Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-06-Speech-3-284"
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"en.20020206.11.3-284"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Structural Funds were designed to support the effort that the Member States put into their regional development policy and thus to strengthen the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the European Union. It must be noted that the aid provided by the Structural Funds to the most disadvantaged regions is absolutely vital and that the contribution of these funds has become essential in enabling certain regions, which are lagging behind in development, to catch up, particularly the outermost regions, which I know well.
The start of the new 2000-2006 programming period has once again shown us the problems in the practical implementation of the Structural Funds, with the Member States regretting the time taken by the Commission to approve the general programme guidelines and the Commission criticising the time taken by the Member States to submit their programming plans and the additional information requested.
It is essential that the next programme negotiations are kept within strictly limited, precise and binding time limits, so that the Member States and the Commission respect the rules laid down.
The time that elapsed between setting up the programmes is, without doubt, one of the reasons that explains why the initial figures on their execution are so disappointing, but this is, of course, not the only explanation. Following Agenda 2000, the processing of the funds was decentralised and each Member State gained overall responsibility for implementing, monitoring and ensuring the efficiency of the structural interventions on its territory.
As for France, I wish to formally appeal to the prefects of the regions that are eligible for Objectives 1 and 2 to make every effort to mobilise and encourage those responsible for the projects and to give them all the necessary technical support to enable them to carry out the programmes more successfully. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to involve businesses in Community programmes, since the management of the projects appears complicated and the procedures appear slow. This is an aspect that the national authorities must focus on, without fail, in order to enhance the attraction of Structural Funds in the private sector.
Lastly, to conclude with a firm proposal, I think that one of the ways to simplify and lighten the administrative burden would, in fact, be to introduce a single regional development fund in 2007."@en1
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