2002D0325 — EN — 08.05.2002 — 000.001 — 1
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►B COMMISSIONDECISION
of31May2001
approving the single programming document for Community structural assistance under Objec-
tive2intheKustgebied-WesthoekintheprovinceofWestFlandersinBelgium
►C1(notified under document number C(2001) 1269) ◄
(OnlytheFrenchandDutchtextsareauthentic)
(2002/325/EC)
(OJ L 122, 8.5.2002, p. 14)
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 131, 16.5.2002, p. 31 (2002/325/EC)
▼B
COMMISSIONDECISION
of31May2001
approvingthesingleprogrammingdocumentforCommunitystruc-
tural assistance under Objective 2 in the Kustgebied-Westhoek in
theprovinceofWestFlandersinBelgium
►C1(notified under document number C(2001) 1269) ◄
(OnlytheFrenchandDutchtextsareauthentic)
(2002/325/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June
1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds(1), and
in particular Article 15(5) thereof,
After consulting the Committee on the Development and Conversion of
Regions and the Committee pursuant to Article 147 of the Treaty,
Whereas:
(1)Articles 13 and following of Title II of Regulation (EC) No
1260/1999 lay down the procedure for preparing and imple-menting single programming documents.
(2)Article 15(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 provides
that, after consultation with the partners referred to in Article 8
of the Regulation, the Member State may submit to the Commis-sion a development plan which is treated as a draft singleprogramming document, and which contains the informationreferred to in Article 16 of the Regulation.
(3)Under Article 15(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999, on thebasis of the regional development plan submitted by the MemberState and within the partnership established in accordance withArticle 8 of that Regulation, the Commission is to take a deci-sion on the single programming document, in agreement withthe Member State concerned and in accordance with the proce-
dures laid down in Articles 48 to 51.
(4)The Flemish Government submitted to the Commission on 31
May 2000 an acceptable draft single programming documentfor the regions of the province of West Flanders fulfilling theconditions for Objective 2 pursuant to Article 4(1) of Regulation(EC) No 1260/1999 and the regions of that province qualifying
for transitional support under Objective 5(b) pursuant to Article
6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999. The draft contains theinformation listed in Article 16 of the Regulation, and in parti-cular a description of the priorities selected and an indication ofthe financial contribution from the European Regional Develop-
ment Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) for
implementing the plan.
(5)The date of submission of the draft which was considered accep-table by the Commission constitutes the date from whichexpenditure under the plan is eligible. Under Article 30 of theRegulation, it is necessary to lay down the final date for the elig-
ibility of expenditure.
(6)The single programming document has been drawn up in agree-
ment with the Member State concerned and within thepartnership.
(7)The Commission has satisfied itself that the single programmingdocument is in accordance with the principle of additionality.2002D0325 — EN — 08.05.2002 — 000.001 — 2
(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1.
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(8)Under Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999, the
Commission and the Member State are required to ensure, in a
manner consistent with the principle of partnership, coordinationbetween assistance from the Funds and from the EIB and otherexisting financial instruments.
(9)The financial contribution from the Community available overthe entire period and its year-by-year breakdown are expressedin euro. The annual breakdown should be consistent with therelevant financial perspective. Under Article 7(7) of Regulation
(EC) No 1260/1999, the Community contribution has already
been indexed at a rate of 2 % per year. Under Article 7(7) andArticle 44(2) of the Regulation, the Community contributionmay be reviewed at mid-term, and not later than 31 March2004, to take account of the effective level of inflation and the
allocation of the performance reserve.
(10)Provision should be made for adapting the financial allocations
of the priorities of this single programming document within
certain limits to actual requirements reflected by the pattern of
implementation on the ground, in agreement with the MemberState concerned,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
The single programming document for Community structural assistance
in the regions of the province of West Flanders eligible under Objec-tive 2 and those qualifying for transitional support under Objective5(b) for the period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2006 is hereby
approved.
