WRITTEN QUESTION E-0479/00 by Carlos Ripoll y Martínez de Bedoya (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Objective 2 for the Balearic Islands.
C 26 E/48 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 26. 1. 2001 During the debate, Commissioner Barnier did, however undertake to consider reinstating the budget line for emergency aid deleted two years ago. Is the Commission prepared to look beyond the existing framework of the Structural Funds and to examine the 2000 budget of the Commission for mobilisable reserves for immediate emergency aid, for instance from the LIFE and ECHO programmes, and possibly to reinstate a budget line for disaster aid within the European Union for 2001? Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission (11 April 2000) With regard to the Structural Funds, the Honourable Member is requested to refer to the answers given by the Commission to written questions 0024/00 from Ms Patrie, 0159/00 from Mr Lang and 0307/00 from Mrs Thomas-Mauro, and to oral question H-0008/00 from Ms Patrie. There are no provisions in the LIFE Regulation, which is currently under review, for the allocation of a portion of its funding to emergency measures, without a call for projects procedure being initiated. We cannot, therefore, envisage the funding, under the LIFE programme, of any general measures to repair environmental damage caused by the natural disasters which struck France, Germany and Austria in December 1999. We do not, however, rule out the possibility that proposals for new projects under LIFE-Nature or LIFE-Environment could, while meeting the LIFE criteria, also serve to repair the damage to the environment. Any application meeting this profile will be examined (on a case by case basis) under the project monitoring procedures or the tendering procedure for LIFE. Article 1 of the Regulation governing the Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) specifies that: The Commu- nityís humanitarian aid shall comprise assistance, relief and protection operations on a non-discriminatory basis to help people in third countries, particularly the most vulnerable among them, and as a priority those in developing countries í (1). It cannot, therefore, provide assistance in respect of the severe damage caused by natural disasters in the Member States in December 1999. Since there are provisions for a number of different aid schemes in the Structural Funds Regulations, the Commission currently has no plans to reinstate a specific budget heading for emergency disaster aid within the Community. (1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 of 20 June 1996 concerning humanitarian aid. OJ L 163, 2. 7. 1996. (2001/C 26 E/061) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0479/00 by Carlos Ripoll y Martínez de Bedoya (PPE-DE) to the Commission Subject: Objective 2 for the Balearic Islands (24 February 2000) The municipality of Consell (on Majorca, Balearic Islands) submitted to the Balearic Islands regional government a project for an extension to the townís school to promote adult education and vocational training, under Objective 2. Mr Rechach, departmental secretary-general for documentation in the Ministry for Economic Affairs of the government of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands, informed the mayor that the European Commission had rejected the project because it was located at the school. Has any proposal under Objective 2 been received from Consell in connection with the above project? Has the European Commission taken a formal decision to reject the project? If so, on what grounds was the decision based? 26. 1. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 26 E/49 Has the Commission held any meetings with the government of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands? If so, what information was given to the Balearic Islands regional government on Objective 2? Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission (7 April 2000) At the technical meetings prior to the meeting of the Monitoring Committee on 10 December 1999 concerning the Objective 2 operational programme for the Balearic Islands for the 1997-1999 program- ming period, the representatives of the regional administration submitted to the Commission a first list of projects for possible part-financing under measure 5. 2 Training and vocational provisional development centresí of that programme. That list included a project for the municipality of Consell. At those technical meetings, all the proposed projects, including that concerning Consell, were analysed from all points of view (objectives, estimated costs and monitoring indicators, content and eligibility of expenditure, financial and physical identification of the projects not directly subject to local government administrations, completion of national commitments before 31 December 1999, compliance with procedures for the award of contracts). The final list of projects to be submitted by the regional administration had to be available no later than the day of the meeting of the Monitoring Committee. At the meeting of the Monitoring Committee on 10 December, the regional administration submitted a list of eleven projects, which the Committee approved. It includes assistance to the municipalities of Alaró, Binissalem, Bœger, Campanet (2), Inca (3), Lloseta, Santa Maria and Selva. The total cost envisaged amounts to € 6,24 million, for which the European Regional Development Fund will provide part-finance of 50 %. Within the framework of the partnership, the Commission wishes to stress the clarity of the procedure and the level of transparency adopted by the regional administration in drawing up this programme. (2001/C 26 E/062) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0482/00 by Alejandro Cercas (PSE) to the Commission (24 February 2000) Subject: Funding under the Interreg Community initiative Could the Commission indicate the amount of funding the Spanish region of Estremedura is likely to receive under the Interreg Community initiative? Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission (24 March 2000) The guidelines for the Interreg Community initiative are expected to be approved by the Commission by end of March 2000 or early April 2000. Member States are invited to present programme proposals to the Commission within six months of the publication in the Official journal. The Community initiative will be financed jointly by the Member States and the Community through the European regional development fund (ERDF). The total contribution by the ERDF to Interreg during the programming period 2000-2006 is fixed at € 4 875 million, at 1999 prices. The indicative allocation of the commitment appropriation for Spain is € 900 million. The guidelines do not specify any regional allocation of the funds. As the Commission, when approving the programme or programmes for e. g. the Spanish-Portuguese border, grants a single contribution from the ERDF per programme without financial breakdown by Member State, the amount allocated from the Interreg Community Initiative for the Extremadura region in Spain can not be indicated even then