CELEX: 51985PC0180(02)
Language: en
Date: 1985-05-06
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) INSTITUTING INTEGRATED MEDITERRANEAN PROGRAMMES

17.7.85                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 179/5
                                                                II
                                                        (Preparatory Acts)
                                                  COMMISSION
                     Proposal for a Council Regulation instituting integrated Mediterranean programmes
                                                      COM(85) 180 final/2
                         (This document cancels and replaces Doc. COM(85) 180 def. of 18 April 1985)
                                (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 18 April 1985)
                                                         (85/C 179/07)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            6. The translation of these objectives into projects
                                                                       on which the integrated development programmes
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                  must be centred; these projects, which must be
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 43, 127                 interdependent and complementary, must aim at
and 235 thereof,                                                       improving conditions in agriculture and fisheries and
                                                                       at strengthening existing energy, communications,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                     transport, training and environmental-protection infra-
                                                                       structures; they should also be concerned with the
Having regard        to  the   opinion   of   the   European           development of small and medium-sized manufac-
                                                                       turing or commercial enterprises, with the promotion
Parliament,
                                                                       of new service activities likely to help solve the
                                                                       unemployment problem and, more generally, with the
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                       very wide field opened up by the introduction of new
Social Committee,                                                      technologies;
Whereas account must be taken of the following:
1. The situation in the southern regions of the present
   Community: standard of living, weakness of                       7. The link between the operations already carried out
   economic, agricultural and industrial structures and                under the socio-structural policies, in particular the
   high unemployment, sometimes combined with an                       Community's regional development policy and the
   ageing population;                                                  specific sectoral policies, which will continue to apply
                                                                       in these regions, and the measures to be taken under
2. The scale — highlighted in the Memorandum of 19                     the integrated programmes; these latter measures will
   March 1982 from the Greek Government — of the                       boost or complement the operations already covered
   structural adjustments facing the Greek economy,                    by the existing structural Funds and allocations;
   itself part of these southern regions;
3. The need for all the regions concerned to adapt,
   under the best possible conditions, to the new                   8. The integrated Mediterranean programmes seen as a
   situation created by enlargement;                                   full-scale Community policy, providing the oppor-
4. The results and scale of the sectoral schemes already               tunity for a further step towards better coordination
   under way; the need, demonstrated by experience, for                of all the structural financial instruments;
   a planned multiannual approach to national and
   Community operations in these regions; the usefulness
   of drawing up genuine integrated development
   programmes, designed and implemented at the                      9. The need when implementing the integrated
   relevant geographical levels in order to improve the                Mediterranean programmes to combine the flexibility
   socio-economic situation of the areas concerned;                    which is necessary in order to meet the real needs of
                                                                       the regions concerned with the stringency which is
5. The purpose of these integrated development                         needed in order to ensure that Community aid
   programmes; taking account of the particular                        depends on the fulfilment of the conditions specified;
   handicaps and strengths of the various regions, they                this means that management and executive functions
   must seek to provide an overall response to the                     should be delegated to the Commission within a
   diverse problems facing the regions in question,                    clearly defined set of guidelines; it also means that
   pursuing three objectives, namely: development, adap-               stringent methods should be applied to the evaluation,
   tation and support;                                                 monitoring and presentation of the results,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 179/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  17. 7. 85
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                                                Article 4
                                                                  1.     In the drafting and adapting of common policies
                           TITLE I                                and other Community measures, account shall be taken
                                                                  of the need to ensure consistency with the objective of
DEFINITION       OF   INTEGRATED MEDITERRANEAN                    the IMPs.
                      PROGRAMMES
                                                                  2.     Operations under the IMPs shall be mutually
                          Article 1                               complementary and shall be tailored to the charac-
1.    This Regulation makes provision for specific                teristics of the various regions and areas so as to facili-
Community action to accelerate the socio-economic                 tate integration of all the national and Community
development of the Mediterranean regions of the                   resources used.
Community, and particularly Greece, to facilitate the
adaptation of these regions to the new conditions created         3.     Operations under the IMPs must not affect the
by enlargement and, if necessary, to support employment           conditions of competition in breach of the relevant
and incomes. This action shall take the form of a                 principles of the Treaty; they must therefore remain
Community contribution to the implementation of                   consistent in particular with the principles of coordi-
integrated Mediterranean programmes,             hereinafter      nation of regional aid systems.
referred to as 'IMPs', submitted to the Commission by
the Member States concerned.
