(1)

Articles 76 and 77 are replaced by the following: ‘Article 76 Rules for calculating interim payments 1. Interim payments shall be calculated by applying — to the public contribution declared in the statement of expenditure certified by the certifying authority under each priority axis and under each convergence/non-convergence objective — the co-financing rate established under the current financing plan for that priority axis and that objective. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, in response to a specific and properly grounded request by the Member State, an interim payment shall be calculated as the amount of Union assistance paid or due to be paid to the beneficiaries in respect of the priority axis and of the objective. This amount must be specified by the Member State in the statement of expenditure. 3. By way of derogation from Article 53(3), at the request of a Member State, interim payments shall be increased by an amount corresponding to 10 percentage points above the co-financing rate applicable to each priority axis, up to a maximum of 100 %, to be applied to the amount of eligible public expenditure newly declared in each certified statement of expenditure submitted during the period in which a Member State fulfils one of the following conditions: (a) financial assistance is made available to it under Council Regulation (EU) No 407/2010 of 11 May 2010 establishing a European financial stabilisation mechanism (11), or is made available to it by other euro area Member States before the entry into force of that Regulation; (b) medium-term financial assistance is made available to it in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 332/2002 of 18 February 2002 establishing a facility providing medium-term financial assistance for Member States’ balances of payments (12); (c) financial assistance is made available to it in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism signed on 2 February 2012. 4. For the purpose of calculating interim payments after the Member State ceases to benefit from the Union financial assistance referred to in paragraph 3, the Commission shall not take into account the increased amounts paid in accordance with that paragraph. However, those amounts shall be taken into account for the purpose of Article 79(1). 5. The increased interim payments resulting from the application of paragraph 3 shall be made available within the shortest period of time to the managing authority and shall only be used for making payments in connection with the implementation of the operational programme. 6. In the context of the annual reporting in accordance with Article 67(1), the Member States shall provide the Commission with appropriate information on the use of the derogation referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, showing how the increase in the amounts of support has contributed to the promotion of competitiveness, growth and jobs in the Member State concerned. This information shall be taken into account by the Commission in the preparation of the annual reporting provided for by Article 68(1). Article 77 Rules for calculating payments of the balance 1. Payments of the balance shall be limited to whichever of the following two amounts is smaller: (a) the amount calculated by applying to the public contribution declared in the final statement of expenditure, certified by the certifying authority under each priority axis and under each convergence/non-convergence objective, the co-financing rate established under the current financing plan for that priority axis and that objective; (b) the amount of Union assistance paid or due to be paid to the beneficiaries in respect of each priority axis and for each objective. This amount must be specified by the Member State in the final statement of expenditure certified by the certifying authority in respect of each priority axis and for each objective. 2. By way of derogation from Article 53(3), at the request of a Member State, payments of the final balance shall be increased by an amount corresponding to 10 percentage points above the co-financing rate applicable to each priority axis, up to a maximum of 100 %, to be applied to the amount of eligible public expenditure newly declared in each certified statement of expenditure submitted during the period in which a Member State fulfils one of the conditions laid down in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 76(3). 3. For the purpose of calculating the payment of the final balance after the Member State ceases to benefit from the Union financial assistance referred to in Article 76(3), the Commission shall not take into account the increased amounts paid in accordance with that paragraph.