Peter Barry
Question:41 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether there was agreement at the Maastricht Summit to increase the level of funding to facilitate cohesion, and, if so, if he will give details of the amount involved.
Written Answers. - EC Cohesion Funding.
The Maastricht Summit in December 1991 reached agreement on the text of the Treaty on European Union. The Treaty and its attached Cohesion Protocol greatly strengthen the Community's policies relating to the promotion of cohesion. In the Treaty itself, for example, cohesion and solidarity between member states is added to the basic tasks of the Community in Article 2.
The Cohesion Protocol reaffirms that the promotion of economic and social cohesion is vital and underlines the importance of the inclusion of economic and social cohesion in the Treaty.
The Protocol also reaffirms the role of the Structural Funds in the field of cohesion. It states that the appropriate size of these funds is to be reviewed in 1992 in the light of the tasks of the Community in the area of economic and social cohesion.
The Treaty also provides for a Cohesion Fund in addition to the existing Structural Funds. The Protocol provides that this Cohesion Fund shall be set up during 1993 and be for the benefit of member states with a per capita GNP below 90 per cent of the Community average, in other words, Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain. The Treaty and Protocol do not specify the levels of the funds. They set out the framework within which amounts are to be set.
Following Maastricht, the Commission made proposals on the budgetary framework for 1993 to 1997. They propose that the Structural Funds for the less developed regions, that is to say the Objective 1 regions which include the whole of Ireland, should increase by 67 per cent. They also propose that, taking the new Cohesion Fund into account, the total funds for the four cohesion countries — Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain taken as a whole — would be doubled.
These proposals are now being discussed by the Council. The Government will continue to press within the Council, and as necessary in bilateral contacts with our partners, for agreement on the provision of as high a level as possible of funds for cohesion purposes.