CELEX: 51980PC0368
Language: en
Date: 1980-10-06
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) AMENDING REGULATION (EEC) N° 724/75 ESTABLISHING A EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND (presented by the Commission to the Council)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (80) 368
Vol. 1980/0132
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                           COM < 80 ) 368 final
                                           Brussels/ 6th October 1980
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                   PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC )
              AMENDING REGULATION ( EEC ) N° 724 / 75 ESTABLISHING
                    A EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND
                 (presented by the Commission to the Council )
                     \
  COM ( 80 ) 368 final
 ---pagebreak---                                        JUSTIFICATION
  1 . Regulation ( ££C ) N° 724 / 75 of 18 March 1975 establishing a European '  .
       Regional Development Fund ( 1 ) must , according to its Article 22 , be
       re-examined by the Council , on a proposal from the Commission , before
       1 January 1981 .              *                                         ,
                                   4
  2 . The Commission is currently deliberating on the changes which it would
• be appropriate to make in the Fund Regulation particularly with regard to
       the recommendations made by the European Parliament in its " Report on
       the Guidelines for Community Regional Policy" of 10th October 1977 and
       in its " Report on the Commission 's 4th Annual Report on the ERDF " of
      23 february 1980 . The Commission considers , however , that these changes
      should be incorporated into the framework of a clear longterm strategy
      for regional policy within the Community which should be based on
      adequate experience in applying the Council Decisions of February 1979 ( 2 )
      and on the outcome and conclusions of the Periodic Report on the socio­
      economic stat« ot the Community 's Regions which should be presented
      before the end of 1980 .
      Moreover the "General Affairs " Council of 29 and 30 May 1980 decided that     '
      the whole problem of the development of Community structural policies
      should be received by the end of June 1981 .
      The Parliament 's resolution "of 23 May 1980 requesting that the Commission
      present its proposals for the amendment of the Fund Regulation in September
      1980 at the latest , and the re-examination required under Article 22 of
      the Fund Regulation should thereupon be considered in the light of these
     new guidelines .
3 . There is , nevertheless , one item of the Regulation , which must necessarily
                                                         i ,
     be amended before the end of 1980, namely the new allocation of the national
     quotas referred to at Article 2 ( 3 ) of the Regulation to take account of
     the' accession of Greece to the Community from 1 January 1981 . This adaptation
     is indeed essential to enable this future Member! State to derive normal
     benefit from Fund assistance .
( 1 ) J0 N° L 73 of 21.3.1975 , p. 1 .
( 2 ) J0 N° L 35 of 9.2.1979, p. 1 .
 ---pagebreak---                                          - 2 -
. 4 . A comparative analysis of the situation of Greece with that of other
        Less favoured Member States of the Community has led the Commission to -
       propose a quota for Greece of 15% of the quota section of the Fund .
  5 . The inclusion of Greece in the system of Fund quotas raises the
       problem of altering the quotas of other Member States correspondingly .
       In this context the Commission had to take account in its proposals of
       several sometimes contradictory requirements . On the one hand it was
      difficult to imagine that the 15% allocated to Greece could be charged
       to the quotas of other Member States purely prorata to their relative
      size , that is to say by way of simple linear distribution . The method
             *
      would indeed have implied the disadvantage of the least prosperous
      States assuming the main burden , percentagewise . On the other hand , a
      method whereby too great a burden would have been borne in the distri­
      bution by countries with less serious regional problems would have
      emphasized unduly the tendency to concentrate the Fund almost exclusively
      in certain regions , adversely affecting the global character of Community
      regional policy . The Commission considers the global nature of the
     Community regional policy to be a key-factor , that is , it should embrace
     the regional policies of the Member States as well as community policies
     with a regional impact .
      The Commission has finally decided upon a formula    for distribution based
      upon the relative deviation of per capita gross Domestic Product in the
      various Member States from the Community mean , which seems to give
      appropriate weight to the differing requirements 'which have to be taken into
      account .
      On the basis of the Commission 's proposals for the 1981 Budget these new
      quotas will not in practice cause any diminution in the absolute values
      of the previous quotas .
      viiven that the whole of the Fund Regulation has to be reviewed by the Council
      on a proposal from the Commission during the course of 19S1 the Commission
      considers that the new quotas should be applicable only for 1981 .
