17.7.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 179/5 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Regulation instituting integrated Mediterranean programmes 
COM(85) 180 final/2 
(This document cancels and replaces Doc. COM(85) 180 def. of 18 April 1985) 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 18 April 1985) 
(85/C 179/07) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 43, 127 
and 235 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European 
Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas account must be taken of the following: 
1. The situation in the southern regions of the present 
Community: standard of living, weakness of 
economic, agricultural and industrial structures and 
high unemployment, sometimes combined with an 
ageing population; 
2. The scale — highlighted in the Memorandum of 19 
March 1982 from the Greek Government — of the 
structural adjustments facing the Greek economy, 
itself part of these southern regions; 
3. The need for all the regions concerned to adapt, 
under the best possible conditions, to the new 
situation created by enlargement; 
4. The results and scale of the sectoral schemes already 
under way; the need, demonstrated by experience, for 
a planned multiannual approach to national and 
Community operations in these regions; the usefulness 
of drawing up genuine integrated development 
programmes, designed and implemented at the 
relevant geographical levels in order to improve the 
socio-economic situation of the areas concerned; 
5. The purpose of these integrated development 
programmes; taking account of the particular 
handicaps and strengths of the various regions, they 
must seek to provide an overall response to the 
diverse problems facing the regions in question, 
pursuing three objectives, namely: development, adap­
tation and support; 6. The translation of these objectives into projects 
on which the integrated development programmes 
must be centred; these projects, which must be 
interdependent and complementary, must aim at 
improving conditions in agriculture and fisheries and 
at strengthening existing energy, communications, 
transport, training and environmental-protection infra­
structures; they should also be concerned with the 
development of small and medium-sized manufac­
turing or commercial enterprises, with the promotion 
of new service activities likely to help solve the 
unemployment problem and, more generally, with the 
very wide field opened up by the introduction of new 
technologies; 
7. The link between the operations already carried out 
under the socio-structural policies, in particular the 
Community's regional development policy and the 
specific sectoral policies, which will continue to apply 
in these regions, and the measures to be taken under 
the integrated programmes; these latter measures will 
boost or complement the operations already covered 
by the existing structural Funds and allocations; 
8. The integrated Mediterranean programmes seen as a 
full-scale Community policy, providing the oppor­
tunity for a further step towards better coordination 
of all the structural financial instruments; 
9. The need when implementing the integrated 
Mediterranean programmes to combine the flexibility 
which is necessary in order to meet the real needs of 
the regions concerned with the stringency which is 
needed in order to ensure that Community aid 
depends on the fulfilment of the conditions specified; 
this means that management and executive functions 
should be delegated to the Commission within a 
clearly defined set of guidelines; it also means that 
stringent methods should be applied to the evaluation, 
monitoring and presentation of the results, 
No C 179/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 7. 85 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
TITLE I 
DEFINITION OF INTEGRATED MEDITERRANEAN 
PROGRAMMES 
Article 1 
1. This Regulation makes provision for specific 
Community action to accelerate the socio-economic 
development of the Mediterranean regions of the 
Community, and particularly Greece, to facilitate the 
adaptation of these regions to the new conditions created 
by enlargement and, if necessary, to support employment 
and incomes. This action shall take the form of a 
Community contribution to the implementation of 
integrated Mediterranean programmes, hereinafter 
referred to as 'IMPs', submitted to the Commission by 
the Member States concerned. 
2. The regions and areas which may benefit under 
IMPs are listed in Annex I. 
Article 2 
1. The IMPs shall consist of multiannual operations 
which are consistent with one another and with the 
common policies that contribute to the attainment of the 
objectives set out in Article 1. 
2. The operations shall relate in particular to 
investments in the productive sector, the creation of in­
frastructures, and better use of human resources. 
3. The operations shall concern the various spheres of 
economic activity: 
— agriculture, fisheries and related activities, including 
the agri-food industries, 
— crafts and manufacturing, 
— services, including tourism, 
and any other sphere where such operations may 
contribute to the attainment of the objectives of the 
IMPs. 
4. A non-exhaustive list of the operations is given in 
Annex II. 
