Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-16-Speech-2-219"
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"en.19991116.10.2-219"2
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"It would be a great pity if I could not get my message across, because I have some useful things to tell you.
Mr Hatzidakis, there has been no change in the Commission’s position. In tragic circumstances, such as those which some years past affected Portugal or Italy and, more recently, Greece – which I recently visited twice, once, a month ago, with my fellow Commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou, and again just a few days ago – we are basing our attitude on the same Regulations of the Structural Funds and we are being accountable. You cannot ask the Commission to do anything other than comply with the Regulations ourselves and ensure that they are complied with by others.
But, at the same, different responses are possible within the terms of these Regulations, and this is what I confirmed to the Prime Minister of your country, Mr Simitis, and to the other government ministers whom I met. Damage to public property in Greece following the latest earthquake on 6 September, and I am speaking from memory, are evaluated at approximately EUR 2.5 billion. In order not to compromise the considerable efforts undertaken in that country, particularly in terms of achieving budgetary stability, in preparation for its entry into the euro system, Greece called upon external appropriations of approximately EUR 1.9 billion.
We calculated that EUR 1 billion of public expenditure was eligible within the terms of the Regulations of the Structural Funds. Right now, without any change to the Regulations, and this is the best way, EUR 1 billion in public expenditure was eligible for European aid, within the framework of the total appropriations allocated to Greece. We are going to redistribute and redeploy these appropriations in order to carry out the works necessary in the aftermath of the earthquake, and these works shall be subsidised on average up to 80%. For the rest, your country is probably, in the near future, going to receive a loan in the amount of EUR 900 million at an extremely advantageous rate from the European Investment Bank.
My impression, then, and I mention this because it involves the question of solidarity among all the countries of the Union, is that, following the earthquake in Greece, there has been a good response in relation to material damage. It is not possible, naturally, to repair the human damage and the loss of life. No more than it is possible to do so in the context of the floods which have just struck France and which have caused dozens of deaths. I simply wish to say that in such cases I shall adopt a pragmatic approach in order to be able to adapt the programming of Objective 1 or Objective 2, according to the requests made by national authorities, in order to aid reconstruction in these countries. This is indeed a matter for regional development."@en1
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