1999/503/EC: Commission Decision of 1 July 1999 establishing a population ceiling for each Member State under Objective 2 of the Structural Funds for the period 2000 to 2006 (notified under document number C(1999) 1771)
Date: 1999-07-01
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Structural Funds, economic conversion, geographical distribution of the population, less-favoured region, rural region

L 194/58

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

27. 7. 1999

COMMISSION DECISION

of 1 July 1999

establishing a population ceiling for each Member State under Objective 2 of the Structural Funds
for the period 2000 to 2006

(notified under document number C(1999) 1771)

(1999/503/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21
June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural
Funds (1), and in particular Article 4(2) thereof,

(1) Whereas point 2 of the first subparagraph of Article 1 of
Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 states that Objective 2 of
the Structural Funds aims to support the economic and
social conversion of areas facing structural difficulties;

(2) Whereas Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999
stipulates that the population of the areas covered by
Objective 2 may not exceed 18 % of the total population
of the Community and whereas the Commission must
set a population ceiling for each Member State accord-
ingly, on the basis of the total population in the NUTS
level III regions of each Member State which meet the
specific criteria for the industrial and rural areas under-
going socio-economic change referred to in paragraph 5
and 6 of that Article and according to the severity of the
structural problems at national
in each Member
State as compared with the other Member States
concerned and the need to ensure that each Member
State makes a fair contribution to the overall concentra-
tion effort;

level

(3) Whereas Article 4(2)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/
1999 requires the severity of the structural problems at
national level to be assessed on the basis of total unem-
ployment and long-term unemployment outside the
regions eligible under Objective 1;

(4) Whereas Article 4(2)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/
1999 stipulates that
the maximum reduction in the
population covered by Objective 2 may not exceed one
third compared to the population covered by Objectives
2 and 5(b) in 1999, as set out in Council Regulation
(EEC) No 2052/88 of 24 June 1988 on the tasks of the
Structural Funds and their effectiveness and on coordina-
tion of their activities between themselves and with the
operations of the European Investment Bank and the
other existing financial instruments (2), as last amended
by Regulation (EC) No 3193/94 (3);

(5) Whereas

the population ceilings by Member State
should be established on the basis of Community statis-
tics available at the time of the Berlin European Council
of 24 and 25 March 1999,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The population ceilings for each Member State under Objective
2 for the period 2000 to 2006 shall be those set out in the
Annex.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Article 2

Done at Brussels, 1 July 1999.

For the Commission

Monika WULF-MATHIES

Member of the Commission

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

(2) OJ L 185, 15.7.1988, p. 9.
(3) OJ L 337, 24.12.1994, p. 11.

27. 7. 1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 194/59

ANNEX

establishing a population ceiling for each Member State under Objective 2 of the Structural Funds for the period
2000 to 2006

Member State

Population ceiling
(1 000 population)

Belgium

Denmark

Germany

Greece

Spain

France

Ireland

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Austria

Portugal

Finland

Sweden

United Kingdom

1 269

538

10 296

—

8 809

18 768

—

7 402

118

2 333

1 995

—

1 582

1 223

13 836