WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4196/97 by José GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL to the Commission. Agenda 2000 and Objective 1: population 1993-1997
C 323/12 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 21. 10. 98 Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (4 February 1998) Information obtained by the Commission is to the effect that the Turkish Minister of the Interior was recently questioned by a Turkish Member of Parliament about the issue raised by the Honourable Members. In his answer (31 December 1997) the Minister stated that the Government was in no way minded to forbid religious teaching by the Syrian orthodox community, either to intervene or restrict its freedom of worship. Whenever it is in contact with the Turkish authorities the Commission stresses the importance of improving the human rights situation and continuing the process of democratisation in Turkey. It was pointed out at the European Council in Luxembourg in December 1997 that the strengthening of Turkeyís links with the Union also depends on its pushing ahead with the political and economic reforms which it has initiated, notably the alignment of standards and practices in the field of human rights on those prevailing in the Union. The European Council also pointed out that a strengthening of Turkeyís links with the Union also required respect for and protection of minorities. (98/C 323/15) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4196/97 by Jose· Garc ·a-Margallo y Marfil (PPE) to the Commission (21 January 1998) Subject: Agenda 2000 and Objective 1: population 1993-1997 At the end of November the Director-General of Regional Policy and Cohesion, Eneko Landa¤buru, suggested, in the presence of press representatives, that 11 European regions, including Valencia (Spain), were to lose their Objective 1 status under the terms of the Commission proposals to reduce the Structural Funds before the accession of new Member States. Mr Landa¤buruís calculations were based on the provisional data currently available to the Commission. However, in the specific case of Valencia, official Eurostat statistics show that, in 1993, the Valencia Autonomous Communityís GDP was 74. 9% of the European average and that, in 1994, the figure was even lower (73. 6%). The threshold for Objective 1 eligibility is 75%, hence there are no grounds for supposing that Valencia is going to fail the eligibility test in the near future. Should the average income of the various regions during the 1993-1997 period be taken as the criterion for calculating GDP, it is important that the macro-economic data for each region should be known for all of the years concerned. What was the population in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 to the 15 Member States and the following regions: Anatolia, Macedonia, Thessaly, Crete, Pelopennese, Central Greece, Ipiros, Attica, Ionian Islands, Aegean, Sterea (Greece) Hainaut (Belgium) Thuringia, Brandenburg, East Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Munster (Germany) Galicia, Extremadura, Castilla la Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Ceuta and Melilla, Valencia Autonomous Community, Asturias, Andalusia, Canary Islands, Murcia (Spain) Valenciennes, Avesnes, Douai, Overseas Departments (France) Ulster, Connaught, Leinster (Ireland) Molise, Apulia, Sicily, Basilicata, Sardinia, Calabria, Campania (Italy) Flevoland (Netherlands) Burgerland (Austria) Northern Region, Alentejo, Algarve, Lisbon, Tagus Valley, Central Region (Portugal) Western Isles, Highlands, Merseyside, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)?