§ Mr. TippingTo ask the President of the Board of Trade when the east midlands RECHAR II decision document was due to be signed by the European Commission; what delays have occurred; what outstanding issues are yet to be resolved; what reasons are given by the Commission for any such delays; when he expects the decision document will be signed; and if he will make a statement. [31685]
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§ Mr. Eggar[holding answer 3 July 1995]: In common with all the Community initiatives programmes sent by member states by the deadline of 31 October 1994 set in the relevant European Commission notice of 1 July, the east midlands RECHAR II programme should have been adopted by 30 April 1995. The process was delayed by the tardy initial response by the Commission to the programme. The Commission wrote on 13 February 1995. The Commission has, in discussions with officials, stated that delays are due to delays in the negotiations of member states' objective 2 and objective 5(b) single programme documents and Community support framework and the large number of Community initiative programmes sent by member states.
I understand that there are no outstanding issues on the east midlands RECHAR II programme and the Commission expect to adopt the programme by the end of July.