Council Regulation (EC) No 1264/1999 of 21 June 1999 amending Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 establishing a Cohesion Fund
Date: 1999-06-21
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, common transport policy, environmental protection

26.6.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 161/57

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1264/1999

of 21 June 1999

amending Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 establishing a Cohesion Fund

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular the second paragraph of
Article 161 thereof,

Having
regard
Commission (1),

to

the

proposal

from the

Having regard to the assent of
Parliament (2),

the European

Having regard of the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee (3),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the
Regions (4),

(1) Whereas, pursuant to Article 16(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1164/94 (5), the Council is to reexamine
that Regulation before 31 December 1999;

(2) Whereas the basic principles of the Cohesion
Fund laid down in 1994 should continue to
govern the Fund’s activities until 2006 although
for
shown
experience
improvements;

need

has

the

the macroeconomic

(3) Whereas, while the single currency, the euro, will
the
affect
Community,
it will not remove the need for
eligibility of the beneficiary countries to be based
on gross national product;

situation of

(5) Whereas, by Decision No 1692/96/EC (6),

the
European Parliament and the Council adopted
Community guidelines for the development of
the trans-European transport network;

(6) Whereas,

during

transitional

period
the
(1 January 1999 to 31 December 2001), all
references to the euro should normally also be
read as references to the euro as a monetary
unit, as provided for in the second sentence of
Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98
of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of
the
euro (7);

(7) Whereas,

in view of

the continuing progress
achieved towards real convergence and taking
account of the new macroeconomic context in
which the Cohesion Fund now operates,
the
overall allocation of assistance of Member States
participating in the euro will be adjusted so as to
take account of
in national
prosperity attained over the previous period;

the improvement

(8) Whereas the procedures for the strengthening of
the surveillance of budgetary positions and the
surveillance
economic
and coordination of
policies were
in Regulation (EC)
No 1466/97 (8);

set out

borrowing

(9) Whereas the preliminary and final figures for the
public-sector
gross
domestic product and gross national product
must be compiled in accordance with the rules of
integrated economic
the European system of
accounts
(EC)
No 2223/96 (9);

by Regulation

requirement,

established

(4) Whereas all the Member States participating in
the euro are to submit to the Council a stability
programme
their
medium-term objective for achieving a budget
that is nearly in balance or is in surplus;

in particular

setting out

(10) Whereas the Resolution on the Stability and
Growth Pact (10) adopted at
the Amsterdam
European Council meeting on 17 June 1997 sets
the
roles of
out
Commission and the Council;

the Member States,

the

(1) OJ C 159, 26.5.1998, p. 7.
(2) Assent delivered on 6 May 1999 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(3) OJ C 407, 28.12.1998, p. 74.
(4) OJ C 51, 22.2.1999, p. 10.
(5) OJ L 130, 25.5.1994, p. 1.

(6) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, p. 1.
(8) OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 1.
(9) OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as amended by
Regulation (EC) No 448/98 (OJ L 58, 27.2.1998, p. 1).

(10) OJ C 236, 2.8.1997, p. 1.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

26.6.1999

retained,

(11) Whereas, while the principle of a high level of
assistance is
the search for other
sources of finance, in particular the beneficiary
Member States effort to maximise the leverage of
Fund resources by encouraging greater use of
private sources of funding should be supported
by the Commission; whereas
rates of
assistance should be varied to improve the
leverage of Fund resources and to take better
return on projects;
account of
whereas application of the polluter-pays principle
laid down in Article 174 of the Treaty must be
complied with in operations financed by the
Fund;

the rate of

the

(12) Wheras the responsibility of the Member State
for financial control work should be clearly laid
down;

(13) Whereas there should be provision to ensure
continuity of finance for operations in progress
and their adjustments to the new regulatory
requirements;

(14) Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 should be

amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 is hereby amended as
follows:

1. (a) a new recital to be inserted after the sixth

recital shall read as follows:

criterion,

economic
(cid:28)Whereas, with regard to the
convergence
current
the
macroeconomic conditionality provisions will
continue to apply; whereas, accordingly, no
new projects or new project stages shall be
financed by the Fund in a Member State in
the event of the Council, acting by qualified
majority on a recommendation from the
Commission, finding that the Member State
has not respected the Stability Growth Pact.’;

(b) a new recital to be inserted after the new

seventh recital shall read as follows:

as its objective to deter excessive general
government deficits and,
to
further their prompt correction were set out
in Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 (*)

they occur,

if

(*) OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 6.’;

(c) a new recital to be inserted after the former

20th recital shall read as follows:

(cid:28)Whereas total annual receipt in any Member
State from the Cohesion Fund under this
Regulation,
in combination with assistance
provided under the Structural Funds, should
be limited under a general capping dependent
on the national absorption capacity’;