Article 2
1. In accordance with Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999,
the single programming document includes the following elements:
(a) the strategy and priorities for the joint action of the Structural
Funds and the Member State; their specific quantified targets; theex anteevaluation of the expected impact, including on the envir-
onmental situation, and the consistency of the priorities with theeconomic, social and regional policies and the employment strategyof Flanders (Belgium). The priorities are as follows:
1. support for the development of tourism;
2. strengthening the economic fabric;
3. cross-sector sustainable development and the qualitative
improvement of the area as a place for living and working;
4. training and the labour market;5. technical assistance;
(b) a summary description of the measures planned to implement the
priorities, including the information needed to check compliance
with the State aid rules under Article 87 of the Treaty;
(c) the indicative financing plan specifying for each priority and each
year the financial allocation envisaged for the contribution fromeach Fund, including, for information, the total amount from theEAGGF Guarantee Section and indicating separately the fundingplanned for the regions receiving transitional support in respect ofObjective 5(b) and the total amounts of eligible public or equiva-
lent expenditure and estimated private funding in the Member
State. The total contribution from the Funds planned for each yearfor the single programming document is consistent with the rele-vant financial perspective;
(d) the provisions for implementing the single programming document
including designation of the managing authority, a description ofthe arrangements for managing the single programming documentand the use to be made of global grants, a description of the2002D0325 — EN — 08.05.2002 — 000.001 — 3
▼B
systems for monitoring and evaluation, including the role of the
Monitoring Committee and the arrangements for the participationof the partners in that Committee;
(e) the ex anteverification and information on the transparency of
financial flows;
(f) information on the resources required for preparing, monitoring and
evaluating the assistance.
2. The indicative financing plan puts the total cost of the priorities
selected for the joint action by the Community and the Member Stateat EUR 117364043 for the whole period and the financial contributionfrom the Structural Funds at EUR 33 052000.
The resulting requirement for national resources of EUR 70 592608
from the public sector and EUR 13 719435 from the private sectorcan be partly met by Community loans from the European Investment
Bank and other lending instruments.
Article 3
1. The total assistance from the Structural Funds granted under the
single programming document amounts to EUR 33 052000. The proce-
dure for granting the financial assistance, including the financialcontribution from the Funds for the various priorities included in thesingle programming document, is set out in the financing plan annexedto this Decision.
2. The indicative initial estimated breakdown among the Structural
Funds of the total Community assistance available is as follows:
ERDF EUR 30533 000
ESF EUR 2 519000
3. During implementation of the financing plan, the total cost or
Community financing of a given priority may be adjusted in agreementwith the Member State by upto 25 % of the total Community contribu-tion to the single programming document throughout the programmeperiod, up to a maximum of EUR 30 million, without altering the totalCommunity contribution referred to in paragraph 1.
Article 4
This Decision is without prejudice to the Commission's position on aid
schemes falling within Article 87(1) of the Treaty that are included in
this assistance and which it has not yet approved. Submission of the
application for assistance, the programme complement or a request forpayment by the Member State does not replace the notification requiredby Article 88(3) of the Treaty.
Community financing of State aid falling within Article 87(1) of the
Treaty, granted under aid schemes or in individual cases, requires priorapproval by the Commission under Article 88 of the Treaty, except
where the aid falls under the de minimis rule or is exempted under an
exemption regulation adopted by the Commission under Council Regu-lation (EC) No 994/98 of 7 May 1998 on the application of Articles 87and 88 to certain categories of horizontal State aid(
1). In the absence of
such exemption or approval, aid is illegal and subject to the conse-
quences set out in the procedural regulation for State aid, and its part-
financing would be treated as an irregularity within the meaning ofArticles 38(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999.
Consequently, the Commission will not accept requests for interim and
final payments under Article 32 of the Regulation for measures beingpart-financed with new or altered aid, as defined in the proceduralregulation for State aid, granted under aid schemes or in individual2002D0325 — EN — 08.05.2002 — 000.001 — 4
(1) OJ L 142, 14.5.1998, p. 1.
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cases, until such aid has been notified to and formally approved by the
Commission.
Article 5
The date from which expenditure shall be eligible is 31 May 2000. The
closing date for the eligibility of expenditure shall be 31 December
2008. This date is extended to 30 April 2009 for expenditure incurred
by bodies granting assistance under Article 9(l) of Regulation (EC) No1260/1999.
Article 6
This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium.2002D0325 — EN — 08.05.2002 — 000.001 — 5