                                                                                            TITLE II
2.    The regions and areas which may benefit under
IMPs are listed in Annex I.                                       ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF INTE-
                                                                         GRATED MEDITERRANEAN PROGRAMMES
                          Article 2                                                         Article 5
1.    The IMPs shall consist of multiannual operations            1.     By the end of 1986, France, Greece and Italy shall
which are consistent with one another and with the                present IMPs to the Commission with a view to securing
common policies that contribute to the attainment of the          part-financing by the Community.
objectives set out in Article 1.
                                                                  2.     IMPs shall be drawn up at the relevant geo-
2.    The operations shall relate in particular to                graphical level by the regional authorities or Other auth-
investments in the productive sector, the creation of in-         orities designated by the Member States concerned.
frastructures, and better use of human resources.                 Their contents shall be as described in Annex III.
3.    The operations shall concern the various spheres of         3.     The Member States concerned shall keep the
economic activity:                                                Commission informed about the preparation of the
                                                                  various programmes.
— agriculture, fisheries and related activities, including
    the agri-food industries,
                                                                  4.     The Commission shall provide those Member States
— crafts and manufacturing,                                       which so desire with the necessary technical assistance at
                                                                  the level deemed appropriate.
— services, including tourism,
and any other sphere where such operations may                                              Article 6
contribute to the attainment of the objectives of the             1.     The Commission shall examine the IMPs with a
IMPs.                                                             view to establishing:
4.    A non-exhaustive list of the operations is given in         — their consistency with this Regulation,
Annex II.
                                                                  — the operations which are to receive          Community
                          Article 3                                   financial assistance.
The following instruments may be used to contribute to            2.     The amount of Community assistance for the IMPs
the implementation of the IMPs:                                   shall be based principally on the socio-economic
                                                                  situation of the inhabitants concerned at both local and
— specific additional resources,
                                                                  national levels, priority being given to less-favoured
— the ERDF, the ESF and the EAGGF Guidance                        areas.
    Section, hereinafter referred to as 'the Funds', and
    other budgetary allocations for structural purposes,          Account shall also be taken:
— loans by the EIB from its own resources and from                — of the usefulness of operations in the light of the
    NCI resources.                                                    productivity, employment and income objectives,
 ---pagebreak---  17.7.85                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 179/7
— of the size of the contribution made to the                    2.     It is estimated that over the same seven-year period,
    programme by the Member State, bearing in mind its           the IMPs could receive loans totalling 2 500 million
    budgetary resources,                                         ECU, possibly at subsidized rates.
— of the effectiveness of the machinery for coordinating         3.     The IMPs submitted by Greece shall qualify under
    and mobilizing initiatives,                                  paragraph 1 for an amount of 2 000 million ECU.
— of the relevance of the Community instruments, aids                                       Article 11
    or loans to the proposed operations.
                                                                  1.    For the period 1986 to 1993, the financial
                                                                 assistance referred to in Article 10 (1), shall be provided
                                                                 for out of the annual budgetary allocations for the
                          Article 7                              Funds, without prejudice, however, to the measures for
                                                                 the priority or less-prosperous regions not covered by the
An Advisory Committee on Integrated Mediterranean
                                                                 IMPs. This shall be facilitated by an increase in real
Programmes shall be set up. The Committee shall be
                                                                 terms in the allocations received by the Funds during the
made up of representatives of the Member States and
                                                                 period under consideration.
chaired by a representative of the Commission. It shall
deliver an opinion on each programme, paying special
attention to the integration of operations, the coordi-          2.     A special budget heading entitled: 'Integrated
nation of measures and the use of the specific additional        Mediterranean programmes — additional contribution'
resources referred to in Article 3.                              shall be allocated differentiated appropriations as part of
                                                                 the annual budget procedure.
Without prejudice to all the provisions applicable to the
Funds and budgetary allocations for structural purposes,                                    Article 12
the Commission shall approve the IMPs after consulting
the aforementioned Committee.                                    1.     Where IMPs are financed by the Funds or by way
                                                                 of other budgetary allocations for structural purposes,
                                                                 the relevant Community financial assistance shall be
                          Article 8                              granted in accordance with the procedures laid down by
                                                                 the provisions governing those Funds or allocations.
