A3-0267/94

Resolution on the draft notice from the Commission to the Member States laying down guidelines for operational programmes which Member States are invited to establish in the framework of a Community initiative concerning cross-border cooperation and selected energy networks (INTERREG II)(COM(94)0046 - C3-0125/94)

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the Commission draft notice to the Member States (COM(94)0046 - C3-0125/94),

-having regard to Regulation (EEC) No. 2081/93 amending Regulation (EEC) No. 2052/88 on the tasks of the Structural Funds and their effectiveness and on coordination of their activities between themselves and with the operations of the European Investment Bank and the other existing financial instruments, in particular Articles 5(5) and 12(5) thereof,

-having regard to Regulation (EEC) No. 2082/93 amending Regulation (EEC) No. 4253/88 laying down provisions for implementing Regulation (EEC) No. 2052/88 as regards coordination of the activities of the different Structural Funds between themselves and with the operations of the European Investment Bank and the other existing financial instrument, in particular Article 11 thereof,

-having regard to paragraph 2 of the code of conduct on the implementation of structural policies by the Commission,

-having regard to its resolution of 15 June 1990 on a Community initiative in favour of border areas (INTERREG programme),

-having regard to its resolution of 26 October 1990 on a Community initiative concerning transmission and distribution networks for energy (REGEN),

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

-having regard to the conclusions of the Edinburgh European Council of 11 and 12 December 1992, according to which Community initiatives 'should mainly promote cross-border, transnational and inter-regional cooperation and assistance for the outermost regions, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity',

-having regard to the work of the Council of Europe in this field and the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Communities or Authorities,

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

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

-having regard to the general budget for the European Union for the financial year 1994, in particular Article B2-140 and Chapter B0-40,

-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 Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment, the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the Committee on Women's Rights (A3-0267/94),

A.whereas border regions play a special geographical role in the building of Europe, given their position as areas in which national territories and societies meet and overlap on a daily basis,

B.having regard to the historical problems facing border regions, whose development is hampered by the existence of frontiers which divide them artificially and turn them into the periphery of their respective States,

C.having regard to the additional difficulties suffered by important sectors of the economy in border regions as a result of the single market, with large job losses resulting from the abolition of customs and the levelling off of prices, which has lead to serious conflicts in a number of regions,

D.whereas harmonious development of the European Union requires an overall vision of the Community area; whereas the integration of border regions is a key factor in the development of any future European spatial planning policy,

E.having regard to the broad consensus achieved by measures taken under the INTERREG I initiative,

F.whereas the Edinburgh European Council accorded high priority to cross-border cooperation within the new generation of Community initiatives,

G.Considering the proposal to extend INTERREG to a limited number of additional maritime border regions,

H.having regard to the need to complete the projects for the transmission and distribution of gas started under the REGEN initiative and to fund other projects of a transnational nature in the same field,

1.Notes the inclusion in the INTERREG II initiative of projects still pending which were planned under the REGEN initiative, is surprised at this overlap, which, except in a limited number of cases of transnational projects, does not appear to be justified, and calls therefore on the Commission to ensure that the two areas to which INTERREG II applies are administered in a scrupulously transparent fashion;

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

(a)CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION

3.Believes that the limited budgetary resources proposed by the Commission conflict with the priority accorded to cross-border cooperation by the Edinburgh European Council and reaffirmed by Parliament; emphasizes in this connection that, while, at the previous stage, INTERREG accounted for approximately 21% of the total amount allocated to Community initiatives, the resources envisaged for INTERREG II barely represent 17% of the total and must be distributed among a larger number of potentially eligible regions;

4.Considers it essential that the funds set aside for cross-border cooperation at the internal and external borders of the European Union be increased so that they are sufficient to meet the requirements due to the increase in the number of eligible regions and are commensurate with the new conditions obtaining there and, above all, so as to prevent any reduction in aid for these regions in real terms;

5.Believes that priority must be accorded to cross-border cooperation at internal frontiers because, apart from the need to give economic support to these regions, such measures can perform an integrating role of value to the Community as a whole: cross-border cooperation helps create a homogeneous internal area by harmonizing the social, economic and cultural fabric;

