B.

Paying authorities in Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Austria: — The following bodies or types of bodies have been designated paying authorities for 2000-2006 programmes in Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Austria. — For the one Objective 1 and eight Objective 2 regional programmes in Austria, the paying authorities are the Federal Chancellery for ERDF, the Federal Ministry of the Economy and Labour for the European Social Fund (ESF), and the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management for the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and the Financial instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG). For Objective 3 (ESF) the paying authority is the Federal Ministry of the Economy and Labour. — In Belgium, the three regional authorities (Ministère de la Région Wallonne, Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap and Ministère de l'Economie de Bruxelles-Capitale) provide the ERDF and ESF paying authorities for the Objective 1 and 2 programmes in their regions (one Objective 1 programme and two Objective 2 programmes in Wallonia, four Objective 2 programmes in Flanders and one Objective 2 programme in Brussels). The relevant regional authority (Ministère de la Région Wallonne) also provides the paying authority for EAGGF and FIFG (only Objective 1). For the federal Objective 3 programme (ESF) the paying authority is the Ministry of Employment and Labour. — The ‘Préfet’ of the Region is the paying authority for ERDF and ESF for the 26 of the 27 programmes (6 Objective 1, 21 Objective 2) in the French regions and the ‘départments d'outre mer’ DOMs. The Préfeťs functions are exercised by the Secrétariat général des Affaires régionales in the relevant préfecture. For one Objective 2 programme (Alsace) the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations now exercises the functions of paying authority. DATAR is the paying authority for Information Systems (Presage) programme, and the Ministry of the Interior is the paying authority for the two Technical Assistance programmes (for Objectives 1 and 2). For Objective 3 (ESF) the paying authority is the Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour and Solidarity. The EAGGF paying authority for all programmes is the Cnasea. The paying authority for FIFG outside Objective 1 is the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, for the four Objective 1 programmes in metropolitan France it is the Regional Treasury, while for the Corsica Objective 1 programme it is the Direction Générale des Affaires Maritimes in Marseilles. — In Germany the official paying authorities for all 16 regional programmes (six Objective 1 and ten Objective 2) is the Bundesamt für Wirtschaft for ERDF, the Federal Ministry of the Economy and Labour for ESF and the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture for EAGGF and FIFG. In practice, however, the functions of paying authority are performed by the relevant ministries of the individual Länder. The Federal Ministry of Transport, Construction and Housing is the paying authority for the horizontal Objective 1 Transport Infrastructure programme, while for the horizontal Objective 1 Human Resources and Objective 3 (ESF) programmes it is the Federal Ministry of the Economy and Labour. — For all ERDF-financed programmes in Spain (19 regional — 12 Objective 1, seven Objective 2 —, eight horizontal mono-funds and three horizontal pluri-funds) the ERDF paying authority is the Ministry of Finance. The paying authority for the ESF in all programmes is the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, while for EAGGF Guidance and FIFG it is the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. — In Italy, the paying authorities for all Funds in the regional programmes (19 in all, seven Objective 1 and 12 Objective 2) are located within the respective regional administrations. Central government ministries provide the paying authorities for the horizontal programmes serving Objective 1, namely: ‘Local Enterprise Development’ — Ministry for Productive Activities, ‘Transport’ — Ministry for Infrastructure and Transport, ‘Research’ — Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific and Technological Research, ‘Security in the Mezzogiorno’ — Ministry of the Interior, and ‘Technical Assistance’ — Ministry for the Treasury, Budget and Economic Planning. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is the paying authority for the horizontal programme serving Objective 3 ‘Azioni di Sistema’. For FIFG the paying authority is the Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies.