Council Regulation (EC) No 2257/2004 of 20 December 2004 amending Regulations (EEC) No 3906/89, (EC) No 1267/1999, (EC) No 1268/1999 and (EC) No 2666/2000, to take into account of Croatia's candidate status
Date: 2004-12-20
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Croatia, EU financial instrument, accession to the European Union, cooperation policy, pre-accession aid, pre-accession strategy

30.12.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 389/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2257/2004

of 20 December 2004

amending Regulations (EEC) No 3906/89,

(EC) No 1267/1999,

(EC) No 1268/1999 and (EC)

No 2666/2000, to take into account of Croatia's candidate status

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community, and in particular Article 181a(2) thereof,

establishing the European

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

The European Council decided at its meeting in Brussels
on 17 and 18 June 2004 that Croatia shall be a
candidate country for membership, and requested the
Commission to prepare a pre-accession strategy for
Croatia, including the necessary financial instruments.

(PHARE) (1), Council Regulation

In order to provide pre-accession assistance to Croatia it
is appropriate to include it as a beneficiary under Council
Regulations (EEC) No 3906/89 of 18 December 1989 on
economic aid to certain countries of Central and Eastern
(EC) No
Europe
1267/1999 of 21 June 1999, establishing an instrument
for structural policies for pre-accession (2)
(ISPA) and
Council Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 of 21 June
1999
pre-accession
measures for agriculture and rural development in the
applicant countries of central and eastern Europe in the
pre-accession period (3) (SAPARD).

on Community

support

for

The Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the
European Communities and their Member States and the
Republic of Croatia, signed on 29 October 2001, in its
Title III, requests Croatia to actively promote regional
cooperation in the Western Balkans.

The regional dimension of Community assistance to the
Western Balkans is receiving a special attention through
Council Regulation (EC) No 2666/2000 of 5 December
2000 on assistance for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,

the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the
Croatia,
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (4)
(CARDS),
with the view to promote regional cooperation, and
Croatia
and
for
programmes with a regional dimension.

projects

eligible

remain

should

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

Decision 2004/648/EC (5) determines the principles, prio-
rities and conditions contained in the European Part-
nership with Croatia.

The Memorandum of Understanding on the development
the South East Europe Core Regional Transport
of
selecting
Network should facilitate
priority measures
a pan-European
transport network during the pre-accession period.

the process of

developing

for

The entry into force of Regulation (EC, Euratom)
1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation
applicable
the European
Communities (6) necessitates certain adaptations of the
Regulations to bring terminology and current practises
in line with the abovementioned Regulation.

to the general budget of

Although the new Member States are not mentioned in
this Regulation, Article 33 of the 2003 Act of Accession
provides for
the application of Regulations (EC) No
3906/1989 and (EC) No 1267/1999 for these Member
States during a transitional period.

The Commission has
adopted Regulation (EC) No
1419/2004 (7) and Regulation (EC) No 447/2004 (8)
which constitute the legal basis for the financing of
measures under SAPARD under commitments which
had not yet been brought to an end by the date of
accession. Any decisions by the Commission which
might still become necessary until
the finalisation of
such commitments and which cannot be based upon
the two abovementioned Regulations may still be based
on Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 as it was in force
prior
that Regulation by the
present Regulation.

to the amendment of

(1) OJ L 375, 23.12.1989, p. 11. Regulation as last amended by
Regulation (EC) No 769/2004 (OJ L 123, 27.4.2004, p. 1).
(2) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 73. Regulation as last amended by

Regulation (EC) No 769/2004.

(3) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 87. Regulation as last amended by

Regulation (EC) No 769/2004.

(4) OJ L 306, 7.12.2000, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 2415/2001 (OJ L 327, 12.12.2001, p. 3).

(5) OJ L 297, 22.9.2004, p. 19.
(6) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 258, 5.8.2004, p. 11.
(8) OJ L 72, 11.3.2004, p. 64.

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Official Journal of the European Union

30.12.2004

(10)

Regulations (EEC) No 3906/89, (EC) No 1267/1999, (EC)
No 1268/1999 and (EC) No 2666/2000 should be
amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

particular budget implementation tasks to the bodies listed
in Article 54(2) of that Regulation. The bodies defined in
Article 54(2)(c) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002
may be entrusted with tasks of public authority if they are of
standing, comply with interna-
recognised international
tionally recognised systems of management and control,
and are supervised by a public authority.

Council Regulation (EEC) No 3906/89 is hereby amended as
follows:

___________
(*) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.’;

1. Article 3 shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

3. the list in the Annex shall be replaced by the following list:

‘3.
For applicant countries with accession partnerships
funding under the PHARE
with the European Union,
programme shall focus on the main priorities for the
adoption of the acquis communautaire, i.e. building up
the administrative and institutional capacities of
the
applicant States and investment, except for the type of
investments financed in accordance with Council Regu-
lations (EC) No 1267/1999 of 21 June 1999 establishing
an instrument for structural policies for pre-accession (*)
and (EC) No 1268/1999 of 21 June 1999 on
Community support for pre-accession measures for agri-
culture and rural development in the applicant countries
of central and eastern Europe in pre-accession period (**),
provided the conditions for funding measures under
those two Regulations are met. PHARE funding may
also be used to finance the measures in the fields of
environment, transport and agriculture and rural deve-
lopment which form an incidental but
indispensable
part of integrated industrial reconstruction or regional
development programmes.

