REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT ON THE COHESION FUND (2009)    SEC(2010) 1231 final
Date: 2010-10-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, EU Member State, activity report, environmental policy, transport network

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 21.10.2010 
COM(2010) 589 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

ANNUAL REPORT ON THE COHESION FUND (2009) 

SEC(2010) 1231 final 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Financial execution of the 2000-2006 period in 2009 and closure of projects ............ 3 

Economic environment and conditionality .................................................................. 7 

Audits and financial corrections................................................................................... 8 

Irregularities notified by the Member States.............................................................. 11 

Evaluation .................................................................................................................. 12 

Information and publicity........................................................................................... 13 

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Regulation  (EC)  No  1084/2006  establishing  a  Cohesion  Fund  and  repealing 
Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 does not require the presentation of an annual report on 
the Cohesion Fund. 

Therefore  this  report  is  presented  in  conformity  with  Article  14(1)  of  Regulation 
(EC)  No  1164/1994  and  thus  covers  the  implementation  during  2009  of  Cohesion 
Fund projects adopted under the 2000-2006 period as well as ex-ISPA projects in the 
Member States concerned, including Bulgaria and Romania. 

As  a  consequence,  this  report  covers  Cohesion  Fund  operations  in  the  thirteen 
beneficiary  Member  States  as  of  end-2006,  i.e.  Greece,  Spain,  Portugal,  Cyprus, 
Czech  Republic,  Estonia,  Hungary,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Malta,  Poland,  Slovakia  and 
Slovenia,  as  well  as  ex-ISPA  projects  adopted  in  the  2000-2006  period  in  Bulgaria 
and Romania. It must be recalled that, as a result of economic growth, Ireland has not 
been  eligible  since  1  January  2004,  nevertheless,  on-going  Cohesion  Fund  projects 
are still to be closed. 

Details  on  the  implementation  in  2009  of  projects  adopted  under  the  2000-2006 
period for each Member State are presented in the Annex to this report. 

1. 

FINANCIAL  EXECUTION  OF  THE  2000-2006  PERIOD  IN  2009  AND  CLOSURE  OF 
PROJECTS 

Payments made in 2009 for projects adopted under the 2000-2006 period 

Given  that  all  commitments  for  the  Cohesion  Fund  projects  financed  under  the 
2000-2006  programming  period  have  been  executed  by  31 December 2006,  the 
financial  resources  available  for  the  Cohesion  Fund  in  2009  were  limited  only  to 
payment appropriations.  

The  2009  initial  budget  for  the  2000-2006  Cohesion  Fund  projects  amounted  to 
EUR 3,892 million.  However,  the  final  budget  was  reduced  to  EUR 2,777  million. 
The  cut  is  justified  by  significantly  better  execution  in  2008,  where  payments 
exceeded  the  voted  budget  by  nearly  30 %.  In  order  to  cover  the  gap  between  the 
available resources and the demand for payments in 2008, transfers have been made 
from the budget line related to the 2007-2013 Cohesion Fund programmes. This was 
caused  by  a  lower  start-up  of  the  2007-2013  period  and  thus  in  2008  the  Member 
States  opted  to  balance  the  delay  by  focusing  on  the  implementation  of  the  2000-
2006 projects.  

the 

trend  was  reversed  and 

the  outstanding  2000-2006  payment 
In  2009 
appropriations  have  been  transferred  to  the  2007-2013  Cohesion  Fund  and  ERDF 
programmes,  which  allowed  for  100 %  execution  of  payments  credits  for  the 
Cohesion Fund programmes and projects financed under both programming periods. 
The available appropriations of EUR 2,777 million have been fully executed by the 
end of 2009, resulting in nearly EUR 300 million more payments made in 2009 when 
compared with the 2008 execution (EUR 2,489 million).  

As far as the ex-ISPA budget lines are concerned, the available appropriations have 
been executed at 100 %.  

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At the end of 2009, the average absorption rate  (payments  vs. commitments) of  all 
current beneficiary countries for both the Cohesion Fund and former ISPA projects 
was  75.8 %.  The  low  absorption  for  Bulgaria  at  the  end  of  2008  (39.8 %) 
significantly improved in the course of 2009, resulting in a rate of 56.5 %. The other 
Member States range between 65.8 % (Poland and Romania) and 92.8 % (Ireland). 

