WRITTEN QUESTION E-0739/04 by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission. The EU's future regional policy for the outermost Mediterranean regions.
Date: 2004-03-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, Community of Valencia, EU financing arrangements, EU regional policy, Mediterranean region (EU), accession to the European Union, peripheral region, regional aid

C 84 E/668

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission

(19 April 2004)

The Commission is pleased to inform the Honourable Member that a range of statistics on Erasmus
mobility, including a breakdown by Member State, is available on the Web site of the Directorate-General
for Education and Culture. The Internet address is as follows:
(http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/
programmes/socrates/erasmus/stat_en.html).

As far as a breakdown of the statistics by region is concerned, there exists a more detailed database, which
is available in all the national Socrates/Erasmus agencies.

Consequently, as far as Valencia is concerned, the Commission suggests that the Honourable Member
contact the Spanish national agency at the following address:

Agencia Nacional Erasmus
Consejo de Coordinacion Universitaria
Ciudad Universitaria s/n
E-28040 Madrid
Contact person: Ms Maria Teresa Diez Iturrioz
Tel.: (34-91) 453 98 00
E-mail: mariateresa.diez@cuniv.mec.es

(2004/C 84 E/0754)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0739/04

by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Subject: The EU’s future regional policy for the outermost Mediterranean regions

Following the imminent enlargement of the European Union there will be a considerable reduction in
transfers of funding to the current Member States in the form of structural and cohesion funds. Michel
Barnier (Commissioner) has proposed that regions which lose their Objective 1 status (such as the Valencia
region in Spain) should continue to receive aid on a degressive basis.

In the light of this and bearing in mind the EU’s post-2007 financial perspective, has the Commission
carried out a detailed analysis of the impact which the reduction in aid and funding will have on the
economies of the Mediterranean regions which have hitherto enjoyed Structural Fund Objective 1 status
but which will lose it on account of their income level? It should be borne in mind that they will still be
outlying regions with income levels which will continue to be inadequate.

If this is the case, what will the impact be (in both qualitative and quantitative terms) on the Valencia
region?

In the case of regions which will gradually cease to receive funding, what action is the Commission
proposing to take in order to ensure that their economies are not significantly damaged?

Furthermore, how does the Commission consider it should compensate for the radical drop in financial aid
for the above regions which will occur when the Cohesion Fund is wound up?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(16 April 2004)

The Commission has just published the Third Cohesion Report on economic and social cohesion (1), in
accordance with article 159 of the EC Treaty, which includes a detailed analysis of the impact and value
added of Structural Funds. This report also includes a proposal for the reform of Cohesion for the period
2007-2013.

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/669

The Commission proposes that regions with per capita GDP less than 75 % of the Community average,
should be eligible to the new ‘Convergence and Competitiveness’ objective. The decision concerning the
eligibility of these regions will be determined on the basis of the most recent data available at the time.

According to the latest data (for 2001) as published in the Third Cohesion Report, the Comunidad
Valenciana stands at 81,1 % of the average EU15 GDP per capita, or to 89 % for EU25. The Commission
proposes that regions currently eligible for Objective 1 not fulfilling the criteria for the convergence
objective would benefit from a higher level of support (under the heading ‘phasing in’) on a transitional
basis, under the new ‘regional competitiveness and employment’ objective. The transitional arrangements
‘would follow a path comparable to that for regions no longer eligible for Objective 1 in the period 2000-
2006’.

(1) COM(2004) 107 final: ‘A new partnership for cohesion’.

(2004/C 84 E/0755)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0766/04

by Giorgio Celli (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(4 March 2004)

Subject: Financing of the Llubí-Crestaxt-Pollença watercourse (Balearic Islands)

In the early months of 2003 the European Commission took the decision to finance, via the Cohesion
Fund, the Llubí-Crestaxt-Pollença watercourse on the island of Majorca, Spain. The Government of the
Balearic Islands opened the project to public tender and awarded a contract for the work, which is 40 %
complete. This project represents a decisive step towards achieving maximum efficiency in Majorca’s water
management and distribution system. The idea is to complete the transversal artery that runs across
Majorca for 90 kilometres along the base of the Tramuntana Sierra collecting water from various sources
and regulating the levels of several aquifers, and thereby to satisfy various demands. Majorca’s
Mediterranean climate and its dependency on the tourist industry mean that the island experiences high
levels of demand in the summer with irregular rainfall, alongside periods of water shortage lasting several
years followed by a few years with abundant rainfall. The aim of the project is precisely to incorporate in a
single system the majority of surface water resources and a portion of the groundwater resources so that
the surface water surpluses generated in rainy periods can infiltrate into strategic high-capacity karstic
aquifers, thereby returning them to their highest piezometric levels and acting as a reserve for the driest
periods. The project is designed to meet the demand for water by reducing the over-exploitation of water
resources through the infiltration of water into the aquifers exploited. After a change in the regional
government following the elections of June 2003, work on the construction of the northern stretch of the
transversal artery was halted and a modification proposed that fundamentally alters the aims of the original
project: the watercourse would no longer be interconnected with the Crestaxt aquifer but would be
leaving Pollença with no
connected up with a new desalination plant to be established at Alcudia,
guarantee of water supply. This modification is designed to route water to Palma from the future
desalination plant at Alcudia in the low season, when its production is not absorbed by the north of the
island. The modification did not form the subject of a new public procurement procedure, and neither was
it supported by any technical justification. Is the Commission prepared to finance the work in question
despite the substantial change in the project and its objectives? Will it investigate whether the fact that the
work in question is totally different from that approved in 2002 constitutes an violation of Community
law?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(30 March 2004)

The Commission in fact approved Cohesion Fund part-financing of the Llubí-Crestatx (Sa Pobla) water
canalisation project as a complete project in itself. No application for assistance was made for any Crestatx
(Sa Pobla) (cid:1) Pollença project.