Vol. 416 No. 6
101 Mr. Bradford asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline the way in which the new Cohesion Fund, to be established under the Treaty of Maastricht, is to be financed, and if he will give an assurance that it will not be financed with resources that would otherwise have gone to existing EC Structural Funds.
108 Mr. Boylan asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline the way in which the new Cohesion Fund, to be established under the Treaty of Maastricht, is to be financed, and if he will give an assurance that it will not be financed with resources that would otherwise have gone to existing EC Structural Funds.
127 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline the way in which the new Cohesion Fund, to be established under the Treaty of Maastricht, is to be financed and if he will give an assurance that it will not be financed with resources that would otherwise have gone to existing EC Structural Funds.
129 Mr. S. Barrett asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline the way in which the new Cohesion Fund, to be established under the Treaty of Maastricht, is to be financed and if he will give an assurance that it will not be financed with resources that would otherwise have gone to existing EC Structural Funds.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 101, 108, 127 and 129 together.
It is envisaged that the new Cohesion Fund will be included in the EC budget, which, as the Deputies are aware, is financed from the Community's own resources.
The present ceiling of 1.2 per cent GNP on those own resources will be reviewed shortly in the context of recent EC Commission proposals for a new five year budgetary framework to cover the period 1993-97. These proposals include provision for an increase in Structural Funds and for the new Cohesion Fund.
The Government will seek to ensure in the negotiations on the Commission proposals that there is a substantial increase in the Structural Funds as well as adequate provision for the Cohesion Fund.
