WRITTEN QUESTION E-0249/03

by Joan Colom i Naval (PSE) to the Commission

(5 February 2003)

Subject: Application of the n+2 rule to the Structural Funds in 2002

Article 31(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999(1) states that the Commission shall automatically decommit any part of a commitment which has not been settled by the payment on account or for which it has not received an acceptable payment application, as defined in Article 32(3), by the end of the second year following the year of commitment . This rule became applicable as from 31 December 2002.

Under the n+2 decommitment procedure, Member States may, up to 31 December of the year n+2, submit applications to the Commission and provide it with information concerning operations to which decommitment is not automatically to be applied. The procedure ends at the end of May in the year n+3.

Could the Commission supply information on:

- the commitment appropriations allocated in 2000;

- the amounts paid in respect of these commitments at 31.12.2002;

- the declarations submitted by the Member States up to 31.12.2002;

- the appropriations already decommited by the Commission;

and give a breakdown of these figures by country, region, objective and fund?

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1.

Joint answerto Written Questions E-0248/03 and E-0249/03given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(1 April 2003)

Under Article 31(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds, the N+2 rule should be applied at the end of 2002 to commitments made during 2000.

As requested, the Honourable Member will find in the annexes, which will be sent to him direct and to Parliament's secretariat:

- the commitments for 2000 likely to be affected by application of the N+2 rule on 31 December 2002; it should be noted that the commitments listed are only those likely to be affected by the N+2 rule on 31 December 2002 and not all the commitment appropriations for 2000;

- the amounts paid in respect of these commitments by 31 December 2002.

The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that the amounts not yet paid in the annexed table do not correspond to the amounts which the Commission should decommit under the N+2 rule at the end of 2002. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, amounts not paid at 31 December 2002 include:

- amounts relating to acceptable applications for payment sent up to 31 December 2002 but not yet paid;

- amounts relating to operations where legal proceedings or administrative appeals which have the effect of suspending application of the N+2 rule (Article 31(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999) are in progress.

Secondly, there are also amounts which, under the implementing rules on the application of the N+2 rule(1), are not subject to that rule at the end of 2002.

These include:

- commitments (in full or partial) concerning major projects or aid schemes whose implementation requires a Commission decision which was not taken until after the year of the commitment;

- amounts concerning declarations of expenditure not yet paid by the Commission following application of the part-financing rate by measure or by priority;

- declarations of expenditure which have given rise to a suspension or interruption of payments by the Commission.

It is only after considering and dealing with these exceptional cases and after completion of the exchange of views with any Member States concerned from the end of February to the end of May 2003 that the Commission will be able to determine the exact amount to be decommitted, programme by programme and Fund by Fund, and undertake the corresponding operations for budgetary decommitment.

The latest information available on the Structural Funds as a whole (ERDF, EAGGF Guidance Section, ESF, FIFG)(2) on 17 March 2003, suggests that the impact of the N+2 rule at the end of 2002 will be no more than 0,2 % to 0,4 % of the commitments for 2000.

The Commission will begin the 2002 procedure for decommitment under the N+2 rule for the following cases and amounts (without prejudice to the conclusions of the on-going consideration of other cases likely to give rise to similar proceedings or to the final results of the exchange of views):

- ESF:

- Denmark Objective (Obj) 3, National programme: EUR 598 351,04;

- Italy Obj 1, South: EUR 1 124 019,70;

- Netherlands Obj 3, National programme: EUR 22 to EUR 25,7 million;

- Portugal Obj 1, Health: EUR 1 069 113,52.

- EAGGF Guidance Section:

- Ireland Obj 1, Border, Midland and Western Region: EUR 812 410,00;

- Ireland Obj 1, Southern and Eastern Region: EUR 4 247 324,00;

- Netherlands Obj 1, Flevoland: EUR 71 758,00;

- UK Obj 1, Highlands & Islands: EUR 2 420 861,60.

- FIFG:

- Belgium Obj 1, Hainaut: EUR 88 200,00.

The Commission would like to make the following clarifications to the forecasts of the impact of the N+2 rule on the Structural Funds in 2003:

- the commitment appropriations for 2000 carried over to 2001 gave rise to commitments in 2001 and so will fall under the N+2 rule on 31 December 2003;

- the commitments made on the structural Funds operations in 2001 amount to EUR 37 829 million (including credits carried forward from 2000). Of this amount, EUR 23 455 million has already been paid, and therefore there remains, at the present moment, EUR 14 374 million to pay in 2003 to avoid losing credits under the n+2 rule;

- the Commission intends to send to Member States a report on the position in the beginning of April 2003;

- so far, there have been no de-commitments made against 2001 commitments.

A breakdown per country and fund, as well as the complete information commitment by commitment, sorted by country and objective, is sent directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's secretariat.

(1) As defined in communication C(2002)1942 of 17 May 2002 from Mr Barnier, in agreement with Mr Fischler, Ms Schreyer and Ms Diamantopoulou.

(2) ERDF: European Regional Development Fund; EAGGF: European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund; ESF: European Social Fund; FIFG: Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance.