Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/2004 of 22 December 2004 amending Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)
Date: 2004-12-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EAGGF Guarantee Section, EAGGF Guidance Section, State aid, aid to agriculture, regional aid, rural development

24.12.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 379/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2223/2004

of 22 December 2004

amending Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European
Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,

establishing the European

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

The third indent of the second subparagraph of Article
47(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 (2), as
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1783/2003 (3),
lays
down that the Community contribution to agri-environ-
mental measures may not exceed 85 % in areas covered
by Objective 1 and 60 % in the other areas.

Article 47a(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999, which
lays down specific financial provisions for the Member
States which acceded on 1 May 2004, specifies that
Article 47 of
that Regulation does not apply to the
financing of the measures referred to in Article 47a(1),
which include agri-environmental measures. For those
the Community financial contribution may
measures,
amount to 80 % in areas covered by Objective 1,
in
accordance with Article 47b(1).

In order to prevent any difference in treatment between
the Member States that made up the Community at 30
April 2004 and the Member States which joined on 1
May 2004 as regards the financing of agri-environmental
measures in the areas covered by Objective 1, the rate of
the financial contribution applicable to the latter should
be brought into line with that applicable to the former as
from the date of accession, in accordance with the third
indent of the second subparagraph of Article 47(2) of
Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999.

Article 47(2), second subparagraph,
first and second
indent, of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 lays down
the Community contribution rate in the areas outside
In accordance with Article 47a,
Objective 1 and 2.
paragraph 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 as
modified by the 2003 Act of accession, these provisions
do not apply to the Member States that
joined the
European Union on 1 May 2004 in that they only had
areas subject to Objective 1 and Objective 2. Since then,
it has become clear that some of these Member States,
such as Slovakia, also have areas outside the said
objectives, where the rural development measures might
apply. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to make
applicable to the Member States that joined the European
Union on 1 May 2004 the provisions of Regulation (EC)
No 1257/1999 laying down the Community contri-
bution rate for the measures covered by the rural devel-
opment programme.

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 should be amended
accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

In Article 47a(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 point (b)
shall be replaced by the following:

‘(b) Article 35(1), Article 35(2), second indent, Article 36(2)
and Article 47, with the exception of the second subpar-
agraph of paragraph 2, of this Regulation.’

Article 2

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

(1) Opinion of 14.12.2004 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 583/2004 (OJ L 91, 30.3.2004, p. 1).

(3) OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 70.

It shall apply from 1 May 2004.

L 379/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

24.12.2004

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

Done at Brussels, 22 December 2004.

For the Council
The President

C. VEERMAN