 ---pagebreak---  The present proposal for a regulation calls for two comments :
 firstly , the Council 's budget guidelines of 23 September 1980
on the Regional Fund do not appear to reflect the need , although
 fully recognized , to give Community regional policy the indispensable
 financial means for achieving the aims attributed to this policy by
the Council itself . In this connection , despite the adherence of a
new Member State experiencing serious regional problems , the estimated
credits for 1981. will be at a level , which , with account being taken
of the fall in the value of money , will not even maintain , in real
terms , the present level of-the Fund for nine countries only .
Secondly, it would seem necessary to place emphasis in the future
on regional aspects in distributing Fund resources .         ,
 ---pagebreak---                         proposal for a regulation ( EEC ) N0' .../80  . j.i
                        of the Council of           1980, amending         <
               > \
                        regulation ( EEC ) N° 724 / 75 establishing 9
                        European Regional Development Fund .
              I  '    ;   '
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community
and in particular Article 235 thereof ;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission;
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament ;
Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee;
Whereas Council Regulation ( EEC ) N® 724 / 75 of 18 March 1975 establishing
a European Regional Development Fund ( 1 ), as amended by Council Regulation
( EEC ) N° 214 / 79 of 6 February 1979 ( 2 ), has established a European Regional
Development Fund intended to correct the main regional imbalances in the
Community ;
Whereas Article 2 ( 2 ) of the. Treaty on. the accession x>f the Hellenic
Republic to the European Economic Community and to the European Atomic
Energy Community lays down that the said Treaty shall enter into force on
 1 January 1981 , provided that all instruments of ratification have been
 received prior to that date and that the instrument of accession of the
 Hellenic Republic to the European Community of Coal and Steel has been
 received by that date ; ■
 Whereas the declaration of the European Economic Community on the European
  Regional Development Fund,, annexed to the Final Act forming one of the
 documents concerning the accession of the Hellenic Republic to the European
  ( 1 ) O.J , N° L 73 of 21,3.1975 , p.1 .
  C ) Q.J » K 9 L 35 of     9.2.1979 , p.1 .
 ---pagebreak---                                        '     - 2 -
 Communities , provides that the provisions of Article 2 ( 3 ) a ) of Regu­
 lation ( EEC ) N° 724 / 75 should be amended on the acc-ession of the Hellenic
Republic to the European Economic Community if the conditions governing
the share of the Hellenic Republic in the resources of the Fund have not
been fixed within the framework of the re-examination laid down in
Article 22 of this Regulation ;
Whereas in the circumstances the conditions governing the share of the
Hellenic Republic in the resources of the Fund should be fixed as from
1 January 1981 ;
Whereas Regulation EEC 724 / 75 has to be reviewed by the Council on a proposal
           \
from the Commission during the course of 1981 it is appropriate td apply the
revised table of distribution provided at Article 2 paragraph 3 sub-head a )
only for 1981 ;
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                               Article 1      -         !   ■       ■ -
   Article 2 ( 3 ) a ), second paragraph of Regulation ( EEC ) N° 724 / 75 is
                                                                                  %
   amended as follows :
                            v                                     • v
     In 1981 the resources of the Fund intended for financing these activities
    shall be distributed in accordance with the following table :
         I-'        • .                      '                  '
         I              .       •                           •
                  Belgium               \         1 . 06 X            .
                  Denmark     ,                   0.88 X
         j      ' Germany                  •      4.46 X
         j '      France        . ,i '          13.18 X                   '     . '
         j        Greece          v             15,00%                        -
                  Ireland          !.            5.87 X
                  Italy                  •      34.93 %     M
                  Luxembourg                     0*07 X
                  Netherlands                     1*21 *
                  United Kingdom                23.34 X ;".
 ---pagebreak---                             Article 2
Article 22 reads as follows :         . , .            ..     !
"On a proposal from the Commission, the Council shall re -examine this
Regulation before f January 1982"."'
                            Article 3
 This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1981 ,
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
all Member States#
Done at Brussels , .<>••••»                          For the Council
                                                     The President