___________
(*) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 73. Regulation as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 769/2004 (OJ
L 123, 27.4.2004, p. 1).

(**) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 87. Regulation as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 769/2004.’;

(b) the following paragraphs shall be added:

‘4.
Assistance may be used to cover the participation
of recipient countries under this Regulation in regional,
cross-border, and, where appropriate, transnational and
interregional
and
between them and EU Member States.

cooperation

themselves

among

5. Where appropriate, aid may also be used to cover a
recipient country's participation in regional programmes
under other legal instruments.’;

2.

in Article 8, the following subparagraph shall be added:

‘The Commission may, within the limits established in
Article 54 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No
1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation
applicable to the general budget of the European Commu-
nities (*), decide to entrust tasks of public authority, and in

‘Bulgaria

Croatia

Romania’.

Article 2

Regulation (EC) No 1267/1999 is hereby amended as follows:

1.

in Article 1, paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

The

Instrument

‘1.
for Pre-
Accession, hereinafter referred to as “ISPA” is hereby estab-
lished.

for Structural Policies

ISPA shall provide assistance to contribute to the preparation
for accession to the European Union of Bulgaria, Croatia and
“beneficiary
Romania, hereinafter
countries”,
in the area of economic and social cohesion,
concerning environment and transport policies in accordance
with the provisions of this Regulation.’;

referred

to as

the

2. the following subparagraph shall be added at the end of

Article 3:

‘Notwithstanding the
to
Croatia shall be granted during the period from 2005 to
2006.’;

above, Community

assistance

3. the following subparagraph shall be added at the end of

Article 4:

‘By way of derogation from the first and second sentence of
this Article, the allocation for Croatia for 2005 and 2006
under
the
shall
Commission on the basis of an assessment of the adminis-
trative absorption capacity and accession-driven investment
needs of this beneficiary country.’;

determined

instrument

this

by

be

4.

(a), the words ‘as from 1
in Article 9, paragraph 1,
lit.
January 2000 and in any event not later than 1 January
2002,’ shall be deleted.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Article 3

5. Article 11 shall be replaced by the following:

Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 is hereby amended as follows:

1. paragraph 1 of Article 1 shall be replaced by the following:

framework
agriculture

establishes
for

the
sustainable

This Regulation
support

‘1.
for
Community
and
sustainable rural development for the pre-accession period
for Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. The Regulation shall
also remain applicable for the finalisation of any of the
programmes
in the Czech Republic,
it
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and
Slovenia prior to their accession to the European Union.’;

started under

‘Article 11

The Commission shall allocate the available resources to the
applicant countries for the implementation of Article 7(2).
Within three months of the decision to make a country
eligible for assistance under this Regulation, the Commission
shall communicate its decision on the indicative financial
allocation for
the ongoing financial perspective to that
applicant country.’.

Article 4

Regulation (EC) No 2666/2000 is hereby amended as follows:

2. at the end of Article 4(2) the following subparagraph shall

1. at the end of paragraph 1 of Article 1 the following sentence

be added:

shall be added:

‘By way of derogation from the first subparagraph,
for
Croatia the plan shall, under
the same conditions as
stipulated in the first subparagraph, cover a period of up
to two years from the year 2005.’;

for projects

‘From 2005 Croatia shall be eligible as a recipient country
only
regional
dimension, such as outlined in Article 2(2). Notwithstanding
the preceding sentence, Croatia shall remain eligible for
projects and programmes under Decision 1999/311/EC.’;

and programmes with a

3. at the end of Article 5(1) the following sentence shall be

added:

2. Article 7 shall be amended as follows:

‘However, with regard to Croatia, the respective programme
shall not be subject to a mid-term appraisal.’;

4. Article 7 shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.
Community assistance under this Regulation shall
be granted during the period from 2000 to 2006, with
the exception of Community assistance for Croatia which
shall be granted during the period from 2005 to 2006.
The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the
budgetary authority within the limits of the financial
perspective.’;

(b) at the end of paragraph 3 the following subparagraph

shall be added:

‘However, for Croatia the annual financial allocation shall
be fixed separately.’;

(a) paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.
The Commission shall implement the Community
assistance in accordance with Council Regulation (EC)
No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regu-
lation applicable to the general budget of the European
Communities (*).

___________
(*) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.’

(b) the following paragraph shall be inserted:

‘2a.
The Commission may, within the limits estab-
lished in Article 54 of Regulation (EC) No 1605/2002,
tasks of public authority, and in
decide to entrust
particular budget
implementation tasks to the bodies
listed in Article 54(2) of said Regulation. The bodies
defined in Article 54(2)(c) of said Regulation may be
entrusted with tasks of public authority if they are of
recognised international standing, comply with interna-
tionally recognised systems of management and control,
and are supervised by public authority.’.

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Article 5

For the implementation of the pre-accession instruments, and for the implementation of Council Regulation
(EC) No 1266/1999 of 21 June 1999 on coordinating aid to the applicant countries in the framework of
the pre-accession strategy (1), where reference is being made to the Accession Partnership (2) and the Europe
Agreement, this shall be understood in the case of Croatia to refer to the European Partnership (3) and the
Stabilisation and Association Agreement.

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

Article 6

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

Done at Brussels, 20 December 2004

For the Council
The President

P. VAN GEEL

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 68.
(2) OJ L 85, 20.3.1998, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 86, 23.3.2004, p. 1.