Bonn dispute casts doubt on tourism policy

Date: 31/10/1996

By Simon Coss

GERMANY has forced the postponement of a meeting of

EU tourism ministers originally scheduled for next week, casting serious doubts over the future of the European Commission's Philoxenia support programme for the industry.

Bonn has registered deep reservations over the 25-million-ecu scheme proposed by the Commission, arguing that tourism policy should be the responsibility of regional government with no need for an EU-wide approach.

The Irish presidency is negotiating to try to re-schedule the meeting before the end of the year, but officials admit the prospects are bleak.

Commission officials have expressed both surprise and disappointment at the German stance.

“Everyone is agreed that the main priority for all EU member states is to stimulate job creation. This programme would be a positive step towards that goal,” said an aide to Tourism Commissioner Christos Papoutsis.

Some within the Commission believe the German position has a more sinister subtext.

Papoutsis is understood to be furious with certain member states which he feels are using fraud investigations currently under way within the Directorate-General for tourism (DGXXIII) as an excuse to rubbish Philoxenia.

The investigations concern the misuse of EU funds dating back to the 1990 European Year of Tourism.

Bonn denies it is 'punishing' the Commission for the problems in DGXXIII, saying rather that it believes the principle of subsidiarity should be applied to tourism policy.

Meanwhile, the Commission is working on proposals to add measures to the Philoxenia scheme to stamp out sex tourism, which are due to be adopted next month. The issue has been given top priority following the Belgian paedophilia scandal.