Table 1: Implementation of the Cohesion Fund and ex-ISPA payments in 2009 (Euro) 

Payment 
Appropriations 

Initial 

Movements 

Final 
Resources 

Outturn 

Carryovers 
2010 

Cohesion Fund 

3.892.453.278 

-1.115.315.452 

2.777.137.826 

2.777.137.825 

Ex-ISPA 

400.000.000 

+128.969.059 

528.969.059 

528.969.059 

-

-

TOTAL 

4.292.453.278 

-986.346.395 

3.306.106.885 

3.306.106.885 

Table  2  shows  the  level  of  2009  payments  for  each  Member  State.  The  payments 
done  in  the  framework  of  the  ex-ISPA  contribution  are  included,  as  they  have  all 
been  turned  into  Cohesion  Fund  projects  at  the  date  of  the  accession.  Main 
beneficiary  countries  are  Spain  in  the  EU-4  group,  Poland  in  the  EU-10  group  and 
Romania in the EU-2 group.  

Table 2: Payments made in 2009 to Cohesion Fund and ex-ISPA projects per Member 
State (including technical assistance) 

Member 
State  

Environment 

Transport 

Technical 
Assistance 

TOTAL 

Amount 

% 

Amount 

% 

Amount 

Amount 

% 

(as 
compared 
to the CF 
2009 
outturn 
by MS) 

(as 
compared 
to the CF 
2009 
outturn by 
MS) 

Greece  

87.787.992 

32,8% 

179.354.927 

67,0% 

483.890 

267.626.809 

Portugal  

217.958.948 

69,4% 

95.310.572 

30,4% 

662.867 

313.932.387 

(as 
compared 
to the 
global CF 
amount) 

8,1% 

9,5% 

0,7% 

Ireland  

10.700.000 

46,7% 

12.231.279 

53,3% 

Spain  

438.942.360 

61,6% 

273.080.132 

38,4% 

-  

-  

22.931.279 

712.022.492 

21,5% 

EU 4 

755.389.300 

57,4% 

559.976.910 

42,5% 

1.146.757 

1.316.512.967 

39,8% 

Cyprus  

8.236.548 

100,0% 

-  

 - 

Czech 
Republic  

110.536.127 

61,8% 

68.256.254 

38,2% 

-  

-  

8.236.548 

0,2% 

178.792.381 

5,4% 

Estonia  

26.598.027 

63,9% 

11.887.556 

28,6% 

3.131.117 

41.616.700 

1,3% 

Hungary  

101.174.649 

40,8% 

145.002.371 

58,5% 

1.843.895 

248.020.915 

7,5% 

Latvia  

23.221.184 

55,6% 

18.360.386 

43,9% 

205.401 

41.786.971 

1,3% 

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Member 
State  

Environment 

Transport 

Technical 
Assistance 

TOTAL 

Amount 

% 

Amount 

% 

Amount 

Amount 

% 

(as 
compared 
to the CF 
2009 
outturn 
by MS) 

(as 
compared 
to the CF 
2009 
outturn by 
MS) 

(as 
compared 
to the 
global CF 
amount) 

Lithuania  

54.895.917 

54,1% 

43.992.426 

43,4% 

2.548.928 

101.437.271 

3,1% 

Malta  

-  

-  

-  

-  

2.909 

2.909 

0,0% 

Poland  

473.658.296 

56,6% 

351.643.624 

42,0% 

11.512.473 

836.814.393 

25,3% 

Slovakia  

46.574.012 

99,5% 

-  

-  

244.253 

46.818.265 

1,4% 

Slovenia  

20.483.408 

51,4% 

19.354.671 

48,6% 

-  

39.838.079 

1,2% 

EU 10 

865.378.168 

56,1% 

658.497.288 

42,7% 

19.488.976 

1.543.364.432 

46,7% 

Bulgaria  

67.755.746 

46,6% 

69.324.323 

47,7% 

8.384.684 

145.464.754 

4,4% 

Romania  

198.052.988 

65,8% 

95.213.178 

31,7% 

7.498.566 

300.764.732 

9,1% 

EU 2 

265.808.734 

59,6% 

164.537.501 

36,9% 

15.883.250 

446.229.486 

13,5% 

TOTAL 

1.886.576.202 

57,1% 

1.383.011.699 

41,8% 

36.518.983 

3.306.106.885 

100,0% 

Outstanding commitments from the 2000-2006 period 

At  the  end  of  2009,  the  outstanding  commitments  ("reste  à  liquider",  RAL) 
corresponding to the 2000-2006 period amounted to EUR 8.4 billion.  

