CELEX: 51992PC0599(02)
Language: en
Date: 1992-12-23
Title: Revised draft proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) establishing a Cohesion Fund

12 . 2 . 93                            Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 38 / 21
                     Amended proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) establishing a cohesion fund
                                                         (93 /C 38 / 15)
                                                      COM(92) 599 final
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 5 January 1993)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,                          Whereas the special situation of the Member States
                                                                    concerned calls for a determined effort to help them
                                                                    meet the convergence criteria which are a precondition
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              for moving to the third stage of Economic and Monetary
 Economic Community, and in particular the second                   Union ;
 paragraph of Article 130 d thereof,
                                                                   Whereas the second paragraph of Article 130 d of the
                                                                   Treaty states that the Council shall set up a cohesion
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                 fund to provide a financial contribution to projects in the
                                                                    fields of the environment and trans-European networks
 Having obtained the assent of the European Parliament,             in the area of transport infrastructure ;
                                                                   Whereas Article 129 c ( 1 ) of the Treaty provides that the
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                    Community may contribute through the cohesion fund
 Social Committee,                                                 to the financing of specific projects in the Member States
                                                                   in the area of transport infrastructure, whilst taking into
                                                                   account the potential economic viability of the projects ;
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the
Regions ,                                                          Whereas by virtue of Article 130 s of the Treaty the
                                                                   cohesion fund may provide financial support for action
                                                                   taken by Member States in pursuit of the objectives of
Whereas Article 2 of the Treaty includes the task of               Community policy on the environment ; whereas the
promoting economic and social cohesion and solidarity              cohesion fund shall contribute to the financing of new
between Member States ; whereas the strengthening of               measures if the Council decides that they involve costs
economic and social cohesion is mentioned under point j            deemed disproportionate for the public authorities of a
of Article 3 as one of the activities of the Community for         Member State ;
the purposes set out in Article 2 ;
                                                                   Whereas, in the light of an undertaking by the Member
                                                                   States concerned not to decrease their investment efforts
Whereas Article 130 a of the Treaty provides for the               in the fields of environmental protection and transport
Community to develop and pursue its actions leading to             infrastructure, additionality in the sense of Article 9 of
the strengthening of its economic and social cohesion,             Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253 / 88 of 19 December
and provides in particular that it shall aim at reducing           1988 laying down provisions for implementing Regu­
disparities between the levels of development of the               lation (EEC) No 2052 / 88 as regards coordination of the
various regions and the backwardness of the least­                 activities of the different Structural Funds between them­
favoured regions, including rural areas ; whereas                  selves and with the operations of the European
Community action through the cohesion fund should                  Investment Bank and the other existing financial
support the achievement of the objectives set out in               instruments (') will not apply to the cohesion fund ;
Article 130 a ;
                                                                   Whereas in accordance with Article 198 e of the Treaty
Whereas the Protocol on economic and social cohesion               the European Investment Bank (EIB) will facilitate the
annexed to the Treaty reaffirms the Community's task of            financing of investments in conjunction with assistance
promoting economic and social cohesion and solidarity              from the Structural Funds and other Community
between Member States and specifies that a cohesion                financial instruments ;
fund to be set up before 31 December 1993 will provide
a financial contribution to projects in the fields of the          Whereas it is necessary to coordinate action taken in the
environment and trans-European networks in the                     fields of the environment and of trans-European
Member States with a per capita GNP of less than 90 %              transport infrastructure networks through the cohesion
of the Community average which have a programme                    fund, the Structural Funds, the EIB and the other
                                                                   financial instruments in order to enhance the effec­
leading to the fulfilment of the conditions of economic
convergence as set out in Article 104 c of the Treaty ;            tiveness of the Community operations ;
whereas the relative prosperity of Member States is best
assessed on the basis of per capita GNP, measured in
purchasing power parities ;                                        C) OJ No L 374, 31 . 12. 1988 , p. 1 .
 ---pagebreak---  No C 38 / 22                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                  12 . 2 . 93
 Whereas, with a view to helping Member States in the                 Treaty, including projects resulting from measures
 preparation of projects, the Commission should be in a               adopted pursuant to Article 130 s of the Treaty,
 position to supply the necessary technical support ;
                                                                  — transport infrastructure projects of common interest
Whereas the operations of the cohesion fund must be                   financed by Member States which are identified in
 consistent with Community policies, inter alia, those                the framework of the guidelines referred to in Article
 regarding environmental protection, transport, compe­                129 c of the Treaty; where the appropriate guidelines
 tition and the award of public contracts ;                           referred to in Article 129 c have not yet been adopted
                                                                      by the Council, other transport infrastructure projects
Whereas an indicative allocation of commitment appro­                 contributing to the achievement of the objectives of
priations between the Member States should be provided                Article 129 b of the Treaty may be financed,
for in order to facilitate the programming of projects ;
                                                                 — preparatory studies and technical support measures
Whereas it is necessary, given the requirements of                    related to eligible projects .