Article 3 
The following instruments may be used to contribute to 
the implementation of the IMPs: 
— specific additional resources, 
— the ERDF, the ESF and the EAGGF Guidance 
Section, hereinafter referred to as 'the Funds', and 
other budgetary allocations for structural purposes, 
— loans by the EIB from its own resources and from 
NCI resources. Article 4 
1. In the drafting and adapting of common policies 
and other Community measures, account shall be taken 
of the need to ensure consistency with the objective of 
the IMPs. 
2. Operations under the IMPs shall be mutually 
complementary and shall be tailored to the charac­
teristics of the various regions and areas so as to facili­
tate integration of all the national and Community 
resources used. 
3. Operations under the IMPs must not affect the 
conditions of competition in breach of the relevant 
principles of the Treaty; they must therefore remain 
consistent in particular with the principles of coordi­
nation of regional aid systems. 
TITLE II 
ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF INTE­
GRATED MEDITERRANEAN PROGRAMMES 
Article 5 
1. By the end of 1986, France, Greece and Italy shall 
present IMPs to the Commission with a view to securing 
part-financing by the Community. 
2. IMPs shall be drawn up at the relevant geo­
graphical level by the regional authorities or Other auth­
orities designated by the Member States concerned. 
Their contents shall be as described in Annex III. 
3. The Member States concerned shall keep the 
Commission informed about the preparation of the 
various programmes. 
4. The Commission shall provide those Member States 
which so desire with the necessary technical assistance at 
the level deemed appropriate. 
Article 6 
1. The Commission shall examine the IMPs with a 
view to establishing: 
— their consistency with this Regulation, 
— the operations which are to receive Community 
financial assistance. 
2. The amount of Community assistance for the IMPs 
shall be based principally on the socio-economic 
situation of the inhabitants concerned at both local and 
national levels, priority being given to less-favoured 
areas. 
Account shall also be taken: 
— of the usefulness of operations in the light of the 
productivity, employment and income objectives, 
17.7.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 179/7 
— of the size of the contribution made to the 
programme by the Member State, bearing in mind its 
budgetary resources, 
— of the effectiveness of the machinery for coordinating 
and mobilizing initiatives, 
— of the relevance of the Community instruments, aids 
or loans to the proposed operations. 
Article 7 
An Advisory Committee on Integrated Mediterranean 
Programmes shall be set up. The Committee shall be 
made up of representatives of the Member States and 
chaired by a representative of the Commission. It shall 
deliver an opinion on each programme, paying special 
attention to the integration of operations, the coordi­
nation of measures and the use of the specific additional 
resources referred to in Article 3. 
Without prejudice to all the provisions applicable to the 
Funds and budgetary allocations for structural purposes, 
the Commission shall approve the IMPs after consulting 
the aforementioned Committee. 
Article 8 
Without prejudice to the provisions governing loans 
from EIB own resources and NCI resources, the EIB 
and the Commission shall devise the coordination pro­
cedures necessary to ensure the consistency of 
Community financial assistance for the IMPs. 
Article 9 
Implementation of the IMPs shall be facilitated by a 
Steering Committee for each programme and regulated 
by programme contracts concluded between the parties 
concerned (Commission, Member States, regional 
authority or any other authority designated by the 
Member States) and setting out their respective 
commitments. The role of the Steering Committee and 
the standard contents of the programme contracts are 
specified in Annex IV. 
TITLE III 
FINANCIAL PROVISIONS 
Article 10 
1. Community financial assistance for the IMPs shall 
be provided from budgetary funds of an indicative 
amount of 4 100 million ECU over seven years, of which 
2 500 million ECU from the Funds and 1 600 million 
ECU in the form of specific additional resources. 2. It is estimated that over the same seven-year period, 
the IMPs could receive loans totalling 2 500 million 
ECU, possibly at subsidized rates. 
3. The IMPs submitted by Greece shall qualify under 
paragraph 1 for an amount of 2 000 million ECU. 
Article 11 
1. For the period 1986 to 1993, the financial 
assistance referred to in Article 10 (1), shall be provided 
for out of the annual budgetary allocations for the 
Funds, without prejudice, however, to the measures for 
the priority or less-prosperous regions not covered by the 
IMPs. This shall be facilitated by an increase in real 
terms in the allocations received by the Funds during the 
period under consideration. 
