Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-European networks
Date: 2001-12-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financial instrument, aid system, intra-EU transport, trans-European network, transport infrastructure

C 75 E/316

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

26.3.2002

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council
Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial
aid in the field of trans-European networks

(2002/C 75 E/20)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(2001) 545 final (cid:151) 2001/0226(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 3 December 2001)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee,

the Economic and Social

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

(1) Traffic growth over the past decade (cid:151) in particular heavy
lorry traffic (cid:151) has
led to increased congestion and
pollution throughout the territory of the Community. The
current capacity of the road network as well as of the rail
infrastructure is far from optimal and the weakest points
are
in
implementation of the trans-European transport network
the
rail
relate
construction of infrastructure such as tunnels or bridges
of
the
financial viability of such projects is often extremely low.

length. Owing to these constraints,

sections. The major delays

cross-border

cross-border

significant

requiring

projects

the

to

total

investment cost

cross-border bottlenecks

(2) Provision should be made for an increased level of support
of up to 20 % of
for projects
concerning
at
borders with
contribute
the Trans-European
strongly to the
network as established by Decision No 1692/96/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July
1996 on Community guidelines for the development of
the trans-European transport network (1).

countries which

improvement of

and projects

candidate

(3) Since costly cross-border projects with candidate countries
may prove difficult
to financial
constraints, additional funding should be made available
for the most urgently needed improvements related to
transport infrastructure at borders with candidate countries.

to implement due

(1) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1; Decision as amended by Decision No

1346/2001/EC (OJ L 185, 6.7.2001, p. 1).

The potential economic viability of the projects should be
assessed. The funds devoted to these specific projects
should cover the whole financing period 2003-2006 irres-
pective of the date of accession of the new Member States.

(4) The provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 of
18 September 1995 laying down general rules for the
granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-
European networks (2) should be adapted to take account of
Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying
down the procedures for the exercise of
implementing
powers conferred on the Commission (3).

(5) The financial framework for the implementation of Regu-
lation (EC) No 2236/95 should be increased in order to
fund the most urgently needed improvements related to
transport infrastructure at borders with candidate countries.

(6) Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 should therefore be amended

accordingly,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 is amended as follows:

1. In Article 5, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

Regardless of the form of intervention chosen, the
this Regulation

(cid:145)3.
total amount of Community aid under
shall not exceed 10 % of the total investment cost.

However, the total amount of Community aid may, as from
1 January 2003, exceptionally reach 20 % of
the total
investment cost in the following cases:

(a) projects which concern cross-border rail bottlenecks
and/or missing links located in areas where natural
barriers represent obstacles to the free circulation of
goods and passengers and which strongly contribute
imbalance between modes of
to the reduction of
transport and to the improvement of rail
transport
within the trans-European transport network as estab-
lished by Decision No 1692/96/EC of
the European
Parliament and of the Council (*);

(2) OJ L 228, 23.9.1995, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation
(EC) No 1655/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(OJ L 197, 29.7.1999, p. 1).
(3) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

26.3.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 75 E/317

(b) other projects which concern bottlenecks at borders
with candidate
is
countries where
particularly high in terms of safety improvement and
congestion reduction; and

added

value

4 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC (*)
compliance with Article 7 and Article 8 thereof.

shall apply,

in

The period provided for in Article 4(3) of Decision

3.
1999/468/EC shall be two months.

(c) projects concerning satellite positioning and navigation
systems as provided for in Article 17 of Decision No
1692/96/EC.

___________
(*) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.(cid:146)

___________
(*) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1.(cid:146)

2. Article 17 is replaced by the following:

(cid:145)Article 17

Committee

3. In Article 18,
following:

the first paragraph is

replaced by the

(cid:145)The financial
Regulation for
EUR 4 700 million.(cid:146)

framework for the implementation of this
the period 2000 to 2006 shall be

Article 2

The Commission shall be assisted by a committee
the Member States and

1.
composed of representatives of
chaired by the representative of the Commission.

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

2. Where reference is made to the procedure specified in
this Article, the management procedure laid down in Article

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