A3-0263/94

Resolution on the draft notice to the Member States laying down guidelines for operational programmes or global grants which Member States are invited to establish in the framework of a Community initiative concerning defence conversion (KONVER) (COM(94)0046 - C3-0132/94)

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the Commission's draft notice to the Member States (COM(94)0046 - C3-0132/94),

-having regard to the amended Structural Funds regulations, in particular Article 11 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2082/93 which is the legal basis for Community initiatives, and Article 3(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2083/93,

-having regard to its resolution of 28 October 1993 on the future of Community initiatives under the Structural Funds,

-having regard to the code of conduct on the implementation of structural policies by the Commission, in particular paragraph 2 which states that the Commission "will take Parliament's requests into consideration whenever possible in order to take them into account when deciding on each initiative",

-having regard to its resolution of 15 July 1993 on the regional impact of the conversion of the arms industry and military sites in the Community,

-having regard to the interinstitutional agreement on budgetary discipline of 29 October 1993 and the financial perspective annexed thereto,

-having regard to its resolution of 28 October 1993 on the draft general budget of the European Community for the 1994 financial year: section III -Commission, in particular to paragraph 8 thereof,

-having regard to the EC budget and in particular to Article B2-140 and Chapter BO-40,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Regional Policy, Regional Planning and Relations with Regional and Local Authorities and the opinions of the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy, the Committee on Energy, Research and Technology, the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment and the Committee on Women's Rights (A3-0263/94),

A.whereas it initiated, by means of a budgetary decision in 1991 and 1992, the PERIFRA programmes, intended to assist peripheral regions affected by new defence-related developments, prompted by the Gulf war,

B.whereas the PERIFRA programmes were allocated ECU 90 million in total,

C.whereas it continued its efforts to assist regions affected by changes in international security policies and the resulting changing conditions for defence-related industries, and as a follow-up programme to PERIFRA initiated the KONVER programme as a Community initiative, governed by the provisions of the Structural Funds,

D.whereas for the financial year 1993, in compliance with budgetary decisions, the Commission subsequently adopted an ad-hoc KONVER programme, committing around ECU 100 million from the ERDF and ECU 30 million from the ESF, specifically designed to promote and assist reconversion measures in the arms industry and military sites in regions affected by reduced demand for armaments with a view to diversifying the economic base of those regions and converting the defence-related activities to civil use,

E.reiterating the hope that international developments and security policies will not reverse the trend towards reduced demand for weapons,

F.whereas reduced demand for traditional military products, closure, in whole or in part, of military sites, in particular foreign military bases, and defence budget cuts, which so far have been directed mainly at operating expenditure, have had severe social and economic repercussions in many areas of the Community,

G.whereas the Commission has proposed a continuation of the KONVER initiative with a budgetary allocation of ECU 500 million for the period 1994-1997,

1.Welcomes the Commission's proposal for a continuation of the KONVER programme to replace the ad-hoc KONVER programme which was adopted under tight time constraints leading to some undesirable results such as too many small programmes, little overall planning and coordination and insufficient consideration of criteria governing Community initiatives;

2.Welcomes the fact that the KONVER initiative now proposed tallies perfectly with the objectives and parameters of regional development policy and is fully in accordance with the principles governing the application of the Structural Funds, particularly those of concentration and partnership;

3.Deplores the fact that the budgetary allocation earmarked for the KONVER initiative covers only a period of four years rather than the whole period 1994-1999;

4.Proposes that the budgetary allocation be increased by ECU 150 million;

5.Insists that proper reconversion measures are given priority in the forthcoming KONVER programmes and that co-financed projects are effectively integrated in the national development plans with a view to effective economic regeneration of regions which are heavily or wholly dependent on defence-related activities;

6.Warns against a hidden financing of projects which could lead to a modernization of military equipment or renovation of armaments technology on the sites, pointing out that modern defence equipment is most often dual-use;

7.Requests that full access to information concerning the allocation of financial resources from KONVER is given and that no information be withheld with reference to defence secrets;

8.Underlines the importance of transparency in implementing the KONVER initiative by means of:

(a)harmonizing statistical data and the methodological approach to collecting statistics,

(b)reliable and transparent criteria for evaluating all projects submitted by the Member States,

(c)allocating the budgetary appropriations on the basis of the potential contribution of each project to the reconversion of the areas concerned;

9.Considers the degree of geographical flexibility proposed by the Commission for the allocation of KONVER funds (of which up to 50% may go to regions not covered by a geographical objective) to be necessary;

10.Considers that the criterion of number of jobs lost or at risk for defining geographical areas eligible under KONVER should be supplemented by an indication of their degree of socio-economic dependence on defence activities and on their isolation from the main Community centres of economic development, and that full account must be taken of the relative capacity of each of the regions concerned to absorb job losses;

