Wulf-Mathies allays enlargement fears

Date: 23/11/1995

By Michael Mann

THE planned enlargement of the EU will not be allowed to have a detrimental effect on funding for its poorer regions, according to Regional Policy Commissioner Monika Wulf-Mathies.

The Union will have to review the workings and financing of the structural and Cohesion Funds before the end of 1999 irrespective of the outlook for enlargement, she claims.

Wulf-Mathies warns against making snap judgements on the potential costs of extending structural policies eastwards, claiming that any numbers put forward at this stage “can be immediately ruled out as a serious basis for decision, as they do not take into account the successes of cohesion policy as well as the economic development in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs)”.

It is far too early to forecast the date of accession for the CEECs, how many will join at any one time or what economic condition they will be in, the Commissioner insisted in an interview with European Voice.

Anxious to reassure the member states currently benefiting from heavy funding, Wulf-Mathies promised that there could be no enlargement without “a clear political guarantee for the continued existence of cohesion policy in the poorest regions of the Union”.

For a number of reasons, there will be a need for a transitional period before any new member states can benefit from the full extent of the structural funds, Wulf-Mathies believes.

“The reform of the structural funds within the Union of the 15 needs to be carried out first and in a manner that gives everybody the time to adopt it. Another reason is that the CEECs will need time to adapt their administrative and management structures to be able to absorb and administer the full proportion of funds being provided to them.”

The aim should be gradually to incorporate any new member states into structural policies and lead them towards “equal treatment with the cohesion countries”.

The Commission has already taken the first steps towards applying the principles of structural policy in the CEECs, with the conversion of the Phare programme to cover multi-annual programmes, including infrastructure investment and support for enterprises, Wulf-Mathies commented in a recent speech at the Centre for European Policy Studies.

“The link between Interreg and Phare in cross-border cooperation will not only promote the transfer of know-how, but help build practical bridges to future member states,” she added.

Regional policies will require greater geographical and thematic concentration, aiming in particular to continue the fight against unemployment, improve competitiveness and environmental protection, and promote equal opportunities for men and women.

Cross-border cooperation will be especially important, and Wulf-Mathies is to seek clarification of the Community's competence on spatial development at next year's Intergovernmental Conference (IGC).

One of the Commissioner's favourite themes is to make the decision-making process more democratic by “giving the European Parliament the right of co-decision to ensure the general legitimisation of the cohesion policy, introducing majority decisions in the Council on the legal basis of the structural funds, increasing the advisory competence of the Committee of the Regions and ensuring greater participation in programme planning and implementation” by all interested parties.

These issues are likely to feature on the agenda of the IGC in 1996.