Examination of Witnesses (Questions 220
- 222)
TUESDAY 25 JULY 2000
RT HON
HILARY ARMSTRONG
MP, MR PAUL
HOUSTON AND
MR DERMOT
PADDON
220. Do you think it is going to make it easier
for local authorities and RDAs to get on with this land assembly
issue?
(Hilary Armstrong) I really do not know at the moment,
Andrew, but I would hope so.
221. I think you may have sensed that there
is a great deal of despondency, anger, and I think many members
feel that this ruling is absolutely crazy. Is there anything that
you can do finally to convince us that the Commission as not utterly
stupid in what it has done and that it has put regeneration back
a very long way in this country?
(Hilary Armstrong) As I say, I think the real issue
is that regeneration has come within the State aid rules which
are really in many senses there for other sorts of programmes.
I have to say that on reading the State aid rules, I did wonder
how PIP had got through in the first place. I do think that we
therefore should, and will, pursue that longer-term aim of getting
a new framework for regeneration, because it is certainly in our
interests to make sure that there is a better level playing field
between members of the Community on State aids, because I do think
that this country has frequently suffered from playing by the
rules when others have not been. But I am, nonetheless, convinced
that other Member States are seeing the benefits of the way we
have done regeneration, and I think that the Commission sees that
and I hope that we can therefore work in the long-term to get
a programme for regeneration and I believe that is the best way
forward.
222. So should State aid rules be high on the
agenda for the next meeting of Heads of State in the Commission?
(Hilary Armstrong) There needs to be a lot more work
done before that happens but I am also saying that it is not the
State aid rules per se, it is the way in which they relate
to regeneration that is the problem. It is how we sort that out
that is important, and that is why it may well be that what we
really ought to have is a new framework for regeneration.
Chairman: On that note, thank you very much
for your evidence.
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