economic and social cohesion , to provide a high rate of
assistance ;
                                                                                             Article 4
Whereas it is necessary to ensure effective methods of                                  Financial resources
monitoring, assessing and carrying out checks in respect
of Community operations ;                                         1 . For the period 1993 to 1999 the total commitment
                                                                 appropriations for the fund shall be ECU 15 150 million
Whereas provision should be made to give adequate                at 1992 prices .
publicity to Community assistance provided by the
cohesion fund,                                                   2 . In accordance with paragraph 1 , the commitment
                                                                 appropriations for each year of the period shall be as
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :                                    follows :
                                                                 — 1993 : ECU 1' 500 million,
                         Article 1
                                                                 — 1994 : ECU       1 750 million,
                 Definition and objective
                                                                 — 1995 : ECU       2 000 million,
 1 . A cohesion fund (hereinafter referred to as 'the            — 1996 : ECU       2 250 million,
fund') is hereby established.
                                                                 — 1997 : ECU       2 500 million,
2 . The fund shall contribute to the strengthening of            — 1998 : ECU       2 550 million,
the economic and social cohesion of the Community and
shall operate according to the provisions set out in this        — 1999 : ECU 2 600 million .
Regulation .
                                                                                             Article 5
                         Article 2
                                                                                       Indicative allocation
                           Scope
                                                                 In order to facilitate the planning of assistance in the
1.     The fund shall provide financial contributions to         Member States concerned the Commission shall, on the
projects in the fields of the environment and trans­             basis of an indicative allocation of the total resources of
European networks in the area of transport infra­                the fund , establish the commitment appropriations for
structure in Member States with a per capita GNP of less         each Member State. The indicative allocation shall prin­
than 90 % of the Community average which have a                  cipally be based on population, GNP per capita and
programme leading to the fulfilment of the conditions of         surface area ; it shall also take account of other socio­
economic convergence as set out in Article 104 e of the          economic factors, such as deficiencies in transport
Treaty.                                                          infrastructure .
2 . With regard to the GNP criterion referred to in
paragraph 1 , Member States shall continue to be eligible                                    Article 6
for assistance from the fund provided that, after a                                   Conditional assistance
mid-term review in 1996 , they remain below 90 % of the
Community average .                                              1.     If the Council decides in accordance with Article
                                                                 104 c (6) that a Member State has an excessive
                         Article 3                               government deficit, and if that decision is not abrogated
                                                                 in accordance with Article 104 c ( 12) within one year or
                     Eligible projects                           any other period specified for correcting the deficit in a
The fund may provide support for :                               recommendation in accordance with Article 104 c (7), no
                                                                 new projects or, in the case of large multistage projects,
— environmental projects contributing to the                     no new stages of a project shall be financed from the
     achievement of the objectives of Article 130 r of the       fund for that Member State .
 ---pagebreak--- 12 . 2 . 93                            Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 38 / 23
2. Exceptionally, in the case of projects directly                                         Article 10
affecting more than one Member State, the Council may
decide to defer suspension .                                                         Approval of projects
                                                                  1 . The projects to be financed by the fund shall be
                                                                 decided upon by the Commission in agreement with the
                                                                 Member State concerned .
3 . Suspension of financing shall not take effect less
than two years after the entry into force of the Treaty on
European Union .                                                 2.     The Member States concerned and the Commission
                                                                 shall ensure an appropriate balance between projects in
                                                                 the field of environment and projects relating to
4. The suspension shall cease when the Council, in               transport infrastructure. This balance shall take account
accordance with Article 104 c ( 12), abrogates its decision      of Article 130 s (5) of the Treaty.
adopted in accordance with Article 104 c (6).
                                                                 3 . Applications for assistance in accordance with
                                                                 Article 3 shall be submitted by the Member State
                           Article 7
                                                                 concerned. Projects, including groups of related projects,
                                                                 shall be of a sufficient scale to have a significant impact
                      Rate of assistance                         in the field of environmental protection or in the
                                                                 improvement of trans-European transport infrastructure
1.      The rate of assistance granted by the fund shall be      networks .
80 % to 85 % of public or similar expenditure as defined
for the purposes of the Structural Funds .
                                                                 4 . Applications shall contain the following infor­
                                                                 mation : the body responsible for implementation , the
                                                                 nature of the investment, its location and costs , the
2 . Preliminary studies and technical support measures           timetable for implementation, the financing plan and the
necessary for the implementation of eligible projects may        total financing the Member State is seeking from the
be financed at 100 % .
                                                                 fund and any other Community source. They shall also
                                                                 contain any information necessary to show that the
                                                                 projects are in accordance with this Regulation .
