Council Regulation (EC) No 2824/98 of 21 December 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 1734/94 on financial and technical cooperation with the Occupied Territories
Date: 1998-12-21
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU financing, Palestine question, economic development, occupied territory, social development, technical cooperation

29. 12. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 351/13

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2824/98

of 21 December 1998

amending Regulation (EC) No 1734/94 on financial and technical cooperation
with the Occupied Territories

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. Article 2(2) and (3) shall be replaced by the following:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 130w thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in
Article 189c of the Treaty (1),

Whereas Council Regulation (EC) No 1734/94 of 11 July
1994 on financial and technical cooperation with the
Occupied Territories (2) recognises that the setting up and
improvement of institutions necessary for the working of
the public administration are crucial to the development
process in the West Bank and Gaza Strip;

Whereas temporary support is necessary for the recurrent
cost of the Palestinian public sector;

Whereas Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1734/94 extends
the possibility of the combination of Community meas-
ures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Bank
financing from own resources;

Whereas it is considered desirable that the possibility of
interest rate subsidy be extended to projects in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip in the priority areas laid down in
Article 2(1) of that Regulation;

Whereas it is necessary to amend Regulation (EC) No
1734/94 in order explicitly to allow for such measures, in
particular those regarding recurrent costs of the Pales-
tinian public sector as well as the interest rate subsidies,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1734/94 is hereby amended as
follows:

(1) Opinion of the European Parliament of 16 September 1998
(OJ C 313, 12. 10. 1998), Council Common Position of 13
October 1998 (OJ C 388, 14. 12. 1998) and Decision of the
European Parliament of 3 December 1998 (not yet published
in the Official Journal).

(2) OJ L 182, 16. 7. 1994, p. 4.

Community aid may be given for investment
‘2.
projects,
technical assistance and
training, and for temporary support for the recurrent
costs of the Palestinian public administration.

feasibility studies,

3.
Community financing for projects and operations
covered by this Regulation shall be in the form of
grants or interest rate subsidies on lending by the Bank
out of its own resources. The subsidy rate shall be
3 %.'

2. Article 4 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 4

1.
Financing decisions on projects and operations to
which grants are made under this Regulation shall be
adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 5.

Financing decisions on overall allocations for
2.
technical cooperation, training and trade promotion
shall be adopted in accordance with the procedures
laid down in Article 5.

The Commission shall keep the Committee referred to
in Article 5 regularly informed of the use made of
these overall allocations.

3. Decisions amending decisions adopted in accord-
ance with the procedure provided for in Article 5 shall
be taken by the Commission where they do not entail
any substantial amendments or additional commit-
ments in excess of 20 % of the original commitment.

4.
Financing decisions on interest rate subsidies
shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 1488/96 (*).

(*) OJ L 189, 30.7.1996, p. 1. Regulation as amended
by Regulation (EC) No 780/98 (OJ L 113,
15.4.1998, p. 3).'

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of
the European Communities.

L 351/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

29. 12. 98

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
States.

Done at Brussels, 21 December 1998.

For the Council

The President

M. BARTENSTEIN