§ Dr. Michael ClarkTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if there will be a revision of the areas eligible for grant from the EU structural funds under objective 2. [9379]
§ Mr. Eggar[pursuant to his reply, 11 January 1996, Official Report, co. 293]:
On 8 March, the Commission announced that member states' total populations eligible for objective 2 grant will remain unchanged.
529WThis is welcome news for the United Kingdom, preserving our national share of the total population in objective 2 areas, which is the largest of all member states. It follows strong representations made by the Government to the Commission and reflects the consensus at the meeting of EC Ministers in Madrid on 1 December in favour of complete continuity between the current list and the new list of areas.
The Commission is, however, inviting member states, if they wish, to make in the near future proposals for marginal additions to the list, to be balanced by proposed deletions of areas of equal population. I have considered carefully the question of proposing marginal changes to the list of UK objective 2 areas.
The programmes for current eligible areas have been running for less than 18 months. This is insufficient time to address the long-term structural problems which led to their designation under objective 2. I have had some representations in favour of additions to the list, and some in favour of no change, but only one proposing deletions, in a different part of the country from the proposer. I therefore do not intend to put forward any proposals for changes in the UK list. The list of eligible British areas will therefore remain unchanged.