WRITTEN QUESTION No. 485/98 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Continuity and change in eligible areas between different structural fund programming periods
9. 10. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 310/73 Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (27 April 1998) The Commission is collecting the information it needs to answer the question. It will communicate its findings as soon as possible. (98/C 310/96) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0482/98 by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission (27 February 1998) Subject: Projections of regional performance during the next programming period Given the fact that structural fund programmes are intended to assist current changes in regional and local economies and have too often in the past been based on out-of-date statistics, which studies has the Commission undertaken or will it undertake on projection(s) for regional performance and by industrial sector for the period 2000-2006? What are the Commissionís preliminary findings in this respect? How does the Commission intend to incorporate this analysis into the content of programmes for the new period after 1999? Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (30 March 1998) The decisions on the eligibility of regions under objective 1 and the new objective 2 proposed by the Commission on 18 March 1998 (1) must be based on the most recent data. The time lags for the availability of such data vary. For example, for statistics on the gross domestic product (GDP), the time lag for regional data is just over two years. For regional unemployment rates the time lag is one year. Given that objectives 1 and 2 address structural problems, which by definition change only slowly over time, these delays are well within acceptable limits and remain a sound basis for eligibility decisions. Such data represent a considerably more solid basis for decisions on the eligibility of regions than information deriving from sectoral or regional projections. The levels of uncertainty surrounding such projections are beyond acceptable limits given the many factors which determine economic performance. The Commission therefore has no plans to develop new regional criteria in this respect. (1) COM(98) 131 final. (98/C 310/97) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0485/98 by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission (27 February 1998) Subject: Continuity and change in eligible areas between different structural fund programming periods Will the Commission provide a table of figures which show the level of continuity in terms of number of areas and percentage of funding totals for eligible areas retaining eligibility at each successive reform of the Structural Funds for the European Regional Development Fund in 1988 and 1993? Will the Commission provide projections, based on current estimates, for the same figures in respect of the new programming period 1999-2006? Which studies has the Commission undertaken on the benefits of continuity between periods to enable the completion of structural change, as against changes in eligibility in order to target need more effectively? What preliminary conclusions does the Commission draw in this respect?