Amended 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 (submitted by the Commission pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty)
Date: 2002-03-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: balance of payments assistance, common transport policy, energy grid, energy policy, trans-European network, transport network

25.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 151 E/291

Amended proposal (1) 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 (2)

(2002/C 151 E/22)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(2002) 134 final — 2001/0226(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty on 13 March 2002)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

of energy infrastructure. Priority projects on the
energy networks should therefore also qualify for
higher financial aid.

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 the Economic and Social
Committee,

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 — in particular heavy
led to increased congestion and
lorry traffic — has
the Community.
the territory of
pollution throughout
The current capacity of the road network as well as of
the rail infrastructure is far from optimal and the weakest
points are the cross-border sections. The major delays 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,

cross-border

significant

requiring

projects

to

total

investment cost

cross-border bottlenecks

(3) Provision should be made for an increased level of support
for projects
of up to 20 % of
at
concerning
contribute
borders with
strongly to the
trans-European
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 (3).

countries which

improvement of

and projects

candidate

the

(4) Since projects with candidate countries may prove difficult
to implement due to financial constraints, additional
funding should be made available for the most urgently
infrastructure
needed improvements related to transport
at borders with candidate
countries. 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 irrespective of the date
of accession of the new Member States.

(5) The provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 (4)
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 (5).

(6) 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.

(2) Cross-border connections between energy networks
are important for ensuring smooth operation of the
internal market, security of supply and optimum use

(1) Compared with the proposal for amending Regulation 2236/95
contained in document COM(2001) 545 only the text marked in
bold type has changed.

(2) OJ C 75 E, 26.3.2002, p. 316.

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

accordingly,

(3) 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).

(4) 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).
(5) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

C 151 E/292

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

25.6.2002

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

2. Article 17 is replaced by the following:

Article 1

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

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

‘Article 17

Committee

‘3.
Regardless of the form of intervention chosen, the
total amount of Community aid under this Regulation
shall not exceed 10 % of
investment cost.
However, the total amount of Community aid may
exceptionally reach 20 % of the total investment cost
in the following cases:

the total

(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 (*);

(b) other projects which concern bottlenecks at borders
with candidate
is
countries where
particularly high in terms of safety improvement and
trans-European
congestion
established by Decision No
transport network as
1692/96/EC of
the
Council;

the European Parliament and of

reduction within

added

value

the

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

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

2. Where reference is made to the procedure specified in
this Article, the management procedure laid down in Article
in
4 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC (*) shall apply,
compliance with Article 7 and Article 8 thereof.

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

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

___________
(*) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.’

3. In Article 18,
following:

the first paragraph is

replaced by the

‘The financial
Regulation for
EUR 4 700 million.’

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

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

(d) priority projects on the energy networks.

Article 2

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

___________
(*) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1.’

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