WRITTEN QUESTION No. 486/98 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Enforceability of guidelines, as agreed at the informal Council in Ireland (November 1996), in structural fund programmes
C 323/40 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 21. 10. 98 Does the Commission agree that such contracts agreed in advance of negotiations about SPDs would ensure higher levels of participation from organisations and individuals within regions as well as facilitating greater congruence with existing regional economic development programmes, thereby ensuring maximum effective- ness of the funds? Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (6 April 1998) The Commission considers that áregional support contractsí would risk duplicating the strengthened consultative arrangements already proposed by the Commission for the period after 1999. These arrangements include enlargement of the current definition of partnership to include regional, local and environmental authorities and any others concerned by the programme, including those responsible for equality; a confirmation of the application of this principle at each stage of the programming process; the Commission to appraise each development plan proposed, taking into account the opinion of the partners, and the measures proposed for associating them at Community support framework/single programming document level; and a clearer definition of the roles and responsibilities of the partners in the field of monitoring and evaluation. Under these proposals, all the partners would therefore participate throughout the programming process, up to and including negotiations on actual programming documents and on any arrangements necessary for a smooth transition from the current programming period to the new. (98/C 323/51) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0486/98 by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission (27 February 1998) Subject: Enforceability of guidelines, as agreed at the informal Council in Ireland (November 1996), in structural fund programmes What is the Commissionís view on the extent to which these guidelines are obligatory for Member States and individual project Monitoring Committees in delivering structural fund programmes and to which they provide voluntary guidance only? What mechanisms exist for the Commission to enforce the guidelines, and what sanctions are and can be imposed where guidelines are not followed? Does the Commission plan any changes in this respect for the new structural fund programming period 1999-2006? Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (6 April 1998) The Commission has made clear that the purpose of the guidelines was to provide a general policy and priority framework within which to make adjustments to current programmes. It would not be the intention to touch projects which were already under way and being satisfactorily implemented. This approach was endorsed by the informal meeting of ministers responsible for regional policy and spatial planning held in Ireland on 14-15 November 1996. Part IV of the Commissionís document (1) on this subject also states that it will be for the monitoring committees and relevant authorities to decide what adjustments are needed to ensure maximum value for money from public funds for the period to the end of 1999. Commission proposals for the new structural funds programming period again provide for the issuing of guidelines at the start of the preparation for the new period in order to make sure that the Commissionís priority themes regarding regional policy are known in sufficient detail to be incorporated adequately in the programming process at national level. (1) Priorities for the adjustment of structural fund programmes to the end of 1999 › Commission guidelines