Table 3: Cohesion Fund and ex-ISPA accepted amounts in 2000-2006 (including RAL) 

Member 
State 

Committed 
(until 12/2009) 

Paid  
(until 12/2009) 

% 
Paid 

RAL  
as at 
31/12/2009 

% RAL 

Greece 

3.565.195.978 

2.715.334.857 

76,2% 

849.861.122 

23,8% 

Spain 

12.915.179.288 

10.519.496.170 

81,5% 

2.395.683.119 

18,5% 

Ireland 

625.755.407 

580.710.223 

92,8% 

45.045.184 

7,2% 

Portugal 

3.497.201.489 

2.741.059.557 

78,4% 

756.141.931 

21,6% 

TOTAL 
EU-4 

20.603.332.162 

16.556.600.807 

80,4% 

4.046.731.356 

19,6% 

Cyprus 

54.014.695 

40.029.810 

74,1% 

13.984.885 

25,9% 

Czech 

1.226.581.086 

975.579.344 

79,5% 

251.001.742 

20,5% 

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Member 
State 

Committed 
(until 12/2009) 

Paid  
(until 12/2009) 

% 
Paid 

RAL  
as at 
31/12/2009 

% RAL 

Republic 

Estonia 

425.431.731 

330.768.303 

77,7% 

94.663.429 

22,3% 

Hungary 

1.481.998.333 

1.028.122.934 

69,4% 

453.875.399 

30,6% 

Latvia 

713.987.456 

541.309.058 

75,8% 

172.553.278 

24,2% 

Lithuania 

825.354.775 

661.411.795 

80,1% 

163.942.980 

19,9% 

Malta 

21.966.289 

17.532.611 

79,8% 

4.433.678 

20,2% 

Poland 

5.634.539.614 

3.708.555.930 

65,8% 

1.925.983.684 

34,2% 

Slovakia 

766.117.246 

586.031.109 

76,5% 

180.086.137 

23,5% 

Slovenia 

254.197.825 

202.417.662 

79,6% 

51.780.164 

20,4% 

TOTAL 
EU-10 

11.404.063.930 

8.091.758.556 

71,0% 

3.312.305.376 

29,0% 

Bulgaria 

876.947.183 

495.486.300 

56,5% 

381.460.884 

43,5% 

Romania 

2.037.250.711 

1.340.892.809 

65,8% 

696.357.902 

34,2% 

TOTAL 
EU 2 

2.914.197.894 

1.836.379.109 

63,0% 

1.077.818.786 

37,0% 

TOTAL 

34.921.593.986 

26.484.738.472 

75,8% 

8.436.855.518 

24,2% 

Closure of projects from the 2000-2006 period 

At  the  end  of  2009,  the  total  number  of  closed  Cohesion  Fund  projects  for  the 
2000-2006 period (including ex-ISPA projects) reached 299. The number of projects 
remaining for closure decreased from 976 at the end of 2008 to 893 at end of 2009. 
Table  4  provides  information  on  the  projects  closed  until  the  end  of  2009  (per 
Member State).  

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Table 4: Number of CF projects closed until the end of 2009 (including ex-ISPA) 

Member State 

Czech Republic 

Estonia 

Greece 

Spain 

Ireland 

Cyprus 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Hungary 

Malta 

Poland 

Portugal 

Slovenia 

Slovakia 

EU 14 

Bulgaria 

Romania 

EU 2 

Total 

Total 
number 
of CF 
projects 

Projects closed as of end 2009 

Number 
of 
Projects 

Total Paid in 
Euro 

Number of 
open 
projects as 
of end 2009 

58 

37 

124 

407 

10 

2 

46 

51 

47 

3 

130 

109 

28 

39 

19 

20 

49 

350.331.885 

106.548.425 

1.150.632.586 

39 

17 

75 

110 

2.969.559.629 

297 

4 

0 

10 

13 

11 

0 

6 

32 

10 

9 

357.368.796 

0 

44.331.604 

159.495.999 

26.071.037 

0 

6 

2 

36 

38 

36 

3 

68.915.348 

124 

810.129.887 

72.460.238 

60.041.606 

77 

18 

30 

1.091 

293 

6.175.887.040 

798 

38 

63 

101 

3 

3 

6 

27.044.270 

2.191.214 

29.235.484 

35 

60 

95 

1.192 

299 

6.205.122.524 

893 

2. 