Without prejudice to the provisions governing loans
from EIB own resources and NCI resources, the EIB
and the Commission shall devise the coordination pro-            2.     The resources of the special budget heading
cedures necessary to ensure the consistency of                   referred to in Article 11 (2) may be used in particular
Community financial assistance for the IMPs.                     for:
                                                                 (a) granting Community assistance over and above the
                          Article 9                                   thresholds laid down by the provisions governing the
                                                                      Funds or other budgetary allocations for structural
Implementation of the IMPs shall be facilitated by a                  purposes;
Steering Committee for each programme and regulated
by programme contracts concluded between the parties             (b) measures outside the geographical scope of the
concerned (Commission, Member States, regional                        Funds or other budgetary allocations for structural
authority or any other authority designated by the                    purposes and without regard to their respective
Member States) and setting out their respective                       qualitative and quantitative restrictions;
commitments. The role of the Steering Committee and
the standard contents of the programme contracts are
                                                                 (c) granting repayable aids for the             financing of
specified in Annex IV.
                                                                      investment in the productive sector;
                                                                 (d) where appropriate, granting interest subsidies on
                         TITLE III                                    Community loans made from EIB own resources and
                                                                      NCI resources in respect of investments by small and
                                                                      medium-sized enterprises or investments in energy,
                FINANCIAL PROVISIONS                                  transport or telecommunications infrastructures.
                         Article 10
                                                                                            Article 13
1.    Community financial assistance for the IMPs shall
be provided from budgetary funds of an indicative                The rate of Community assistance in financing the
amount of 4 100 million ECU over seven years, of which           operations selected under the IMPs may not exceed
2 500 million ECU from the Funds and 1 600 million               70 % of the total cost of the project or operation,
ECU in the form of specific additional resources.                whatever the form such assistance may take. However, in
 ---pagebreak--- No C 179/8                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  17.7.85
the case of infrastructure projects of special interest in         available to it by the Member States, and from the
the context of an IMP that are part-financed by loans,             monitoring which it carries out on its own initiative. The
the overall rate of Community assistance may exceed                nature of these documents and the conditions governing
70 %.                                                              monitoring operations, in particular the time limits for
                                                                   transmission or verification, shall be specified in the
                          Article 14                               contract referred to in Article 9.
With regard to assistance from the Funds and other
budgetary allocations for structural purposes, budgetary           2.     The Member States shall take all steps necessary to
commitments, advances and payments shall be made, in               facilitate the monitoring carried out by the Commission
respect of the portion concerning them, in accordance              of operations financed under the IMPs, without
with the rules governing each financial instrument.                prejudice to any inspection arranged by the Member
                                                                   States themselves or under Articles 206a and 209 of the
                          Article 15                               Treaty.
The expenditure commitments relating to the budget                 Such inspections may take the form of on-the-spot
heading referred to in Article 11 (2) shall be effected,           checks or inquiries; they shall then be carried out at the
within the limits of the sums available, in annual                 request of the Commission and with the agreement of
instalments. The first instalment shall be committed as            the Member State by representatives of the competent
soon as the decision to grant assistance has been taken            authorities of the Member State, accompanied by
by the Commission. The commitment of subsequent                    officials of the Commission.
annual instalments shall depend on the progress made
with the programme.                                                3.     If the information available to the Commission
                                                                   reveals an irregularity or a substantial change as
Advances of up to 50 % of            the amount      of  the
                                                                   compared with the contract referred to in Article 9 and
commitments shall be payable.
                                                                   for which the Commission's approval has not been
                                                                   sought, the provisions relating to the Funds or to other
                          Article 16                               budgetary allocations for structural purposes shall apply
1.     Payment claims in respect of the budget heading             to the part of the programme financed by way of one of
referred to in Article 11 (2) shall be submitted to the            these Funds or allocations.
Commission by the Member State, the regional
authority, any other authority designated by the Member            In the same circumstances, assistance under the budget
State or, where appropriate, the natural or legal persons          heading referred to in Article 11 (2) may be suspended,
explicitly mentioned in the programme contracts referred           reduced or cancelled by decision of the Commission. In
to in Article 9 as recipients of Community assistance;             particular:
they shall be accompanied by a certificate showing that
the operations have actually been carried out and that             — operations in respect of which no payment has been
detailed supporting documents exist, and shall contain                 made for two years with no justification being
the following information:                                             provided by the Member State or by the recipients
                                                                       mentioned in Article 16 (1) within the periods fixed
— nature of the operations covered by the payment
                                                                       by the Commission, shall be deemed not to have been
    claim,
                                                                       executed,
— evidence that the operations were implemented in
    accordance with the IMPs,                                      — sums received unduly by the Member State or by one
                                                                       of the recipients mentioned in Article 16 (1), shall be
— nature and amount of the expenditure incurred in                     repaid to the Commission within six months of the
    respect of these operations during the period covered              date on which the Commission gave notification of
    by the claim.                                                      the decision.