(d) the former 21st

recital
renumbered 24th recital and read as follows:

shall become the

fulfilment of

in
(cid:28)Whereas provision should be made,
conjunction with the
the
conditions of economic convergence as set out
in Article 104 of the Treaty and with the need
for sound management of
the government
deficit, for a form of conditionality in the
granting of financial assistance; whereas,
in
that context, compliance with the obligations
arising from the Treaty must also be assessed
having due regard to the guidelines adopted
in the Resolution of the European Council of
17 June 1997 on the Stability and Growth
Pact (*) and whereas the concept of excessive
deficit is to be interpreted in the light of that
Resolution; whereas,
for each participating
Member State, macroeconomic conditionality
the
should be assessed taking account of
in
that Member State
responsibilities of
respect of the stability of the euro;

(*) OJ C 236, 2.8.1997, p. 1.’

2. Paragraph 4 to be added to Article 2 shall read as

follows:

To be

eligible under

(cid:28)4.
the Fund from
1 January 2000, the beneficiary Member States
must have introduced a programme as provided
for in Articles 3 and 7 of Council Regulation (EC)
No 1466/97 (*).

(cid:28)Whereas the provisions to speed up and
clarify the excessive deficit procedure, having

The
four Member States meeting the GNP
criterion referred to in paragraph 1 are Spain,
Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

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A mid-term review as provided for in paragraph 3
shall be carried out before the end of 2003 based
on per capita GNP as shown by Community data
for the period 2000 to 2002.

— 2002: EUR 2,615 billion,

— 2003: EUR 2,615 billion,

(*) OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 2.’

— 2004: EUR 2,515 billion,

3. Article 3 is hereby amended as follows:

(a) in paragraph 1

— 2005: EUR 2,515 billion,

— 2006: EUR 2,510 billion.

(i)

in the first indent, the word (cid:28)fifth’shall be
deleted;

(ii) the second indent shall be replaced by:

In the event of a Member State becoming
ineligible, resources for the Cohesion Fund will be
reduced accordingly.’

5. Article 5 shall be replaced by the following:

the

supported

framework

infrastructure projects of
(cid:28)— transport
common
by
interest,
Member States, which are identified
the
within
of
by Decision
guidelines
adopted
No 1692/96/EC of
the European
Parliament
and the Council of
23 July 1996 on the development of
transport
the
network (*).

trans-European

(*) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1.’;

(b) in paragraph 2, the second indent shall be

amended as follows:

(cid:28)Article 5

Indicative allocation

An indicative allocation of the total resources of
the Fund shall be made on the basis of precise
and objective criteria, principally population, per
capita GNP taking account of the improvement in
national prosperity attained over the previous
period, and surface area; it shall also take account
as
factors
of
deficiencies in transport infrastructure.

socioeconomic

other

such

(i)

the introductory phrase shall be replaced
by the following:

The indicative allocation of the total resources
resulting from the application of those criteria is
set out in Annex I.

(cid:28)technical
publicity
particularly:’;

support measures,
including
and information campaigns,

(ii) in point (b), the word (cid:28)supervision’ shall

be inserted after (cid:28)monitoring’.

Total annual receipts from the Cohesion Fund
under
in combination with
assistance provided under the Structural Funds,
should not exceed 4 % of national GDP.’

this Regulation,

6. Article 6 shall be replaced by the following:

4. In Article 4, the third, fourth and fifth paragraphs

to be added shall read as follows:

(cid:28)Article 6

(cid:28)From 1 January 2000, total resources available
for commitments in the period 2000 to 2006
should be EUR 18 billion at 1999 prices.

Conditional assistance

Commitment appropriations for each year of that
period should be:

— 2000: EUR 2,615 billion,

— 2001: EUR 2,615 billion,

in the

event of
1. No new projects or,
important projects, no new project stages shall be
financed by the Fund in a Member State in the
the Council, acting by a qualified
event of
majority
from the
on
Commission, finding that the Member State in the
has
application
not
of
referred to in
implemented the programme
Article 2(4)
to avoid an
excessive government deficit.

in such a way as

this Regulation

recommendation

a

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The suspension of financing shall cease when the
Council, acting under the same conditions, finds
that
taken
the Member State concerned has
measures to implement that programme in such a
way as to avoid an excessive government deficit.

Exceptionally, in the case of projects directly
2.
the
effecting more than one Member State,
Council acting by a qualified majority on a
recommendation from the Commission may
decide to defer suspension of financing.’

