WRITTEN QUESTION E-0076/00 by Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Possible exclusion of the municipalities of Barberino, Tavernelle and S. Casciano from the areas eligible for funding under the Leader+ project.
C 330 E/78 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 21. 11. 2000 On the basis of the information provided by the Honourable Member, the Commission is not in a position to determine whether or not chipboards produced with the waste in question would involve a health hazard. Nor is it in a position to determine whether or not the requirements of Directive 92/59 are met in the case in question. The Honourable Member is welcome to submit further information. (1) OJ L 194, 25. 7. 1975. (2) OJ L 228, 11. 8. 1992. (2000/C 330 E/084) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0076/00 by Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Commission (24 January 2000) Subject: Possible exclusion of the municipalities of Barberino, Tavernelle and S. Casciano from the areas eligible for funding under the Leader+ project In October the eight municipalities of the Chianti area around Florence and Siena opened a áplanning conference for the development of Chiantií, with a view to forming a árural districtí whose main purpose would be to attract Community funding available under the Leader+ project, with the help of the Eurochianti local action group, with which cooperation was established several years ago. Despite an enthusiastic response on the part of economic operators and trade associations in the area, the policy pursued by the Tuscany Regional Council may well lead to the exclusion of the municipalities of Barberino, Tavernelle and S. Casciano from the area eligible for funding under the Leader+ project. How does the Commission intend to ensure that the above municipalities are not excluded for political reasons? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (15 February 2000) Under the draft guidelines for the Community Initiative for Rural Development (Leader+) approved by the Commission on 13 October 1999 all rural areas are eligible for consideration or inclusion. However, only a limited number of areas will in fact benefit from Community support, following a transparent, objective and rigorous selection procedure designed to concentrate many Community resources on the most promising pilot proposals and derive maximum lever effect from them. It will be up to the Member Statesí authorities ü in the case of Italy and the regions ü to propose the most appropriate procedures and criteria for defining classification requirements for interested local groups. The draft Commission guidelines set out minimum criteria? to be supplemented by more specific ones due to the particular needs of the region and the objectives to be obtained. These criteria will be an integral part of the programme and subject to Commission approval. Member States will be able to restrict the application of Leader+ to particular rural areas if this can be justified using criteria based on their rural development policy objectives. The Commission will on approving Leader+ programmes verify that the abovementioned requirements are strictly complied with