<s>[INST] The next text is a question of a member of the European parliament:"In September 2002, the monitoring committee of the Italian Ministry for Economic Affairs issued a report on the spending of EU funds.  The report reveals the alarming slowness and inefficiency with which EU funds are allocated to projects by some regional authorities.  The grave concerns about the inadequate use of European funds by local authorities have frequently been echoed by the Commission.  Bearing in mind that some local authorities, such as the municipality of Carrara, urgently need to use European funds to promote cooperation between regional operators from different geographical areas with a view to creating a common project based on the sharing of experience or know-how, to promote decentralisation, thereby encouraging the development of competencies at regional and local level, and to strengthen the operating capacity and working methods of local and regional authorities in Central and Eastern European countries, as well as those of socio-economically underdeveloped regions of the EU,    can the Commission state:      1.  whether the municipality of Carrara has submitted projects for the Ecos-Ouverture II programme?      2.  whether the municipality of Carrara has secured funding for these projects?      3.  whether this funding has been used?"
Analyze carefully the text and assign it to the most relevant policy area among those listed below. Do not explain your answer and return only a number.
Policy area numbers: 1 = Macroeconomics
2 = Civil Rights, Minority Issues and Civil Liberties
3 = Health
4 = Agriculture and Fisheries
5 = Labour, employment and pensions
6 = Education
7 = Environment
8 = Energy
9 = Immigration
10 = Transportation
12 = Law and Crime
13 = Social welfare
14 = Regional and Urban issues and Planning
15 = Banking, finance and domestic commerce issues
16 = Defence
17 = Space, science, technology, and communications issues
18 = Foreign trade
19 = International affairs and foreign aid
20 = Governance and government
21 = Public Lands, Water Management and Territorial Issues
23 = Culture and media
[/INST]. Answer = [14]. </s>
In September 2002, the monitoring committee of the Italian Ministry for Economic Affairs issued a report on the spending of EU funds.  The report reveals the alarming slowness and inefficiency with which EU funds are allocated to projects by some regional authorities.  The grave concerns about the inadequate use of European funds by local authorities have frequently been echoed by the Commission.  Bearing in mind that some local authorities, such as the municipality of Carrara, urgently need to use European funds to promote cooperation between regional operators from different geographical areas with a view to creating a common project based on the sharing of experience or know-how, to promote decentralisation, thereby encouraging the development of competencies at regional and local level, and to strengthen the operating capacity and working methods of local and regional authorities in Central and Eastern European countries, as well as those of socio-economically underdeveloped regions of the EU,    can the Commission state:      1.  whether the municipality of Carrara has submitted projects for the Ecos-Ouverture II programme?      2.  whether the municipality of Carrara has secured funding for these projects?      3.  whether this funding has been used?