19. COHESION FUND
| (23895)
13256/02
COM(02) 557
| The Commission's 2001 Annual Report on the Cohesion Fund.
|
| Legal base: | —
|
| |
| Document originated: | 15 October 2002
|
| Deposited in Parliament: | 22 October 2002
|
| Department: | Trade and Industry
|
| Basis of consideration: | EM of 6 November 2002
|
| Previous Committee Report: | None
|
| To be discussed in Council: | Not known
|
| Committee's assessment: | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision: | Cleared
|
Background
19.1
The Cohesion Fund supports large-scale environmental and transport
projects in Member States with GNP of less than 90% of the Community
average. The Member States currently receiving Cohesion Fund support
are Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. The Fund helps these
countries to meet the objectives of environmental policy as defined
in Article 174 of the Treaty and also assists the development
of transport projects of common European interest, the latter
forming part of or connecting with Trans-European Networks (TENs).
The document
19.2
The document is the annual report giving details of the allocation
of funding from the Cohesion Fund to the four recipient Member
States for 2001, the second year of operation of the Fund under
the 2000-2006 programme. The total of commitments appropriations
for 2001 was i2,715
million (£1,694 million), of which the transport sector accounted
for 48.5% (a substantial part for rail projects under the TENs
transport programme) and the environment for 51.5% of commitments.
The total of payment appropriations for 2001 was i1,983
million (£1,238 million): transport accounted for 38.7% and
the environment for 61.3%.
19.3
Allocations to each country in 2001 were as follows:
|
Greece |
Ireland |
Portugal |
Spain |
Total |
| Commitment appropriations |
|
|
|
|
|
| i million |
467 |
115 |
456 |
1,676 |
2,714 |
| £ million |
291 |
72 |
731 |
1,046 |
2,140 |
| % of total |
17.2 |
4.3 |
16.8 |
61.8 |
48.5 (transport)
51.5 (environment)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Payment appropriations |
|
|
|
|
|
| i million |
255 |
311 |
434 |
979 |
1,983 |
| £ million |
159 |
194 |
271 |
611 |
1,238 |
| % of total |
12.9 |
15.7 |
21.9 |
49.5 |
38.7 (transport)
61.3 (environment)
|
Note: Commitment appropriations are the money made available;
payment appropriations are the money actually spent.
19.4
The document reports on the evaluation, monitoring and assessment
activities both of the Member States concerned and of the Commission.
It notes that the Anti-Fraud Office carried out no investigations
concerning the Cohesion Fund during the year, but that the Greek
authorities notified four cases of irregularities involving a
total of i2.4 million (£1.5 million).
19.5
In order to benefit from continued assistance from the Cohesion
Fund, Member States must avoid excessive deficits in accordance
with the requirement of Article 104 of the Treaty.[60]
According to the Commission, Greece, Ireland and Spain did not
have excessive deficits in 2001. However, the Commission decided
to initiate for Portugal the excessive deficit procedure, as laid
down in the Council resolution on the Stability and Growth Pact,
because the public deficit for 2001 had reached 4.1% of GDP (the
reference level being 3%).
The Government's view
The Government's view
19.6
The Minister of State for Employment Relations and the Regions,
Department of Trade and Industry (Mr Alan Johnson) tells us there
are no direct policy implications or new financial implications
arising from this report.
Conclusion
Conclusion
19.7
This is a useful report on an important fund. We clear the
document.
60 Council Regulation (EC) No 1164/94.
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