Council Regulation (EC) No 1264/1999 of 21 June 1999 amending Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 establishing a Cohesion Fund
26. 6. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 161/57 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1264/1999 of 21 June 1999 amending Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 establishing a Cohesion Fund THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the second paragraph of Article 161 thereof, Having regard Commission (1), to the proposal from the Having regard to the assent of Parliament (2), the European Having regard of the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (4), (1) Whereas, pursuant to Article 16(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 (5), the Council is to reexamine that Regulation before 31 December 1999; (2) Whereas the basic principles of the Cohesion Fund laid down in 1994 should continue to govern the Fund’s activities until 2006 although for shown experience improvements; need has the the macroeconomic (3) Whereas, while the single currency, the euro, will the affect Community, it will not remove the need for eligibility of the beneficiary countries to be based on gross national product; situation of (5) Whereas, by Decision No 1692/96/EC (6), the European Parliament and the Council adopted Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network; (6) Whereas, during transitional period the (1 January 1999 to 31 December 2001), all references to the euro should normally also be read as references to the euro as a monetary unit, as provided for in the second sentence of Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro (7); (7) Whereas, in view of the continuing progress achieved towards real convergence and taking account of the new macroeconomic context in which the Cohesion Fund now operates, the overall allocation of assistance of Member States participating in the euro will be adjusted so as to take account of in national prosperity attained over the previous period; the improvement (8) Whereas the procedures for the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance economic and coordination of policies were in Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 (8); set out borrowing (9) Whereas the preliminary and final figures for the public-sector gross domestic product and gross national product must be compiled in accordance with the rules of integrated economic the European system of accounts (EC) No 2223/96 (9); by Regulation requirement, established (4) Whereas all the Member States participating in the euro are to submit to the Council a stability programme their medium-term objective for achieving a budget that is nearly in balance or is in surplus; in particular setting out (10) Whereas the Resolution on the Stability and Growth Pact (10) adopted at the Amsterdam European Council meeting on 17 June 1997 sets the roles of out Commission and the Council; the Member States, the (1) OJ C 159, 26. 5. 1998, p. 7. (2) Assent delivered on 6 May 1999 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (3) OJ C 407, 28. 12. 1998, p. 74. (4) OJ C 51, 22. 2. 1999, p. 10. (5) OJ L 130, 25. 5. 1994, p. 1. (6) OJ L 228, 9. 9. 1996, p. 1. (7) OJ L 139, 11. 5. 1998, p. 1. (8) OJ L 209, 2. 8. 1997, p. 1. (9) OJ L 310, 30. 11. 1996, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 448/98 (OJ L 58, 27. 2. 1998, p. 1). (10) OJ C 236, 2. 8. 1997, p. 1. L 161/58 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 6. 1999 retained, (11) Whereas, while the principle of a high level of assistance is the search for other sources of finance, in particular the beneficiary Member States effort to maximise the leverage of Fund resources by encouraging greater use of private sources of funding should be supported by the Commission; whereas rates of assistance should be varied to improve the leverage of Fund resources and to take better return on projects; account of whereas application of the polluter-pays principle laid down in Article 174 of the Treaty must be complied with in operations financed by the Fund; the rate of the (12) Wheras the responsibility of the Member State for financial control work should be clearly laid down; (13) Whereas there should be provision to ensure continuity of finance for operations in progress and their adjustments to the new regulatory requirements; (14) Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 should be amended accordingly, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 is hereby amended as follows: 1. (a) a new recital to be inserted after the sixth recital shall read as follows: criterion, economic Whereas, with regard to the convergence current the macroeconomic conditionality provisions will continue to apply; whereas, accordingly, no new projects or new project stages shall be financed by the Fund in a Member State in the event of the Council, acting by qualified majority on a recommendation from the Commission, finding that the Member State has not respected the Stability Growth Pact. ’; (b) a new recital to be inserted after the new seventh recital shall read as follows: as its objective to deter excessive general government deficits and, to further their prompt correction were set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 (*) they occur, if (*) OJ L 209, 2. 8. 