6.Considers that it is equally necessary to support disadvantaged regions which are on the external borders of the European Union because this (a) will strengthen the most peripheral regions and (b) may promote progress in cooperation with third countries - which would be to the advantage of the Union - and contribute to the creation and development of economic ties both with Mediterranean third countries and with countries of Central and Eastern Europe;

7.Supports the priority accorded by the Commission to projects submitted in cooperation with local and regional authorities, believes this priority must be absolute and reaffirms thereby its faith in the principle of partnership laid down in Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2081/93 in particular as regards cross-border cooperation;

8.Supports likewise the priority accorded by the Commission to projects which include the establishment or development of shared administrative or institutional structures, which is to be achieved with the consensus of all the relevant authorities, and recalls that this type of arrangement has, in the many cases where it already exists, proved effective in widening and deepening cross-border cooperation;

9.Calls on frontier regions and districts to set up permanent bodies for cross-border cooperation;

10.Regrets once again that there is, on the whole, no appropriate legal framework to facilitate cross-border cooperation, especially between local and regional authorities on both sides of a frontier;

11.Recommends that, wherever possible, the Council of Europe Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Communities or Authorities and the model and draft agreements annexed thereto be utilized and enlarged upon;

12.Repeats its call to the Member States which have not yet done so to ratify and make full use of the Council of Europe Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Communities or Authorities;

13.Asks that in exceptional cases, and in the context of cross-border cooperation programmes, Community assistance may be given to measures in NUTS III areas located outside those areas at NUTS III level referred to in paragraph 8 of the draft notice, fully taking into account the maritime borders, provided that they allow account to be taken of the most important trade centres for cross-border cooperation, which should ideally be classified as Objective 1, 2 or 5b regions, and they do not account for more than 20% of the total expenditure of the operational programmes concerned;

Definition of eligible areas

14.Notes the increase in the number of regions eligible for INTERREG funds, in accordance with the new Structural Fund regulations and in line with Parliament's suggestions; does not, however, consider it justifiable that existing cross-border organizations (for instance, Euregios) based on socio-economic and historical foundations should remain separated and calls for Annexes 1 and 2 to be amended accordingly;

15.Supports a degree of flexibility in the use of the geographical - administrative definition of eligible areas, so that a wider range of areas than those classified as NUTS III zones can be considered, especially for funding of measures relating to spatial planning including the maritime dimension;

Eligible measures

16.Notes the expanded range of measures eligible for INTERREG funds and welcomes, in particular, the fact that the construction of trans-European networks and spatial planning are included;

17.Stresses the importance of aid for training and employment, notably for the unemployed or persons directly or indirectly affected by changes that have taken place in border activities;

18.Believes that one of the main objectives of cross-border cooperation must be to bring people closer together, which requires support for measures to encourage public participation through associations and bodies active in the fields of education and culture, including the joint use of resources and facilities on a cross-border basis, and particularly through cooperation at higher education level between research centres and universities, and vocational training; it should also include measures of European interest to promote cooperation between the printed and audio-visual media, the overall aim being to dismantle prejudices and promote the integration of Europe, even beyond external borders;

19.Calls on the Commission to give priority to projects aimed at combating the scourge of unemployment by making the best use of human resources and giving priority to the development of small and medium-sized undertakings;

20.Repeats its special concern for measures to promote small and medium-sized enterprises and crafts, particularly since the evidence is that growth in these enterprises is a more rapid way of generating new jobs;

21.Points out that promoting equal opportunities for men and women calls for an integrated approach and that, consequently, this aspect should not be ignored in the INTERREG programmes;

22.Notes that, as far as the type of eligible measures is concerned, internal and external borders are placed on an equal footing and emphasizes that, in the case of external frontiers, the priority of INTERREG should be to overcome their isolation and make adjustments to reflect their new position as external borders;

23.Believes that Commission action taken via technical assistance measures should play a special role in encouraging participation by regional and local operators directly involved in cross-border cooperation, and that regional and local operators in the relevant border areas of neighbouring third countries should also be included in this process;

The Community's contribution to the financing of projects

24.Notes the budgetary ceiling fixed for the contribution by INTERREG in areas not included in Objectives 1, 2 and 5b and calls on the Commission to give an annual account of the funds earmarked for regions not covered by these objectives; calls also on the Commission to provide a breakdown by objective of the funds allocated to Objective 1, 2 and 5b areas;