11.Suggests that the Commission broaden its proposal to include forward studies on the degree of vulnerability of the regions of the Community in which defence installations are located;

12.Calls on the Commission to draw up a list summarizing Community initiatives or programmes in the various regions of the Community, in particular so as to coordinate operations under Objective 4 of the European Social Fund;

13.Calls on the Commission to indicate its intentions as regards the allocation of ERDF and ESF appropriations among operational programmes;

14.Underlines that as modern defence products involve high technology, often even advanced technologies, efforts must be made to ensure that EU-financed projects result in activities and products which remain converted to civil use;

15.Points out that the areas appropriate for military conversion often contain extraordinary human resources and technological know-how, which should be preserved and developed;

16.Points out that due to the high technology component in defence-related products and activities and a high proportion of defence staff being skilled with a wide variety of educational backgrounds, there are excellent opportunities for developing useful cooperation with other industrial sectors, so that retraining of employees made redundant in the military sector should be facilitated;

17.Recalls that special efforts might be necessary to adapt former military production installations to new competition rules and marketing conditions with no secure product demand as these will no longer be dictated by defence budgets and policies;

18.Urges that, against this background, those involved should foster intense cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises and product-oriented technological institutes in order to speed up revitalization of the regions concerned; recalls in this connection the obligation inherent in Community initiatives to disseminate know-how obtained in projects co-financed by the EU;

19.Welcomes the flexibility to be adopted in deciding the eligibility of zones at NUTS III level or below, recognizing that in particular defence-related industries or military sites have seldom been set up or located according to viability criteria normally used for civil economic activities but often and logically for reasons of security;

20.Is therefore satisfied that military sites as well as defence production lines will be eligible for support, the former in cases constituting self-maintaining communities;

21.Considers, in this context, that there is also a need for flexibility as regards the percentage of the Structural Funds to be allocated to the programmes in question while pointing out that this in itself should in no way cast any doubt on respect for the rules laid down;

22.Supports the priority being given to all measures supporting the creation of new jobs by diversification of military production activities, the conversion of disused military buildings for new economic or social activities and the use of all possibilities offered by the transfer of technologies; underlines the specific role of SMEs in this process;

23.Points out that the reconversion of sites should be supported on an equal footing with armaments conversion and calls for the highest priority to be given to environmental improvements in the renovation and reconversion of military sites with a view to making them attractive for non-military investment;

24.Urges the Commission to decide between the programmes submitted to it by according priority to those designed to promote environmental rehabilitation, the use for civilian purposes of the research and development potential of the defence industries and the development of human resources;

25.Demands that priorities be made for women's programmes under this initiative and calls on the Commission to earmark resources for programmes, proposals and actions targeting women and to report regularly to the European Parliament in this regard;

26.Finds the threshold of 1000 persons having been made redundant as an eligibility criterion in some cases perhaps inappropriately high, and suggests that in Objective 1 regions a lower figure be accepted if the grounds for this are well documented by the Member State in question, demonstrating the area's disproportionately high dependence on the military presence and on the defence industry, and showing that it has a particularly high level of unemployment;

27.Calls on the Commission and Member States to take into account in the definition of 'eligible areas' the following additional criteria:

-the level of part-time or temporary unemployment in the total number of jobs lost or at risk,

-the area's degree of dependence on defence activity,

-the general level of unemployment in the area,

-the proportion of the total area which has hitherto been used militarily and is now to be converted;

28.Insists, however, in this connection, that KONVER resources must not be allocated to affluent and economically strong regions or areas;

29.Insists that units in a former military production line which in any way produce or contribute to any armaments product, including dual-use and/or defence export articles, should be excluded from receiving structural funding and calls on monitoring authorities to undertake strict verification to this end;

30.Calls for measures to ensure that the abandonment or reduction of production by such undertakings does not result in a process of de-industrialization of the areas benefiting from the KONVER initiative and that instead their advanced technology is used to encourage conversion to other industrial sectors;

31.Approves the eligibility criteria listed in the Commission's draft notice, which all seem particularly well suited for conversion measures within the defence sector and recognize the possibilities of alternative uses of an existing potential;

32.Calls on the Commission to draw up corresponding eligibility criteria for the conversion of military sites;

33.Believes that the KONVER initiative must be coherent and coordinated with the regional and structural programmes and initiatives in the same area;

34.Underlines the Structural Funds' obligation, which is also clearly stated in the Commission's draft notice, to ensure that both local and regional authorities and the two sides of industry are involved in the drawing-up and implementation of operational programmes, in full respect of the partnership principle and additionality principle;

35.Calls on the Commission to report regularly to Parliament on the implementation of this initiative, including a breakdown of the amounts earmarked for each objective;

36.Approves the Commission's invitation to Member States to propose conversion programmes for the defence sector and former military sites under the KONVER initiative;

37.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and Council.