1997, p. 6. ’; (c) a new recital to be inserted after the former 20th recital shall read as follows: Whereas total annual receipt in any Member State from the Cohesion Fund under this Regulation, in combination with assistance provided under the Structural Funds, should be limited under a general capping dependent on the national absorption capacity’; (d) the former 21st recital renumbered 24th recital and read as follows: shall become the fulfilment of in Whereas provision should be made, conjunction with the the conditions of economic convergence as set out in Article 104 of the Treaty and with the need for sound management of the government deficit, for a form of conditionality in the granting of financial assistance; whereas, in that context, compliance with the obligations arising from the Treaty must also be assessed having due regard to the guidelines adopted in the Resolution of the European Council of 17 June 1997 on the Stability and Growth Pact (*) and whereas the concept of excessive deficit is to be interpreted in the light of that Resolution; whereas, for each participating Member State, macroeconomic conditionality the should be assessed taking account of in that Member State responsibilities of respect of the stability of the euro; (*) OJ C 236, 2. 8. 1997, p. 1. ’ 2. Paragraph 4 to be added to Article 2 shall read as follows: To be eligible under 4. the Fund from 1 January 2000, the beneficiary Member States must have introduced a programme as provided for in Articles 3 and 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 (*). Whereas the provisions to speed up and clarify the excessive deficit procedure, having The four Member States meeting the GNP criterion referred to in paragraph 1 are Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland. 26. 6. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 161/59 A mid-term review as provided for in paragraph 3 shall be carried out before the end of 2003 based on per capita GNP as shown by Community data for the period 2000 to 2002. — 2002: EUR 2,615 billion, — 2003: EUR 2,615 billion, (*) OJ L 209, 2. 8. 1997, p. 2. ’ — 2004: EUR 2,515 billion, 3. Article 3 is hereby amended as follows: (a) in paragraph 1 — 2005: EUR 2,515 billion, — 2006: EUR 2,510 billion. (i) in the first indent, the word fifth’shall be deleted; (ii) the second indent shall be replaced by: In the event of a Member State becoming ineligible, resources for the Cohesion Fund will be reduced accordingly. ’ 5. Article 5 shall be replaced by the following: the supported framework infrastructure projects of — transport common by interest, Member States, which are identified the within of by Decision guidelines adopted No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 23 July 1996 on the development of transport the network (*). trans-European (*) OJ L 228, 9. 9. 1996, p. 1. ’; (b) in paragraph 2, the second indent shall be amended as follows: Article 5 Indicative allocation An indicative allocation of the total resources of the Fund shall be made on the basis of precise and objective criteria, principally population, per capita GNP taking account of the improvement in national prosperity attained over the previous period, and surface area; it shall also take account as factors of deficiencies in transport infrastructure. socioeconomic other such (i) the introductory phrase shall be replaced by the following: The indicative allocation of the total resources resulting from the application of those criteria is set out in Annex I. technical publicity particularly:’; support measures, including and information campaigns, (ii) in point (b), the word supervision’ shall be inserted after monitoring’. Total annual receipts from the Cohesion Fund under in combination with assistance provided under the Structural Funds, should not exceed 4 % of national GDP. ’ this Regulation, 6. Article 6 shall be replaced by the following: 4. In Article 4, the third, fourth and fifth paragraphs to be added shall read as follows: Article 6 From 1 January 2000, total resources available for commitments in the period 2000 to 2006 should be EUR 18 billion at 1999 prices. Conditional assistance Commitment appropriations for each year of that period should be: — 2000: EUR 2,615 billion, — 2001: EUR 2,615 billion, in the event of 1. No new projects or, important projects, no new project stages shall be financed by the Fund in a Member State in the the Council, acting by a qualified event of majority from the on Commission, finding that the Member State in the has application not of referred to in implemented the programme Article 2(4) to avoid an excessive government deficit. in such a way as this Regulation recommendation a L 161/60 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 6. 1999 The suspension of financing shall cease when the Council, acting under the same conditions, finds that taken the Member State concerned has measures to implement that programme in such a way as to avoid an excessive government deficit. Exceptionally, in the case of projects directly 2. the effecting more than one Member State, Council acting by a qualified majority on a recommendation from the Commission may decide to defer suspension of financing. ’ 7. Article 7 is hereby amended as follows: (a) paragraph 1 shall be amended as follows: (i) the second subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: However, from 1 January 2000 this rate in may be reduced to take account, cooperation with the Member State estimated revenue concerned, of generated any by of polluter-pays application principle. ’; the projects the and of (ii) the following subparagraph shall be added: To achieve this, the Commission shall support States’ beneficiary Member efforts to maximise the leverage of Fund resources by encouraging greater use of private sources of funding. ’; (b) in paragraph 2, the words the expenditure on which the calculation of’ and is based’ shall be deleted. 