Activites

• 2001/07/12 Final act published in Official Journal
• 2000/10/25 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0470/2000 summary

    Based on the report drafted by Mrs Margie SUDRE (EPP-ED, F) European Parliament adopted a resolution on the measures to implement Article 299(2): the outermost regions of the European Union. In adopting the resolution, the European Parliament underlined that enlargement is liable to lead to a reduction of the Community's GDP with an impact on the regions currently eligible for Objective 1 funding; moreover, an enlarged Union will bring in its wake a representativeness deficit for the outermost regions in the Community institutions. With regard to the granting of state aids or tax concessions to the outermost regions, competition must not be distorted between the Member States. The European Parliament regrets however, that the Commission report for 2000-2006 has not yet dealt satisfactorily with all the issues raised by the outermost regions and their national authorities with a view to transforming the new legal basis for a strategy for action. Therefore, the resolution calls on the Commission to provide the replies which are being sought as quickly as possible. The European Parliament also takes the view that Article 299(2), as the legal basis for the adoption of measures designed to assist the outermost regions, proposes that the derogations granted to those regions should not be subject to time-limits where the handicaps concerned are clearly multiple and permanent. With regard to the implementation of the said Article, the resolution regards is as essential that the staff complement of the Interdepartmental Group within the Commission's General Secretariat be strengthend without delay and that the presence of this Group in each of the directorates-general, should be consolidated. In addition and against the background of restricted financial resources, all proposals for acts which are general in scope should be accompanied, when they are considered by the College of Commissioners, and on the basis of Article 299(2), by a simplified sheet, drawn up by the Interdepartmental Group, outlining their possible impact on the outermost regions and the remedial measures required should that impact prove adverse. Finally, with regard to fiscal and customs regimes in outermost regions, the European Parliament urges that the differentiated tax regimes (both direct and indirect) of thse regions should be considered as necessary instruments of ecomomic development; duty-free arangements in respect of imports of certain products of particular sensitivity for the economies of these regions should also be maintained. �

• 2000/10/24 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2000/10/11 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0285/2000
• 2000/06/13 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2000/03/14 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2000)0147 summary

    PURPOSE: To report on the measures to implement Article 299(2) on the outermost regions of the EU. CONTENT: This report constitues the Commission's reply to the Cologne European Council's request for a report on the measures to implement the new Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty concerning the outermost regions. The EU includes 7 regions classified as "outermost": - the autonomous Spanish community of the Canary Islands - the four French overseas departments: Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Reunion - the Portuguese autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira The EU has recognised "remoteness" as a concept and taken account of the specific features of these regions so that they can play a full part in Europe and benefit from Community policies while co-operating with neighbouring countries and territories. The guidelines for this approach were set out in the "programmes of options specific to the remote and insular nature" of the French overseas departments (Poseidom, in 1989), the Canary Islands (Poseican, in 1991) and the Azores and Madeira (Poseima, in 1991). The three Posei programmes are the backbone of the policy for supporting the outermost regions. However, over time and as result of the changes which the EU has undergone, the need to provide a more solid legal basis for dealing with "remoteness" has emerged. This was introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty, whose new Article 299(2) updates and strengthens the earlier Article 227(2) (which applied only to the French overseas departments) and covers all the outermost regions. This new legal basis shoud make it easier to consolidate what has been achieved under the Posei programmes and provide a firmer basis for addressing the future prospects of European integration. The report reflects this approach. The first part (dealing with "achievements") describes action taken by the Community to date and its effects on the development of these regions: in brief, action has been effective, but needs to be continued because of the handicaps of remoteness are lasting ones. The second part (dealing with the future) deals with the measures planned under Article 299(2) to continue and strengthen earlier measures. In this part, actions are planned in the following areas: agriculture, fisheries, taxation, customs, SMEs, transport, energy, environment, the information society and research and development. The instruments used to achieve targets in these areas will be the Structural Funds, loans from the EIB, state aids, taxation, and customs. Finally, the Commission remains committed to encouraging regional cooperation between its outermost regions on the one hand and African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) and overseas countries and territories (OCTs) on the other hand. This commitment is already found in the Lome Convention and its successor, the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, as well as in the OCT Association Decision. This dimension also constitutes a priority of the Interreg III initiative, strand "B", for the period 2000-2006.�

  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/index_en.htm', 'title': 'Secretariat-General'}],

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2000)0147
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A5-0285/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0470/2000

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)