Brussels, 19/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - By adopting the opinion of Rosario Condorelli (ELDR, Italy) during the plenary session of 13-14 April on the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), the Committee of the Regions (CoR) regrets that the text in the new regulation only recognises the “handicap of certain islands”. The committee is therefore asking that “mountainous, scarcely populated areas, border regions and zones next to abandoned factories” are included. It also hopes that under the “European territorial cooperation objective”, ERDF will be able to fund any initiative “promoting the spirit of enterprise, particularly the creation of SMEs, tourism, culture and the use of information technology” the committee is also asking for the positive experiences of networks of cities and local bodies which have been set up for some time, to be assessed, as well as those recently set up.
The Committee of the Regions also adopted the recommendation of Antoni Pavia (EPP, Portugal) on Cohesion funds. Pavia was concerned that “financial assistance from the fund could be suspended if a Member State was in excessive public deficit and if it had not taken follow-up action on the effects or if the action was deemed inappropriate”. The committee is opposed to such measures and wants the text to reaffirm that Member States are eligible for Cohesion Funds if their Gross National Income (GNP) is les than 90% the Community average.