7. Article 7 is hereby amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 1 shall be amended as follows:

(i)

the second subparagraph shall be replaced
by the following:

(cid:28)However, from 1 January 2000 this rate
in
may be reduced to take account,
cooperation with the Member
State
estimated revenue
concerned, of
generated
any
by
of
polluter-pays
application
principle.’;

the
projects
the

and

of

(ii) the

following

subparagraph shall be

added:

(cid:28)To achieve this, the Commission shall
support
States’
beneficiary Member
efforts to maximise the leverage of Fund
resources by encouraging greater use of
private sources of funding.’;

(b) in paragraph 2, the words (cid:28)the expenditure on
which the calculation of’ and (cid:28)is based’ shall
be deleted.

8. Article 10 is hereby amended as follows:

(a) in paragraph 3 (cid:28)ECU’ is replaced by (cid:28)EUR’;

(b) in paragraph 4, in the eighth line, the word
(cid:28)possible’ before (cid:28)impact’ shall be deleted;

(c) in the third indent of paragraph 5, the words
(cid:28)including the polluter-pays principle’ shall be
inserted after the words (cid:28)on the environment’.

9. Article 11 is hereby amended as follows:

in paragraph 5, (cid:28)ecus’ shall be replaced by (cid:28)euro’.

10. Article 12 is hereby amended as follows:

(a) paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be replaced by the

following:

for

(cid:28)1. Without prejudice to the Commission’s
the
responsibility
Community budget, Member States shall take
responsibility in the first
instance for the
financial control of projects. To that end, the
measures they take shall include:

implementing

(a) verifying that management and control
arrangements have been set up and are
being implemented in such a way as to
ensure that Community funds are being
used efficiently and correctly;

(b) providing

the Commission with

a

description of these arrangments;

(c) ensuring that projects are managed in
applicable
the
accordance with
the funds
Community rules and that
placed at
their disposal are used in
accordance with the principles of sound
financial management;

all

(d) certifying

that

declarations

of
the
expenditure presented to the Commission
are accurate and guaranteeing that they
result from accounting systems based on
verifiable supporting documents;

(e) preventing and detecting irregularities,
notifying these to the Commission,
in
accordance with the rules, and keeping
the Commission informed of the progress
of administrative and legal proceedings.
In that context, the Member States and
the Commission shall take the necessary
steps
information
that
exchanged remains confidential;

to ensure

the

(f) presenting to the Commission, when each
step of project or group of
project,
is wound up, a declaration
projects
drawn up by a person or department
having a function independent of
the
designated authority. This declaration
shall summarise the conclusions of the
checks carried out during previous years
the
and shall assess
application for payment of
final
balance and the legality and regularity of
the expenditure covered by the final

the validity of

the

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certificate. The Member
attach
declaration if they consider it necessary;

States may
this

opinion

their

own

to

(g) cooperating with the Commission to
ensure that Community funds are used in
accordance with the principles of sound
financial management;

(h) recovering any amounts lost as a result of
and, where
charging interest on late

irregularity

detected

an
appropriate,
payments.

ensure

2.
The Commission in its responsibility for
the implementation of the Community budget
have
shall
that Member
smoothly
and
control systems so that Community funds are
efficiently and correctly used.

States
functioning management

States

the Member

To that end, without prejudice to checks
carried out by
in
laws, regulations
accordance with national
and administrative provisions, Commission
officials or servants may, in accordance with
arrangements agreed with the Member State
in the framework of cooperation described in
Article G(1) of Annex II, carry out on-the-
spot checks, including sample checks, on the
financed by the Fund and on
projects
management and control
systems with a
minimum of one working day’s notice. The
Commission shall give notice to the Member
State concerned with a view to obtaining all
the assistance necessary. Officials or servants
of the Member State concerned may take part
in such checks.

transactions. Commission officials or servants
may take part in such checks.’;

(b) paragraph 4 shall be deleted and paragraph 5

shall become paragraph 4.

11. In Article 16(1), the words (cid:28)before the end of
1999’ shall be replaced (cid:28)by 31 December 2006 at
the latest’.

12. Annex I shall be replaced by the following:

(cid:28)ANNEX I

Indicative allocation of the total resources of the
Cohesion Fund among the beneficiary Member
States

— Spain:

61 % to 63,5 % of the total

— Greece:

16 % to 18 % of the total

— Ireland:

2 % to 6 % of the total

— Portugal: 16 % to 18 % of the total.’

Article 2

Applications submitted before the entry into force of
this Regulation shall
remain valid provided that,
where necessary, they are supplemented to comply
with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1164/94,
as amended within two months of the entry into force
of this Regulation.

The Commission may require the Member
State concerned to carry out an on-the-spot
check to verify the correctness of one or more

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
2000.

Article 3

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

Done at Luxembourg, 21 June 1999.

For the Council

The President

G. VERHEUGEN