2004 enlargement: impact on regions bordering candidate countries, action for border regions

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Renate SOMMER (EPP-ED, German) emphasising the specific problems of border regions post-enlargement. The exceptional burdens imposed on Objective 1 areas lying directly on a border will need to be taken properly into account. The strategy proposed by the Commission is a first step towards tackling the specific problems of the border regions by means of the targeted package of measures. With regard to structural policy instruments, Parliament called for the drawing-up of a catalogue of indicators - still to be defined- to counteract any social and economic problems. Specific assistance to border regions should be available in addition to the existing assistance options. SMU's should receive more INTERREG funding. Parliament does not consider the endowment of EUR 195 million to be adequate given the scale of the task. Given the figure, the percentage for TEN is too high, since the border region will only be able to benefit indirectly from the extension of the TEN routes. It welcomes the agreement between the two arms of the budgetary authority to increase the endowment by EUR 65 million. This should be assigned to solving the specific problems faced by SMUs in the border regions.