2.     The Commission shall make the payments to the
Member State or to the recipients referred to in
                                                                                            TITLE IV
paragraph 1.
3.     For a period of three years following the final                                 FINAL PROVISIONS
payment made in connection with the programme, the
Member State or the recipients mentioned in paragraph                                       Article 18
1 shall keep available for the Commission all the sup-             1.     Starting in 1987, the Commission shall each year
porting documents relating to programme expenditure or             produce a detailed report on the implementation of the
certified copies thereof.                                          IMPs covering the financial           aspects of      their
                                                                   implementation and containing an economic and social
                          Article 17                               assessment of the results obtained.
1.     The Commission shall be kept informed at all times
of the implementation of the IMPs. This information                Starting that same year, the Commission shall also draw
shall be obtained from the documents sent or made                  up each year a statement of all the Community's
 ---pagebreak--- 17.7.85                                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                   N o C 179/9
structural financial resources, showing the proportion of                                           Article 19
those resources which has been used to implement IMPs.                    _ . . _,   . .     ...         .    r         . T .   .nnr
                                                                          This Regulation shall enter into lorce on 1 July 1985.
2.    The reports and statements shall be sent to the
Council, the European Parliament and the Economic                         This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety           and
and Social Committee.                                                     directly applicable in all Member States.
                                                                 ANNEX     I
                                                       Geographical scope of the IMPs
                                                                   France
              The regions of Languedoc-Roussillon, Corsica, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Aquitaine and Midi-
              Pyrenees (').
                                                                   Greece
              The whole of Greece.
                                                                    Italy
              The whole of the Mezzogiorno (2), the regions of Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Marche (3), and the
              lagoons of the northern Adriatic between the Comacchio and Marano Lagunara complexes (").
              (') With the exception of the conurbations of Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse and the built-up coastal
                  strip with all-year-round tourist activity.
              (2) With the exception of the conurbations of Rome, Naples and Palermo. The Mezzogiorno includes the
                  whole of Lazio. However, in the case of infrastructure projects, the areas taken into consideration are
                  those covered by the Cassa del Mezzogiorno (Presidential Decree N o 1523 of 30 June 1967).
              (3) With the exception of the conurbations of Florence and Genoa and the built-up coastal strip with
                  all-year-round tourist activity, where only fisheries and aquaculture measures are possible.
              (4) Where only certain aquaculture measures are possible.
                                                                 ANNEX     II
              Operations which illustrate the objectives of development, adaptation and support for the Community policy
                                                  on integrated Mediterranean programmes
              (a) In the agricultural sector: depending on the initial situation and the characteristics of the regions and
                   areas concerned, the development programmes may provide for operations aimed, in particular, at:
                   — converting holdings to specialized lines of production and types of land use which are better suited
                       to the prospective needs of the market, including forestry and operations to protect and improve
                       the environment;
                   — modernizing and intensifying traditional lines of production that do not give rise to any marketing
                       difficulties;
                   — stepping up socio-structural measures intended to:
                         (i) provide farmers with a fair income, by increasing compensatory allowances;
                        (ii) make it easier for young people to take up farming;
                       (iii) speed up the modernization and reorientation of production structures;
                   — modernizing rural infrastructures in order to improve living and working conditions;
                   — expanding structures concerned with the marketing, storage and processing of agricultural
                       products;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 179/10                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                    17. 7. 85
               — stepping up research and experimental work, providing fuller information and expanding vocational
                    training.
           (b) In the fisheries sector, the programmes may involve operations aimed, for example, at:
                — restructuring, converting and modernizing part of the fleet;
                — improving infrastructures and port installations including the biological protection of marine areas;
                — expanding aquaculture;
                — improving storage and processing facilities;
                — intensifying research and vocational training and providing technical assistants.
