91997E4189

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4189/97 by Eolo Parodi (UPE) and Guido Viceconte (UPE) to the Commission (21 January 1998)

Subject: Community funds for the rebuilding of the Petruzzelli opera house in Bari

The Petruzzelli opera house in Bari, which was built between 1898 and 1903 and registered as a building of historical and artistic interest in 1954 and a traditional opera house in 1967, and which is the only privately-owned opera house in Europe, was extensively damaged by fire on 27 October 1991.

Another famous Italian opera house, the Fenice in Venice, met a similar fate in 1996, when it was totally destroyed.

Substantial Community funding has rightly been provided for the partial restoration of the Fenice; for some unknown reason, however, only ECU 80 000 have been allocated to the Petruzzelli opera house, for the partial restoration of its foyer.

Given the above, would the Commission state whether:

1. the smallness of the Community grant is due to the fact that, unlike the other European opera houses, the Petruzzelli is privately owned?

2. it would not agree that there is an extremely urgent need for Community funds to be released with a view to the completion of the rebuilding work at the Petruzzelli, given that the Messeni Nemagna family, which owns the opera house, does not have the funds required to complete the restoration work?

Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission (26 February 1998)

1. As part of the support granted in 1994 for pilot projects involving the conservation of Europe's architectural heritage - the theme of which was theatres and opera houses - the Petruzzelli opera house in Bari, Italy, received a grant of some ECU 80 000 from the Commission.

As part of the preparation for the Raphaêl programme, the Commission launched other initiatives in support of the conservation of architectural heritage in 1995, 1996 and 1997, in various priority areas (religious and baroque buildings, decorative facades and pre-industrial architecture).

2. In the context of regional development initiatives (Structural Funds), the rebuilding of the opera house was listed as one of the beneficiaries under measure 6.3, 'Recovery of cultural property', of the operational programme cofinanced by the Structural Funds for the Puglia region during the period 1994-1999.

According to information received by the Italian authorities, a request for finance was submitted under this initiative, but was not accepted by the Italian regional authorities at that stage as some of the conditions for eligibility had not been fulfilled.

Even though the property is of public interest, as it is in private hands and is a potential source of profit, the level of cofinancing granted must be restricted to a percentage of the eligible expenditure, in accordance with the provisions laid down by Community regulations.