                           Article 8
Coordination and compatibility with Community policies           5 . The following criteria shall be employed to ensure
                                                                 the quality of the projects :
1 . Projects financed by the fund shall be in keeping
with the provisions of the Treaties, with the instruments        — their medium-term economic and social benefits,
                                                                     which shall be commensurate with the resources
adopted pursuant thereto and with Community policies,
including those concerning environmental protection,                 deployed ; an assessment shall be made in the light of
transport, competition and the award of public contracts.            an analysis of costs and benefits ,
                                                                 — the priorities established by the beneficiary Member
                                                                     States,
2.      The Commission shall ensure coordination and
coherence between projects undertaken in pursuance of            — the contribution which projects can make to the
this Regulation and measures undertaken with contri­                 implementation of Community policies on the
butions from the Community budget, the EIB and the                   environment and trans-European networks ,
other financial instruments of the Community.                    — the compatibility of projects with Community policies
                                                                      and their consistency with other Community
                                                                     structural measures .
                           Article 9
                Combination and overlapping
                                                                 6.     Subject to Article 6 and to the availability of
                                                                 commitment appropriations , the Commission shall decide
1 . No item of expenditure may benefit both from the             on assistance from the fund generally within three
fund and from the European Agricultural Guidance and             months of receipt of the applications . Commission
Guarantee Fund, the European Social Fund or the                  decisions approving projects or groups of related projects
European Regional Development Fund.                              shall determine the amount of financial support, a
                                                                 financing plan as well as all the provisions and conditions
                                                                 necessary for the realization of the projects .
2. Where a project benefits from other Community
assistance , the combined assistance granted by the              7. The decisions of the Commission shall be published
Community shall not exceed 90 % of total expenditure.            in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 38 / 24                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 12 . 2 . 93
                           Article 11                              5.   Further arrangements for the implementation of
                                                                  financial control shall be established in accordance with
                     Financial provisions                         Article 15 .
 1 . Budgetary commitments shall be made in ecu on
the basis of the Commission decisions approving                                             Article 13
assistance referred to in Article 10 . Commitments shall
be made in annual instalments for each project.                                    Monitoring and assessment
                                                                   1.   The Member States and the Commission shall
                                                                  ensure that the implementation of Community projects
2. Payments shall be made in ecu and shall be subject             under this Regulation is effectively monitored and
to the specific arrangements laid down in the                     assessed .
implementing provisions pursuant to Article 15 .
                                                                  2.    The arrangements for monitoring and assessing of
                                                                  Community projects shall be established by the
                           Article 12                             provisions referred to in Article 15 .
                       Financial control
                                                                                            Article 14
1.     In order to guarantee successful completion of the                           Information and publicity
projects financed by the fund, Member States shall take
the necessary measures :                                           1 . The Commission shall present an annual report on
                                                                  the activities of the fund to the Council, the European
— to verify on a regular basis that operations financed           Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the
     by the Community have been properly carried out,             Committee of the Regions.
— to prevent and to take action against irregularities,           2 . Member States shall ensure that adequate publicity
                                                                  is given to the operations of the fund with a view to
— to recover any amounts lost as a result of an irregu­           making the general public aware of the role played by
     larity or negligence . Except where the Member State         the Community in relation to projects . They shall consult
     and/or the implementing authority provide proof that         the Commission on , and inform it about, the initiatives
    they were not responsible for the irregularity or             taken for this purpose.
     negligence, the Member State shall be liable in the
     alternative for reimbursement of any sums unduly                                       Article 15
    paid .
                                                                                         Implementation
2.     Member States shall inform the Commission of the           The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a
measures taken for those purposes and, in particular, of          proposal from the Commission, shall establish oper­
the progress of administrative and judicial proceedings.          ational provisions necessary for the implementation of
In this context the Member States and the Commission              this Regulation .
shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the
information exchanged will remain confidential.                                             Article 16
                                                                                         Final provisions
3 . When submitting requests for payment, Member                  1 . The Council, acting on a proposal from the
States shall make available to the Commission any                 Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down
appropriate national control reports on the projects              in Article 130 d of the Treaty, shall reexamine this Regu­
concerned .                                                       lation in 1999 .
                                                                  2 . Council Regulation (EEC) No . . . (the cohesion
4. Without prejudice to checks carried out by Member              financial instrument) is hereby repealed.
States, in accordance with national laws, regulations and
administrative provisions and without prejudice to the                                      Article 17
provisions of Article 188 a of the Treaty or to any
inspection arranged on the basis of Article 209 (c) of the                               Entry into force
Treaty, Commission officials may carry out on-the-spot            This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day
checks, including sample checks, in respect of projects           following its publication in the Official Journal of the
financed by the fund and examine the systems and                  European Communities.
measures of control established by the national auth­
orities who shall inform the Commission of measures               This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
taken to this effect .                                            directly applicable in all Member States .