           (c) In manufacturing and the services sector, the programmes may involve operations aimed, in particular,
                at:
                — expanding small and medium-sized enterprises and craft firms by stepping up measures for which
                    provision has already been made with this objective in mind, namely, physical investment aids and
                    aids to improve business organization;
                — in Greece, facilitating the setting up of new enterprises and the relocation of those situated in
                    Athens;
                — promoting tourism and improving services, including the transport operations connected with that
                    activity;
                — encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to engage in other activities especially those
                    upstream and downstream of farming and of the agri-food industries and those concerned with the
                    use of renewable sources of energy;
                — strengthening the programme relating to the infrastructures necessary for the expansion of job-
                    creating activities, namely:
                      (i) the development of small industrial estates in priority areas;
                     (ii) communications infrastructures linking industrial estates with the principal networks (road
                          links, telecommunications and information network, energy grids);
                    (iii) infrastructures and facilities directly related to the expansion of rural tourism;
                    (iv) buildings and large plant required for training and research centres and for technical assistance
                          centres in manufacturing, the services sector, agriculture and the fisheries sector;
                     (v) in the case of Greece, infrastructures, in particular, economic infrastructures, in the fields of
                          transport and energy;
                — improving such infrastructures as will enhance the viability of rural areas.
           (d) The programmes also involve operations aimed at enhancing the value of human resources:
                — by strengthening Community assistance for additional vocational training operations capable of
                    promoting and providing a back-up for the activities set out in the integrated programme (in
                    particular, training of middle management, skill-development training and training to enable
                    individuals to combine their existing occupation with other activities);
                — by encouraging the gradual introduction of activities intended to prepare the ground for and
                    promote local initiatives in the fields covered by the integrated programme;
                — by providing for services integrated with the various stages of vocational training measures (ranging
                    from surveys of the local labour market to action to encourage the taking on of trainees). Where
                    necessary, the provision of such services may be supplemented by arrangements for monitoring the
                    labour market and by the creation of tripartite structures — or other local bodies — responsible for
                    their effective management.
                                                                 ANNEX      III
                    Contents of the integrated Mediterranean programmes submitted by France, Greece and Italy
           The documents submitted by the Member States in connection with the granting of the assistance referred
           to in the Regulation instituting integrated Mediterranean programmes shall specify:
 ---pagebreak--- 17. 7. 85                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 179/11
              the geographical area to which they refer;
              the socio-economic objectives of the proposed operations in terms of the income, employment,
              productivity and life-style of the inhabitants of the area;
              the duration of the programme, which shall be between three and seven years;
              the operations to be carried out, having regard to the situation and indigenous resources of each region
              and possible changes therein;
              the administrative, legislative and financial measures adopted or planned for the purpose of
              implementing the IMPs submitted;
              the consistency with the regional development programmes defined in Regulation (EEC) N o 1787/84
              and with the operations already carried out in the area with assistance from the Community's financial
              instruments;
              the other regional, inter-regional and national operations which the responsible authorities consider
              they must set in train on their own initiative in order to achieve the development objectives spelt out in
              the IMPs.
                                                             ANNEX     IV
                                           Steering Committee and programme contract
          1. For each programme, a Steering Committee shall be set up by mutual agreement between the
          Commission and the Member State concerned. The Committee, chaired by a representative of the
          Commission, shall assist the Member State, the regional authority or any other authority designated by the
          Member State to carry out the programme.
          2. The contract drawn up in respect of each integrated Mediterranean programme following its exam-
          ination by the Commission in accordance with Article 9 of the Regulation shall include the following:
             (a) designation by the Member State of the regional authority or any other authority designated by it to
                 ensure smooth implementation of the programme, and the composition, as agreed with the
                 Commission, of the Steering Committee responsible for assisting it;
             (b) the contribution of the recipients to the machinery for coordinating and mobilizing initiatives
                 referred to in Article 6;
             (c) a list and the schedule of operations to be financed by the Community; the conditions governing
                 such financing, in particular the estimated timetable for the contributions from the various
                 Community and national sources;
             (d) a description of the arrangements for appraising, evaluating and, more generally, monitoring the
                 operations qualifying for Community assistance, as well as the programme as a whole, and the
                 obligations arising therefrom for the Member State, the regional authority or any other authority
                 designated by it.
                 These measures shall provide the basis for continuing to grant assistance and for drawing up the
                 annual report on the implementation of the IMPs;
             (e) the nature of the information to be supplied by the Member State, the regional authority or any
                 other authority designated by it for the purpose of carrying out the programme, in order to secure
                 the payment of Community assistance;
             (f) designation of the regional or other authorities or the legal or natural persons empowered to receive
                 payments made by the Commission in respect of each of the operations qualifying for Community
                 assistance;
             (g) the conditions under which the recipients may draw up clauses supplementary to the agreements.