WRITTEN QUESTION E-2101/99 by Amalia Sartori (PPE-DE), Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE), Mario Mantovani (PPE-DE), Giorgio Lisi (PPE-DE), Francesco Musotto (PPE-DE), Giuseppe Gargani (PPE-DE), Luigi Cesaro (PPE-DE), Guido Podestà (PPE-DE), Mario Mauro (PPE-DE) and Francesco Fiori (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Rejection by the Commission of Italy's proposal relating to Objective 2 of the Structural Funds for the 2000-2006 period.
C 225 E/52 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 8. 8. 2000 (2000/C 225 E/051) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2101/99 by Amalia Sartori (PPE-DE), Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE), Mario Mantovani (PPE-DE), Giorgio Lisi (PPE-DE), Francesco Musotto (PPE-DE), Giuseppe Gargani (PPE-DE), Luigi Cesaro (PPE-DE), Guido Podestà (PPE-DE), Mario Mauro (PPE-DE) and Francesco Fiori (PPE-DE) to the Commission (19 November 1999) Subject: Rejection by the Commission of Italyís proposal relating to Objective 2 of the Structural Funds for the 2000-2006 period Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Communities and to Regulation No 2160/99 (1) on the Structural Funds, would the Commission answer the following questions: 1. What reasons led to rejection of the allocation proposal submitted by the Italian Government? 2. How in particular does the proposal need to be redrafted in order to secure acceptance? 3. How much time is allowed for redrafting? 4. Has any assessment been carried out of the allocations for each region? If so, what is the situation as regards the various regions of Italy? (1) OJ L 161, 26. 6. 1999, p. 1. Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission (10 January 2000) On 1 July 1999, the Commission established the ceiling on the population in each Member State eligible under Objective 2. That for Italy was set at 7,4 million inhabitants. On the same day, Member States were invited to forward to the Commission, before 31 August 1999, their proposals for the areas eligible under Objective 2. 1. On 1 October 1999, the Italian authorities forwarded their proposal to the Commission. It was considered inadmissible because it did not comply with Article 4(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/ 1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds, which requires the areas meeting the so-called Communityí criteria, listed in Article 4(5) and (6), to include at least 50 % of the population covered by Objective 2 in each Member State. The areas meeting these criteria submitted by the Italian authorities covered only 2,2 million inhabitants, 29,6 % of the total population eligible. 2. On 11 October 1999, the Commission asked the Italian authorities to draw up as soon as possible a revised proposal which conformed to the regulatory requirements. To do that, they will have to add to the original list at least 1,5 million inhabitants from areas meeting the Community criteria and, on the other hand, exclude from this list an identical number from areas presented under paragraphs 7 to 9 of Article 4. 3. So far, the Commission has received no new revised proposal from the Italian authorities and so is not in a position to indicate when it will be able to adopt the list of the areas eligible under Objective 2 in Italy. As soon as it receives the Italian proposal, the Commission will evaluate it, both overall and by 4. region, in the light of the criteria in the Regulation