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT AND CONDITIONALITY 

Article  6  of  the  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1164/94  which  governs  the  Cohesion 
Fund  for  projects  approved  prior  to  the  end  of  2006  attaches  budgetary  policy 
conditions to the disbursements by the Fund. It provides that "no new projects or, in 
the event of important projects, no new project stages shall be financed by the Fund 
in  a  Member  State  in  the  event  of  the  Council,  acting  by  a  qualified  majority  on  a 
recommendation from the Commission, finding that the Member State […] has not 

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implemented [its stability or convergence programme] in such a way as to avoid an 
excessive deficit". 

At  the  end  of  2009  eleven  Member  States  eligible  for  support  under  the  Cohesion 
Fund (Greece, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, 
Poland,  Slovakia  and  Slovenia)  were  in  the  excessive  deficit  procedure  (EDP), 
which, according to the aforementioned Regulation, may under certain conditions be 
associated with the suspension of transfers from the Fund. In 2009 there were three 
cases (Greece, Spain and Hungary) where effective action taken in compliance with 
the Council recommendations under Article 104(7) TEC was assessed. The Council 
decided 
issued  new 
recommendations  under  Article  126(7)  TFEU.  Only  in  the  case  of  Greece  the 
Council  decided  under  Article  126(8)  TFEU  that  the  authorities  had  not  taken 
effective  action  in  response  to  the  Council  recommendations  to  end  the  excessive 
deficit, but suspension of payments from the Cohesion Fund was not recommended 
at the time. 

took  effective  action  and 

that  Spain  and  Hungary 

3. 

AUDITS AND FINANCIAL CORRECTIONS 

In  2009,  the  focus  of  the  audit  services  as  regards  the  2000-2006  period  was  on 
preparing  for  closure  with  review  missions  of  the  work  of  national  winding-up 
bodies  and  in  the  practical  closure  of  2000-2006  period  Cohesion  Fund  projects 
through analysis of winding-up declarations. 

Audit  work  for  Programming  period  1994-1999  -  EU  4  (Greece,  Ireland, 
Portugal, Spain) 

The Cohesion Fund closure enquiry concerning the period 1994-1999 covered 10% 
of  Cohesion  Fund  projects  representing  20%  of  the  co-financed  expenditure  during 
this  period.  The  fieldwork  was  finalised  in  2003  and  the  main  deficiencies  found 
were  insufficient  management  verifications  resulting  in  ineligible  expenditure  and 
breaches  of  public  procurement  rules.  The  follow-up  and  financial  correction 
procedures resulting from the closure enquiry were all concluded by the end of 2009, 
apart for one remaining case (in Spain) which is to be finalised in spring 2010. 

Audit work for Programming period 2000-2006 - EU 16 (EU 10 + EU 4 + EU 2) 

For EU-14 Member States, three audit missions (in Spain, Portugal, and Greece) for 
the  review  of  winding-up  bodies  were  carried  out  by  the  Directorate-General  for 
Regional  Policy  in  2009  in  order  to  verify  the  preparation  of  Member  States  for 
closure and to identify and mitigate related risks. In addition, six other audit missions 
were  carried  out  in  (Bulgaria,  Czech  Republic,  Greece,  Hungary,  and  two  in 
Romania). 

For  the  closure  of  2000-2006  Cohesion  Fund  projects,  the  audit  services  of 
Directorate-General  for  Regional  Policy  examined  the  winding-up  declarations 
submitted by the Member States.  

Other audit work undertaken for the Cohesion Fund included the examination of the 
national annual control reports under Article 12 of Regulation No. 1386/2002 and the 
review of national system audit reports submitted to the Commission. By the end of 

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2009,  the  majority  of  reports  had  been  analysed,  and  replies  sent  to  the  Member 
States with observations and, where necessary, requesting additional information.  

Bilateral  coordination  meetings  are  held  annually  between  the  Commission  and 
national  audit  authorities  to  exchange  information  on  the  implementation  of  audit 
work and to discuss progress on sample checks and follow-up of audit findings. The 
meetings  covering  audit  work  carried  out  in  the  year  2008  were  held  during  the 
spring  and  summer  of  2009.  The  annual  bilateral  coordination  meetings  covering 
audit work carried out in 2009 were held in spring and summer 2010. 

