Vol. 415 No. 8
179 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline the amount of aid that will be available under the Delors II Package which is under negotiation at present and will be implemented from 1992 to 1997 in respect of structural aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
182 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Finance if any system has been agreed by EC member states in respect of the contribution to the Cohesion Fund which will be established; if this system will take the degree of prosperity within each member state into account; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 179 and 182 together.
The Commission has just recently presented its proposals on the budgetary framework for the period 1993-97. Discussion on these proposals will commence shortly within the Council of Ministers.
The amount of structural aid which will be available clearly will depend on the outcome of the negotiations. The Commission have proposed that there should be an increase of two-thirds in the resources made available to the Objective 1 Regions and that, taking account of the new Cohesion Fund, there could be a doubling of the overall resources for the four countries covered by the new fund, that is Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal.
It is envisaged that the Cohesion Fund will be included in the EC budget which, as the Deputy is aware, is financed from the Community's own resources. Both the level and the system of own resources will feature in the forthcoming negotiations. The Commission has proposed some changes in the VAT-based own resource which would result in some improvement in the relationship between actual contributions and the contributive capacity of the member states.