25.Calls on the Commission to specify what contributions are to be provided from respectively the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund to the funding of the initiative;

26.Believes that, to evaluate the quality of the programmes, the Commission must take full account of the degree of involvement of regional and local operators in the planning and implementation of such programmes;

27.Calls on the Commission, when evaluating the quality of programmes, also to take account of the special geographical features of the region in question;

Implementation

28.Believes the period of four months laid down for the presentation of proposals for operational programmes to be insufficient and calls on the Commission to adhere to the same period as for INTERREG I, i.e. six months, particularly in view of the problems involved in joint presentation by two States of such projects, the need for regional and local involvement in the planning of projects and the need to coordinate projects properly with Community support frameworks which are still at the planning stage;

29.Calls on the Commission to ensure that the operational programmes submitted by the Member States provide an appropriate combination of structural measures and measures to foster human resources;

30.Calls on the Commission to ensure that in the operational programmes, the share-out of funds between structural measures and measures to foster human resources is specified in the clearest possible detail;

31.Calls on the Commission to ensure that when they submit their programmes, the Member States give the clearest possible quantitative indications concerning the aims they are seeking to pursue, so as to enable proper assessment to be made of the effectiveness of jointly financed projects;

32.Believes that, when presenting their programmes, Member States must always show separately the expenditure for areas not covered by Objectives 1, 2 and 5b and, where possible, break down by objective the expenditure for the areas covered by Objectives 1, 2 and 5b;

33.Notes that measures in border areas of neighbouring third countries designed to complement actions under INTERREG II in border areas within the Community can be funded only through budget heading B7-612, which was created specifically for this purpose (in accordance with the agreement between the Community institutions of 12 July 1993 within the framework of conciliation on the revision of the Structural Funds regulations), and after the corresponding legal instrument has been adopted;

34.Calls on the Commission, in cases of cross-border cooperation at external frontiers, to coordinate measures funded on Community territory by INTERREG with those funded on the territory of non-member countries under the specific budget heading of the PHARE programme or under other financial instruments in the case of cooperation with Mediterranean countries; coordination of this kind can only be achieved if the PHARE appropriations allocated for this purpose are fixed on an annual basis;

35.Considers also that, as part of technical aid, measures must be taken to promote and facilitate the exchange of information and the pooling of experience between border regions of the European Union and its Member States;

36.Repeats the plea for better information on the effectiveness of the policy pursued;

(b)COMPLETION OF ENERGY NETWORKS

37.Believes it essential to complete the projects for transmission and distribution networks for gas embarked upon under the REGEN initiative and therefore endorses the continued financing thereof through the Community initiatives;

38.Believes that these are specific transmission and distribution projects for gas which, except in specific cases of transnational projects, have no connection with projects to be funded under the strand 'Cross-border cooperation' of INTERREG II;

39.Calls on the Commission to provide for the funding of projects for gas transmission and distribution networks other than those initially envisaged, where they are transnational in nature;

40.Regrets that the Commission has not provided for a specific Community initiative to ensure the continuity of REGEN and, in the absence thereof, calls on the Commission to ensure that the budgetary aspects of the two strands of INTERREG II are managed entirely separately and transparently;

41.Calls on the Commission to inform Parliament regularly about the implementation of this initiative;

42.Recommends that an assessment be made midway through the implementation of each initiative with a view to improving the efficiency with which resources are applied and taken up and making optimum use thereof so as to enable a decision to be made when the assessment has been completed on possible adjustments to the overall indicative amounts;

43.Calls on the Commission to publish an implementation review one year before the initiative is due to end and to submit it to the European Parliament;

44.Calls on the Commission to include the following areas in Annex 1 in the relevant category:

Ireland

South East

South West

United Kingdom

Glamorgan

Dyfed

East Sussex

Essex

Merseyside

Swansea

France

Haute Normandie

Picardie (département de la Somme)

Corsica

Italy

Tuscany

Germany

Kiel

Rendsburg-Eckernförde;

45.Calls on the Commission to amend Annex 1 in respect of the UK as follows:

UNITED KINGDOM

Objective 1

Northern Ireland (three words deleted)

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