8. Article 10 is hereby amended as follows: (a) in paragraph 3 ECU’ is replaced by EUR’; (b) in paragraph 4, in the eighth line, the word possible’ before impact’ shall be deleted; (c) in the third indent of paragraph 5, the words including the polluter-pays principle’ shall be inserted after the words on the environment’. 9. Article 11 is hereby amended as follows: in paragraph 5, ecus’ shall be replaced by euro’. 10. Article 12 is hereby amended as follows: (a) paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be replaced by the following: for 1. Without prejudice to the Commission’s the responsibility Community budget, Member States shall take responsibility in the first instance for the financial control of projects. To that end, the measures they take shall include: implementing (a) verifying that management and control arrangements have been set up and are being implemented in such a way as to ensure that Community funds are being used efficiently and correctly; (b) providing the Commission with a description of these arrangments; (c) ensuring that projects are managed in applicable the accordance with the funds Community rules and that placed at their disposal are used in accordance with the principles of sound financial management; all (d) certifying that declarations of the expenditure presented to the Commission are accurate and guaranteeing that they result from accounting systems based on verifiable supporting documents; (e) preventing and detecting irregularities, notifying these to the Commission, in accordance with the rules, and keeping the Commission informed of the progress of administrative and legal proceedings. In that context, the Member States and the Commission shall take the necessary steps information that exchanged remains confidential; to ensure the (f) presenting to the Commission, when each step of project or group of project, is wound up, a declaration projects drawn up by a person or department having a function independent of the designated authority. This declaration shall summarise the conclusions of the checks carried out during previous years the and shall assess application for payment of final balance and the legality and regularity of the expenditure covered by the final the validity of the 26. 6. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 161/61 certificate. The Member attach declaration if they consider it necessary; States may this opinion their own to (g) cooperating with the Commission to ensure that Community funds are used in accordance with the principles of sound financial management; (h) recovering any amounts lost as a result of and, where charging interest on late irregularity detected an appropriate, payments. ensure 2. The Commission in its responsibility for the implementation of the Community budget have shall that Member smoothly and control systems so that Community funds are efficiently and correctly used. States functioning management States the Member To that end, without prejudice to checks carried out by in laws, regulations accordance with national and administrative provisions, Commission officials or servants may, in accordance with arrangements agreed with the Member State in the framework of cooperation described in Article G(1) of Annex II, carry out on-the- spot checks, including sample checks, on the financed by the Fund and on projects management and control systems with a minimum of one working day’s notice. The Commission shall give notice to the Member State concerned with a view to obtaining all the assistance necessary. Officials or servants of the Member State concerned may take part in such checks. transactions. Commission officials or servants may take part in such checks. ’; (b) paragraph 4 shall be deleted and paragraph 5 shall become paragraph 4. 11. In Article 16(1), the words before the end of 1999’ shall be replaced by 31 December 2006 at the latest’. 12. Annex I shall be replaced by the following: ANNEX I Indicative allocation of the total resources of the Cohesion Fund among the beneficiary Member States — Spain: 61 % to 63,5 % of the total — Greece: 16 % to 18 % of the total — Ireland: 2 % to 6 % of the total — Portugal: 16 % to 18 % of the total. ’ Article 2 Applications submitted before the entry into force of this Regulation shall remain valid provided that, where necessary, they are supplemented to comply with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1164/94, as amended within two months of the entry into force of this Regulation. The Commission may require the Member State concerned to carry out an on-the-spot check to verify the correctness of one or more This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 2000. Article 3 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Luxembourg, 21 June 1999. For the Council The President G. VERHEUGEN