Impact of controls 

Cohesion Fund suspension decisions and financial corrections in 2009  

In  the  exercise  of  its  supervisory  role,  the  Directorate-General  for  Regional  Policy 
established  a  policy  in  2008  to  ensure  more  rapid  adoption  of  decisions  for 
suspensions of payment and financial corrections when serious systems weaknesses 
are detected. The more rigorous approach continued in 2009. 

The  overall  figure  of  financial  corrections  for  Cohesion  Fund  in  2009  was 
approximately  EUR  86  million,  compared  to  approximately  EUR  92.7  million  in 
2008  (concerning  both  1994-1999  and  2000-2006  periods).  This  raises  the  total 
cumulative financial corrections for Cohesion Fund in the period 2000-2009 to EUR 
233  million  for  the  2000-2006  period  and  to  EUR  273  million  for  the  1994-1999 
period. No suspension decisions were adopted for Cohesion Fund projects in 2009. 

At the end of 2009, suspension and correction procedures were in progress for a total 
number  of  approximately  99  Cohesion  Fund  projects  (2000-2006)  covering  about 
EUR 149 million.  

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Table 5: Cohesion Fund financial corrections in 2009 by period and country (in EUR)1 

Member State  

Cohesion Fund 

TOTAL 

Period  

Period  

2000-2006 

1994-1999 

2.413.615 

- 

113.008 

- 

2.452.289 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

2.413.615 

-  

113.008 

- 

2.452.289 

21.592.738 

4.771.861 

26.364.599 

40.497.367 

- 

- 

649.156 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

40.497.367 

- 

- 

649.156 

- 

- 

205.714 

4.987.861 

5.193.575 

8.067.402 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

8.067.402 

- 

- 

75.991.289 

9.759.722 

85.751.011 

Bulgaria  

Cyprus  

Czech Republic  

Estonia  

Greece  

Spain  

Hungary  

Ireland  

Latvia  

Lithuania  

Malta  

Poland  

Portugal  

Romania  

Slovenia  

Slovakia  

TOTAL 

Management and Control systems 

In the Directorate General's Annual Activity Report for 2009, for the functioning of 
the management and control systems (2000-2006), an unqualified opinion was given 
for  the  Cohesion  Fund  systems  in  six  Member  States  (Cyprus,  Estonia,  Greece, 
Malta, Portugal and Slovenia). 

1 

Includes corrections made by Member States, following agreement under the relevant procedure or as a 
result  of  implementation  of  action  plans  and  formal  Commission  decisions.  Includes  corrections 
implemented  as  a  result  of  Commission  audit  work  but  also  corrections  carried  out  in  the  course  of 
implementation or closure of projects. 

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For nine Member States, the opinion was qualified with a moderate impact as a result 
of  material  deficiencies  affecting  key  elements  of  the  systems  (Bulgaria  -  transport 
sector, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and 
Spain). 

Only one CF sector in one Member state (Bulgaria - environmental sector) was put 
under  a  reservation  in  the  Directorate-General's  Annual  Activity  report  for  2009 
primarily due to breaches of public procurement rules. In 2010 work is on-going to 
rectify the identified problems together with the national authorities. 

4. 

IRREGULARITIES NOTIFIED BY THE MEMBER STATES 

In  2009,  the  Member  States  communicated  to  the  Commission,  in  accordance  with 
Regulation (EC) No 1831/94, altogether 109 notifications of irregularities involving 
a total affected amount of EUR 67,304,951 in respect of projects co-financed by the 
EU.  From  this  amount,  EUR  56,673,503  has  been  recovered,  and  the  remaining 
amount  still  has  to  be  recovered.  The  countries  reporting  the  majority  of  cases  are 
Portugal, Spain and Poland (27, 20, and 19 respectively). Portugal reported 39% of 
the  involved  amount.  It  is  also  worthwhile  to  note  that  Hungary  with  four 
notifications,  is  second  in  terms  of  amount  involved.  In  addition,  during  the  same 
period  Bulgaria  communicated  to  the  Commission,  in  accordance  with  Regulation 
(EC)  No  1828/20062  applicable 
the  programming  period  2007-2013, 
17 notifications of irregularities involving a total affected amount of around EUR 3.6 
million in respect of projects co-financed by the EU. 

for 

The number of notifications shows a significant decrease, compared to the previous 
year,  however,  the  involved  amount  remains  at  the  same  level.  The  main  types  of 
irregularities  reported  are  ineligible  expenditure,  and  infringements  of  public 
procurement rules. These two typologies cover almost 75% of all cases reported. 