2. A special budget heading entitled: 'Integrated 
Mediterranean programmes — additional contribution' 
shall be allocated differentiated appropriations as part of 
the annual budget procedure. 
Article 12 
1. Where IMPs are financed by the Funds or by way 
of other budgetary allocations for structural purposes, 
the relevant Community financial assistance shall be 
granted in accordance with the procedures laid down by 
the provisions governing those Funds or allocations. 
2. The resources of the special budget heading 
referred to in Article 11 (2) may be used in particular 
for: 
(a) granting Community assistance over and above the 
thresholds laid down by the provisions governing the 
Funds or other budgetary allocations for structural 
purposes; 
(b) measures outside the geographical scope of the 
Funds or other budgetary allocations for structural 
purposes and without regard to their respective 
qualitative and quantitative restrictions; 
(c) granting repayable aids for the financing of 
investment in the productive sector; 
(d) where appropriate, granting interest subsidies on 
Community loans made from EIB own resources and 
NCI resources in respect of investments by small and 
medium-sized enterprises or investments in energy, 
transport or telecommunications infrastructures. 
Article 13 
The rate of Community assistance in financing the 
operations selected under the IMPs may not exceed 
70 % of the total cost of the project or operation, 
whatever the form such assistance may take. However, in 
No C 179/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 17.7.85 
the case of infrastructure projects of special interest in 
the context of an IMP that are part-financed by loans, 
the overall rate of Community assistance may exceed 
70 %. 
Article 14 
With regard to assistance from the Funds and other 
budgetary allocations for structural purposes, budgetary 
commitments, advances and payments shall be made, in 
respect of the portion concerning them, in accordance 
with the rules governing each financial instrument. 
Article 15 
The expenditure commitments relating to the budget 
heading referred to in Article 11 (2) shall be effected, 
within the limits of the sums available, in annual 
instalments. The first instalment shall be committed as 
soon as the decision to grant assistance has been taken 
by the Commission. The commitment of subsequent 
annual instalments shall depend on the progress made 
with the programme. 
Advances of up to 50 % of the amount of the 
commitments shall be payable. 
Article 16 
1. Payment claims in respect of the budget heading 
referred to in Article 11 (2) shall be submitted to the 
Commission by the Member State, the regional 
authority, any other authority designated by the Member 
State or, where appropriate, the natural or legal persons 
explicitly mentioned in the programme contracts referred 
to in Article 9 as recipients of Community assistance; 
they shall be accompanied by a certificate showing that 
the operations have actually been carried out and that 
detailed supporting documents exist, and shall contain 
the following information: 
— nature of the operations covered by the payment 
claim, 
— evidence that the operations were implemented in 
accordance with the IMPs, 
— nature and amount of the expenditure incurred in 
respect of these operations during the period covered 
by the claim. 
2. The Commission shall make the payments to the 
Member State or to the recipients referred to in 
paragraph 1. 
3. For a period of three years following the final 
payment made in connection with the programme, the 
Member State or the recipients mentioned in paragraph 
1 shall keep available for the Commission all the sup­
porting documents relating to programme expenditure or 
certified copies thereof. 
Article 17 
1. The Commission shall be kept informed at all times 
of the implementation of the IMPs. This information 
shall be obtained from the documents sent or made available to it by the Member States, and from the 
monitoring which it carries out on its own initiative. The 
nature of these documents and the conditions governing 
monitoring operations, in particular the time limits for 
transmission or verification, shall be specified in the 
contract referred to in Article 9. 
2. The Member States shall take all steps necessary to 
facilitate the monitoring carried out by the Commission 
of operations financed under the IMPs, without 
prejudice to any inspection arranged by the Member 
States themselves or under Articles 206a and 209 of the 
Treaty. 
Such inspections may take the form of on-the-spot 
checks or inquiries; they shall then be carried out at the 
request of the Commission and with the agreement of 
the Member State by representatives of the competent 
authorities of the Member State, accompanied by 
officials of the Commission. 
3. If the information available to the Commission 
reveals an irregularity or a substantial change as 
compared with the contract referred to in Article 9 and 
for which the Commission's approval has not been 
sought, the provisions relating to the Funds or to other 
budgetary allocations for structural purposes shall apply 
to the part of the programme financed by way of one of 
these Funds or allocations. 
