Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-15-Speech-4-130"
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"en.20000615.4.4-130"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is once again time for us to consider a Commission report on the implementation of Structural Funds appropriations, this time for 1998, and to express the views of our group.
The rapporteur, whom I would like to thank very warmly, depicts very varied trends in expenditure under the Structural Funds. The picture is one of some positive aspects compared with previous years, combined with continuing problems.
I would like to concentrate on two issues. The first is that EU financial resources have undeniably led to a process of recovery in the poorest regions and Member States. Nevertheless, the gap between the least and most developed regions of the Community has scarcely decreased. That means that disparities in regional development continue to exist, even if the overall level is higher. This is of course totally unsatisfactory as far as I and my group are concerned. And this dissatisfaction is all the greater when you consider that the continuing regional differences, as measured in income per capita, are particularly reflected in unemployment figures. Even though there has been a reduction in unemployment in the EU in absolute terms in recent months, the total number of people without jobs is still far too high. In Germany alone there are still over 3.8 million unemployed, and the employment rate is still markedly higher.
If we were to use this issue alone to gauge the success of Structural Fund policy, we would pass a devastatingly negative judgment on it.
Secondly, the problems of unemployment, which are not tackled under the Structural Funds alone, underscore the importance of efficient coordination of the implementation of funds from the various EU and national support programmes and of restructuring and allocating more money to all those funds that generate new jobs.
As the rapporteur rightly emphasises, there was some progress in this area in 1998, but it was still far from adequate. In view of all the difficulties which undeniably exist, I regard this as a key starting point for greater effectiveness and thus more efficient use of the appropriations implemented, and I believe that this is something that people hit by unemployment in the various countries would welcome."@en1
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