2 

OJ L 371, 27.12.2006, p.1, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 846/2009, OJ L 250,23.09.2009 

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Table 6: Irregularities communicated by Member States in 2009 (in EUR) 

Member State 

Bulgaria  

Cyprus  

Czech Republic  

Estonia  

Greece  

Spain  

Hungary  

Ireland  

Latvia  

Lithuania  

Malta  

Poland  

Portugal  

Romania  

Slovenia  

Slovakia  

TOTAL 

Number of 
irregularities 

Financial amounts  Amounts awaiting 

recovery 

17 

0 

3 

0 

14 

20 

4 

0 

0 

2 

1 

19 

27 

0 

1 

1 

3.578.740 

3.578.740 

0 

1.924.920 

0 

0 

0 

0 

4.780.520 

1.684.211 

4.351.765 

3.622.443 

18.449.851 

40.387 

0 

0 

4.491.703 

39.133 

2.275.178 

0 

0 

0 

39.133 

49.542 

24.575.760 

1.332.009 

0 

2.552.398 

0 

0 

284.983 

284.983 

109 

67.304.951 

10.631.448 

5. 

EVALUATION 

The  Commission  and  the  Member  States  carry  out  appraisal  and  evaluation  of  all 
co-financed  projects. The  projects  to  be  financed  by  the  Fund  are  adopted  by  the 
Commission in agreement with the beneficiary Member States. 

The  Commission  carries  out  the  ex-post  evaluation  of  the  Cohesion  Fund. The 
previous  evaluation  was  published  in  2005  and  looked  at  a  sample  of  200  projects 
implemented over the 1993-2002 period. A new ex-post evaluation was launched in 
2009 looking at all Cohesion Fund and former ISPA projects implemented during the 
2000-2006  period.  In  the  framework  of  a  set  of  3  interlinked  "work  packages",  the 
evaluation  will  assess  the  contribution  of  the  Cohesion  Fund  and  ISPA  to  the 
development of the EU transport system, to achieving the EU acquis in the field of 
environment and the effect of ISPA as a preparation for the Structural and Cohesion 

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Funds programmes. In addition, ex post cost-benefit analyses will be carried out for a 
sample  of  transport  and  environment  projects,  identifying  lessons  for  future 
programming periods. 

6. 

INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY 

As indicated in the annual report for 2007, issues concerning the Cohesion Fund are, 
as  from  1  January  2007,  dealt  within  the  Coordination  Committee  of  the  Funds 
(COCOF, according to Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006). 

Several issues of common interest for ERDF and Cohesion Fund were presented or 
discussed during the meetings of the COCOF in 2009, for example: 

•  Commission  Regulation amending  Regulation  (EC)  No  1828/2006  setting  out 
rules  for  the  implementation  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1083/2006  laying 
down  general  provisions  on  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund,  the 
European  Social  Fund  and  the  Cohesion  Fund  and  of  Regulation  (EC)  No 
1080/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  the  European 
Regional Development Fund; 

•  Commission  decision  amending  the  Decision concerning  the  financing  of  the 
programme for the use of operational and non-operational technical assistance at 
the  initiative  of  or  on  behalf  of  the  European  Commission  under  the  European 
Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF) for 2009; 

•  Commission  decision  concerning  the  financing  of  the  programme  for  the  use  of 
operational and administrative technical assistance at the initiative or on behalf of 
the  European  Commission  under 
the  European  Regional  Development 
Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF) for 2010; 

As regards the Commission measures on information and publicity, the focus in 2009 
was two-fold. First, to ensure the publication of the list of beneficiaries of EU Funds 
managed by the Commission in partnership with Member States in line with Article 
7.2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006. Second, the Directorate-General 
for Regional Policy published details of major projects, including those financed by 
the  Cohesion  Fund,  both  for  the  2000-2006  and  2007-2013  period.  The  details  of 
many  of  these  projects  are  available  in  a  searchable  database  on  the  INFOREGIO 
website.  To  date,  there  are  over  300  projects  listed  in  the  database  (which  include 
major projects and other projects financed through the 2007-2013 programmes). 

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