In the same circumstances, assistance under the budget 
heading referred to in Article 11 (2) may be suspended, 
reduced or cancelled by decision of the Commission. In 
particular: 
— operations in respect of which no payment has been 
made for two years with no justification being 
provided by the Member State or by the recipients 
mentioned in Article 16 (1) within the periods fixed 
by the Commission, shall be deemed not to have been 
executed, 
— sums received unduly by the Member State or by one 
of the recipients mentioned in Article 16 (1), shall be 
repaid to the Commission within six months of the 
date on which the Commission gave notification of 
the decision. 
TITLE IV 
FINAL PROVISIONS 
Article 18 
1. Starting in 1987, the Commission shall each year 
produce a detailed report on the implementation of the 
IMPs covering the financial aspects of their 
implementation and containing an economic and social 
assessment of the results obtained. 
Starting that same year, the Commission shall also draw 
up each year a statement of all the Community's 
17.7.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 179/9 
structural financial resources, showing the proportion of Article 19 
those resources which has been used to implement IMPs. _. . _, . . ... . r . T . .nnr 
This Regulation shall enter into lorce on 1 July 1985. 
2. The reports and statements shall be sent to the 
Council, the European Parliament and the Economic This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and 
and Social Committee. directly applicable in all Member States. 
ANNEX I 
Geographical scope of the IMPs 
France 
The regions of Languedoc-Roussillon, Corsica, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Aquitaine and Midi-
Pyrenees ('). 
Greece 
The whole of Greece. 
Italy 
The whole of the Mezzogiorno (2), the regions of Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Marche (3), and the 
lagoons of the northern Adriatic between the Comacchio and Marano Lagunara complexes ("). 
(') With the exception of the conurbations of Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse and the built-up coastal 
strip with all-year-round tourist activity. 
(2) With the exception of the conurbations of Rome, Naples and Palermo. The Mezzogiorno includes the 
whole of Lazio. However, in the case of infrastructure projects, the areas taken into consideration are 
those covered by the Cassa del Mezzogiorno (Presidential Decree No 1523 of 30 June 1967). 
(3) With the exception of the conurbations of Florence and Genoa and the built-up coastal strip with 
all-year-round tourist activity, where only fisheries and aquaculture measures are possible. 
(4) Where only certain aquaculture measures are possible. 
ANNEX II 
Operations which illustrate the objectives of development, adaptation and support for the Community policy 
on integrated Mediterranean programmes 
(a) In the agricultural sector: depending on the initial situation and the characteristics of the regions and 
areas concerned, the development programmes may provide for operations aimed, in particular, at: 
— converting holdings to specialized lines of production and types of land use which are better suited 
to the prospective needs of the market, including forestry and operations to protect and improve 
the environment; 
— modernizing and intensifying traditional lines of production that do not give rise to any marketing 
difficulties; 
— stepping up socio-structural measures intended to: 
(i) provide farmers with a fair income, by increasing compensatory allowances; 
(ii) make it easier for young people to take up farming; 
(iii) speed up the modernization and reorientation of production structures; 
— modernizing rural infrastructures in order to improve living and working conditions; 
— expanding structures concerned with the marketing, storage and processing of agricultural 
products; 
No C 179/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 7. 85 
— stepping up research and experimental work, providing fuller information and expanding vocational 
training. 
(b) In the fisheries sector, the programmes may involve operations aimed, for example, at: 
— restructuring, converting and modernizing part of the fleet; 
— improving infrastructures and port installations including the biological protection of marine areas; 
— expanding aquaculture; 
— improving storage and processing facilities; 
— intensifying research and vocational training and providing technical assistants. 
