can be found in the ISPA annual reports for 2000 and 2001
(http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/funds/ispa/docum_en.htm). The ISPA annual report for 2002
will be adopted later this year.

Additional information can also be found on the ISPA web site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/
funds/ispa/ispa_en.htm).

In respect of the Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (Sapard), a total of
EUR 96 million have been allocated to the Slovak Republic for the years 2000-2004. The programme is
based on three priorities:
the agricultural production sector including food
processing industry (ii) sustainable rural development; and (iii) human resources development.

the improvement of

(i)

As the management and implementation of
the programme is fully decentralised to the candidate
countries, the Slovak authorities first had to have their implementing agency (the so-called Sapard agency)
accredited in order for the programme to operate.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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This accreditation process (1) was concluded on 15 April 2002 with the Commission Decision to confer
the management of Sapard aid to the Slovak authorities and Slovakia could begin the implementation of
its Sapard programme as of that date.

Since the first appeal concerning the submission of applications for financial aid within the Sapard
programme, the Agency had approved 75 projects by the middle of March 2003.

These approvals can be broken down by region as follows:

Region

Submitted Projects

Approved Projects

B. Bystrica

Kosice

Nitra

Presov

Trencin

Trnava

Zilina

11

15

35

12

13

35

29

Total

150

6

3

16

9

10

10

21

75

Detailed information on Sapard implementation can be found in the Sapard annual reports for 2000 (http://
europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/publi/reports/sapard2000/index_en.htm) and 2001 (http://europa.eu.int/
comm/agriculture/publi/reports/sapard2001/index_en.htm). The Sapard annual report for 2002 will be
adopted later this year.

Additional information can also be found on the AGRI web site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/
external/enlarge/countries/slovakia/index_en.htm).

Further information on the implementation of the 3 pre-accession instruments in 2002 are contained in
the General Assistance Document 2003 presented to the Phare Management Committee on 9 April 2003,
which will become available shortly on the Enlargement website (http//europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/
docs/index.htm).

(1) To this end Slovakia has concluded its national accreditation work, which was accepted in the form of an Act of
Accreditation issued by the competent Slovak authority on 19 December 2001. The Slovak authorities notified the
Commission of this accreditation process and a complete package of information was sent to the Commission on
7 January 2002. The Commission examined the basis for the national accreditation, obtaining supplementary
information and clarification as part of a detailed audit.

(2004/C 88 E/0358)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1321/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(8 April 2003)

Subject: Angola (cid:1) return of refugees

The Media have reported complaints from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about the
violation of the rights of Angolan refugees seeking to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congo
and Zambia and return to Angola.

The same source claims that the refugees have been forced to pay for illegal taxis or hand over some of
their possessions at frontier posts on both sides of the border, and that there are rumours of women being
raped and a great deal of discrimination being practised.