WRITTEN QUESTION E-0218/03

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 February 2003)

Subject: Community funding for local authorities in Greece

It has been alleged in the Greek press that on 16 January 2003 the procedure was set in motion for sequestering Mytilene town hall with a view to recovering debts contracted by the municipal authority whose term of office expired on 31 December 2002. Unless the municipality meets its obligations, this procedure will be completed on 3 March 2003 with the sale by auction of the town hall. This situation has arisen owing to the failure of the previous municipal authority to expunge debts arising from the expropriation of land in 1997 on which a final court ruling was handed down in 2000.

The same publications state that the Lesbos shipping company, NEL LINES, which the previous mayor of Mytilene had headed from 1997 until the end of his term of office (December 2002), is having very considerable problems in paying off debts it contracted through the purchase of rapid vessels.

Which Community initiatives or Community Support Frameworks (CSFs) have provided aid for the municipality of Mytilene and its municipal enterprises? Exactly how much aid has been provided in which years? Have NEL LINES received funding from Community initiatives or CSFs? If so, how much and when? How does the Commission view the prospect of Mytilene town hall being sequestered? Is there any precedent for such a move in any other EU Member State?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2003)

Based on the information available to the Commission, the Mytilene town hall building to which the Honourable Member refers was not acquired with support from Community funding. Nor did the company NEL Lines receive assistance from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the 1989-1993 and 1994-1999 Community support frameworks.

But a number of projects proposed to the Greek authorities by the Lesbos municipality of Mytilene did receive Community assistance, including via the 1989-1993 and 1994-1999 Community support frameworks. That assistance mainly came under the EAPTA sub-programme of the operational programmes for the North Aegean region.

The installation in Mytilene of a 300 kilowatt (kW) electricity-producing wind turbine was 70 % part-funded in 1994 by the special programme for the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea. The total installation cost was ECU 390 070.

The Commission would also inform the Honourable Member that the construction of the Mytilene municipal waste-water and sewage treatment plant, opened in 2002, was the subject of a specific Commission decision as a Cohesion Fund project. The Community assistance granted for this amounted to EUR 35 179 980, out of a total cost of EUR 42 286 533.

Lastly, the Commission would invite the Honourable Member to ask the national and regional authorities responsible to provide a full list of the funding received by the municipality of Mytilene.