(c) In manufacturing and the services sector, the programmes may involve operations aimed, in particular, 
at: 
— expanding small and medium-sized enterprises and craft firms by stepping up measures for which 
provision has already been made with this objective in mind, namely, physical investment aids and 
aids to improve business organization; 
— in Greece, facilitating the setting up of new enterprises and the relocation of those situated in 
Athens; 
— promoting tourism and improving services, including the transport operations connected with that 
activity; 
— encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to engage in other activities especially those 
upstream and downstream of farming and of the agri-food industries and those concerned with the 
use of renewable sources of energy; 
— strengthening the programme relating to the infrastructures necessary for the expansion of job-
creating activities, namely: 
(i) the development of small industrial estates in priority areas; 
(ii) communications infrastructures linking industrial estates with the principal networks (road 
links, telecommunications and information network, energy grids); 
(iii) infrastructures and facilities directly related to the expansion of rural tourism; 
(iv) buildings and large plant required for training and research centres and for technical assistance 
centres in manufacturing, the services sector, agriculture and the fisheries sector; 
(v) in the case of Greece, infrastructures, in particular, economic infrastructures, in the fields of 
transport and energy; 
— improving such infrastructures as will enhance the viability of rural areas. 
(d) The programmes also involve operations aimed at enhancing the value of human resources: 
— by strengthening Community assistance for additional vocational training operations capable of 
promoting and providing a back-up for the activities set out in the integrated programme (in 
particular, training of middle management, skill-development training and training to enable 
individuals to combine their existing occupation with other activities); 
— by encouraging the gradual introduction of activities intended to prepare the ground for and 
promote local initiatives in the fields covered by the integrated programme; 
— by providing for services integrated with the various stages of vocational training measures (ranging 
from surveys of the local labour market to action to encourage the taking on of trainees). Where 
necessary, the provision of such services may be supplemented by arrangements for monitoring the 
labour market and by the creation of tripartite structures — or other local bodies — responsible for 
their effective management. 
ANNEX III 
Contents of the integrated Mediterranean programmes submitted by France, Greece and Italy 
The documents submitted by the Member States in connection with the granting of the assistance referred 
to in the Regulation instituting integrated Mediterranean programmes shall specify: 
17. 7. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 179/11 
the geographical area to which they refer; 
the socio-economic objectives of the proposed operations in terms of the income, employment, 
productivity and life-style of the inhabitants of the area; 
the duration of the programme, which shall be between three and seven years; 
the operations to be carried out, having regard to the situation and indigenous resources of each region 
and possible changes therein; 
the administrative, legislative and financial measures adopted or planned for the purpose of 
implementing the IMPs submitted; 
the consistency with the regional development programmes defined in Regulation (EEC) No 1787/84 
and with the operations already carried out in the area with assistance from the Community's financial 
instruments; 
the other regional, inter-regional and national operations which the responsible authorities consider 
they must set in train on their own initiative in order to achieve the development objectives spelt out in 
the IMPs. 
ANNEX IV 
Steering Committee and programme contract 
1. For each programme, a Steering Committee shall be set up by mutual agreement between the 
Commission and the Member State concerned. The Committee, chaired by a representative of the 
Commission, shall assist the Member State, the regional authority or any other authority designated by the 
Member State to carry out the programme. 
2. The contract drawn up in respect of each integrated Mediterranean programme following its exam­
ination by the Commission in accordance with Article 9 of the Regulation shall include the following: 
(a) designation by the Member State of the regional authority or any other authority designated by it to 
ensure smooth implementation of the programme, and the composition, as agreed with the 
Commission, of the Steering Committee responsible for assisting it; 
(b) the contribution of the recipients to the machinery for coordinating and mobilizing initiatives 
referred to in Article 6; 
(c) a list and the schedule of operations to be financed by the Community; the conditions governing 
such financing, in particular the estimated timetable for the contributions from the various 
Community and national sources; 
(d) a description of the arrangements for appraising, evaluating and, more generally, monitoring the 
operations qualifying for Community assistance, as well as the programme as a whole, and the 
obligations arising therefrom for the Member State, the regional authority or any other authority 
designated by it. 
These measures shall provide the basis for continuing to grant assistance and for drawing up the 
annual report on the implementation of the IMPs; 
(e) the nature of the information to be supplied by the Member State, the regional authority or any 
other authority designated by it for the purpose of carrying out the programme, in order to secure 
the payment of Community assistance; 
(f) designation of the regional or other authorities or the legal or natural persons empowered to receive 
payments made by the Commission in respect of each of the operations qualifying for Community 
assistance; 
(g) the conditions under which the recipients may draw up clauses supplementary to the agreements.