Barnier unveils proposals for ISPA funding

Date: 01/06/2000

By John Shelley

THE European Commission has drawn up proposals for sharing out the first tranche of money from a special fund for transport and environment projects in the applicant countries.

Under plans due to be unveiled next week by Regional Affairs Commissioner Michel Barnier, €118 million of this year's €1.058-billion budget for projects to help bring candidates' road, rail and air infrastructure and environmental standards into line with the Union's would be earmarked for road-building and water treatment schemes in Poland and Lithuania.

Work on the first projects to benefit from the Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession (ISPA) fund could begin this summer, if EU governments approve the plan quickly.

Three of the four suggested schemes aim to improve key roads in the candidate countries. In Lithuania, cash is proposed for improving a road between Vilnius and the Baltic sea port of Klaipeda, while in Poland, the Commission has suggested allocating money to a road linking Warsaw with the Estonian capital Tallinn and a section of highway to help link Germany, the mining areas of Poland and the Ukraine. The final project is a water and sewage programme in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz.

Commission officials say the projects will raise standards by more than is "strictly necessary," because the aim is not only to improve the environment in these countries but also to bring them in line with Union legislation.

Decisions on which projects will benefit from ISPA funding - both in this slice and in a second larger wave of projects worth €300 million due to be agreed in July - will be watched carefully by the applicant countries. They regard regional aid as a key compensation for the pain caused by the economic reforms necessary to prepare for EU membership.

The European Commission has drawn up proposals for sharing out the first tranche of money from a special fund for transport and environmental projects in the applicant countries.