91997E3406

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3406/97 by Concepció Ferrer (PPE) to the Commission (28 October 1997)

Subject: ERDF innovative measures

The Commission has chosen eight areas for action or cooperation as part of the ERDF innovative measures (Article 10 of the ERDF regulation) for the 1995-99 period. They are: new sources of employment, culture and heritage, promotion of technological innovation, the information society, spatial planning, urban development, internal inter-regional cooperation and external inter-regional cooperation.

Will the Commission state, for each of the above areas and for each Member State (or group of Member States in the case of transnational projects) how many projects have been submitted, how many of them have so far been approved and how much money, in ecus, has been granted?

How much funding is it planned to allocate to each of the eight areas for the 1995-99 period?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (9 December 1997)

Tables giving the information requested in respect of six of the eight themes mentioned are being transmitted directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat. So far some 133 MECU have been allocated to these six themes from the European regional development fund out of a budget of 190 MECU for the period 1995-1999. Certain projects also benefit from contributions from the European social fund or PHARE. Of the 1 483 projects submitted under the six themes, 161 were approved. Regarding internal interregional cooperation (Recite II, budget 110 MECU) and external interregional cooperation (Ecos-Ouverture, budget 70 MECU), these programmes are yet to be finalised.