Brussels, 12/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Barnier sounded the alarm bell, when speaking to MEPs from the EP's Committee on Regional Policy on Monday, regarding the very low level of use this year of credits allocated to regional policy, except for Objective One. "Some of you are concerned, and rightly so, about the budgetary execution of the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund for this year", the Commissioner told MEPs, ensuring them that the matter was also of "constant concern" to him also.
Only 16% of the funds available this year for the Cohesion Fund were committed end August, said the Commissioner, who warned that "some of these funds could be definitively lost". The responsibility for these hold-ups lies, says the Commissioner, with three of the eligible countries - Spain, Greece and Portugal - which have not presented a sufficient number of projects. Although Spain has presented during the year a series of projects that "allow room for hope of integral implementation of commitments this year", this is not the case for "Portugal and mainly Greece", given the little time remaining for the Commission to examine projects. The Cohesion Fund is intended to allow Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland to catch up in terms of transport and the environment.
For the Structural Funds, the low use of credits is linked to delays incurred in the elaboration and adoption of multiannual programmes for 2001-2006. This is mainly true for Objective 2, intended for regions undergoing reconversion, with 2% of the rate of execution of commitment appropriations. The determination of areas eligible has taken up considerable time, incurring delays. It was not completed until July for Italy. Because of this, only the two Finnish programming documents (Docup) were adopted. These documents fix the type of projects eligible. They must be adopted so that the launching of projects may begin. "Eighty-eight other Docups, out of a total of 102, are on the table, and a large part of them will be approved by the end of the year" if Member States fully cooperate. The Commissioner nonetheless called on MEPs to show proof of understanding for these delays, and to allow, next year, "during the adaptation of financial perspectives" the use of credits, in 2001, that could not be used up in 2000. He called for the same approach regarding the initiatives Interreg (cross-border cooperation) and Urban (urban development), for which no funds have been used to date.
The balance for Objective 1, intended for regions lagging behind, is better, since 39% of credits available have been committed. The Commissioner said he hoped "implementation close to 100% for the end of the year", when the last programming documents are also expected to have been adopted.
Michel Barnier also spoke of another regional policy tool, the "innovative actions", whose themes and rules for use were fixed by the Commission on 12 July. These actions only benefit from EUR 400 million over the whole of the programming period, but, through their status as pilot actions, they are "formidable testing laboratories" for the years to come.