CELEX: 51986PC0722
Language: en
Date: 1986-12-15
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ON FINANCING MAJOR COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

27.3. 87                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                               N o C 80/7
                                                                II
                                                        (Preparatory Acts)
                                                  COMMISSION
                   Proposal for a Council Decision on financing major Community infrastructure projects
                                                       COM(86) 722 final
                              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 23 December 1986)
                                                          (87/C 80/14)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                                         Article 1
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235
thereof,                                                            Provision shall be made for Community action to assist
                                                                    large-scale infrastructure projects of European interest
                                                                    located in whole or in part in the Community. The
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  purpose of such action shall be to facilitate the
                                                                    emergence and launching of such projects by mobilizing
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                   new sources of capital and channelling the proceeds
liament,                                                            towards them.
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                                              Article 2
Social Committee,
                                                                    1.    Large-scale infrastructure projects of European
                                                                    interest shall aim either to provide a link which does not
Whereas large-scale infrastructure projects are a                   exist, to offer substantially improved services or to
powerful factor for integration and help to unify the               provide new services.
internal market, thereby making European industry more
competitive;
                                                                    2.    They may concern various sectors of activity,
                                                                    focusing primarily on transport, telecommunications,
Whereas the emergence and launching of such projects                energy and the environment.
encounter a variety of obstacles, including financial
obstacles, that stem from their characteristics and from
the different types of risk associated with them;                   3.    The projects and their implementation shall comply
                                                                    with the provisions of the Treaty and of secondary
                                                                    legislation, notably in competition matters, and with
Whereas their financing will, from now on, have to rely             Community rules and policies applicable in the fields
more than in the past on private capital, which is not              concerned.
necessarily attracted by this type of project;
                                                                                              Article 3
Whereas the interest and European dimension of such
projects justify assistance being provided by the                   In order to facilitate the emergence and launching of
Community;                                                          large-scale infrastucture projects of European interest,
                                                                    the following means of financing may be drawn on:
Whereas the purpose of such assistance must be to
mobilize private capital and channel it towards large-              — specific budgetary resources,
scale projects of European interest;
                                                                    — resources available under Community policies and
                                                                        measures whose objectives the projects are designed
Whereas specific Community action is, therefore, needed                 to achieve,
to promote the emergence and financial launching of
infrastructure projects of European interest;
                                                                    — specific loans from the own resources of the
                                                                        European Investment Bank (EIB) and, should the
Whereas the European Investment Bank has stated its                     need arise, from resources raised by the European
willingness to participate in such action,                              Economic Community (EEC) on capital markets.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 80/8                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                     27. 3. 87
                         Article 4                               3. Large-scale infrastructure projects declared to be of
                                                                 European interest may:
1. The preparatory work and studies necessary to
demonstrate the technical, financial and economic                — depending on their nature, be covered by provisions
viability of projets may qualify for a contribution from              designed to facilitate the raising of private funds,
the Community in the form of a grant or repayable                     provisions which shall be submitted on a case-by-case
advance.                                                              basis by the Commission to the Council, after
                                                                      consulting the Economic Policy Committee;
2. Such expenditure shall be financed under Article
581 of the budget in the case of transport infrastructure        — receive a grant from the Community budget and
and under Article 709 in the case of energy infra-                    qualify for specific loans as referred to in Article 3.
structure. In other cases, it shall be financed under a
specific budget heading (Article 798) entitled                                               Article 6
'Preparatory studies and measures in connection with
large-scale European infrastructure projects' in the             1. The financial packaging necessary for the start-up
chapter relating to financial engineering operations. An         of the work involved in projects declared to be of
amount of differentiated appropriations shall be entered         European interest may qualify for Community assistance
under the specific budget heading in the annual budget           in the form of repayable advances.
procedure.
                                                                 2. In the annual budget procedure, an amount of
                         Article 5                               differentiated appropriations shall be entered under a
                                                                 specific budget heading entitled 'Contribution to large-
 1. The large-scale projects referred to in Article 2 may        scale European infrastructure projects' in the chapter
be declared to be of European Interest. In order to have         relating to financial engineering operations.
such a declaration conferred on them, the projects shall
be submitted to the Commission either directly or                3. The repayment date of any repayable advance shall
through the intermediary of a Member State.                      be agreed between the Commission and the beneficiary:
Such projects must draw to a large extent on private             — either when the work is started;
savings and comply with the objectives and criteria laid
down by the Community programmes relating to the                 — or on completion of the work;
sectors to which they belong. The Commission shall:              — or during the operational phase provided a profit-
— determine whether or not they comply with this                      sharing clause is included.
    Decision;
— identify the advantages they bring in the light of not                                     Article 7
    only technical and financial but also socio-economic          1. Loans made by the EIB out of its own resources for
    criteria. Account shall be taken among other things          projects declared to be of European interest may be
    of the impact the projects have on Community                  covered by a guarantee under the Community budget.
    competitiveness and of their effects, including in
    terms of employment and incomes, on the countries            The budget guarantee may be granted in respect of EIB
     and regions most directly concerned.                         loans that are not likely to qualify either for a guarantee
                                                                  from the Member State or States involved in the project
 2. The declaration of European interest shall be made            or for any other adequate guarantees.
 by the Commission after agreement has been reached
 with the Member States directly concerned by the                 2. The guarantee under the Community budget shall
 projects. The Commission shall inform the Council and            be conditional and partial. The Commission shall decide
 Parliament thereof.                                              on a case-by-case basis whether to grant it and on the
                                                                  operational arrangements. Its decision shall be laid down
 However, in the case of projects relating to sectors not
                                                                  in an agreement concluded with the EIB.
 covered by Community programmes, the declaration of
 European interest may be conferred only after agreement
                                                                  3. Decisions to grant guarantees taken by the
 by the Council.
                                                                  Commission shall be subject to an overall ceiling fixed at
 The Commission's decision declaring projects to be of             1 000 million ECU. If necessary, the Council, acting by a
 European interest shall be published in the Official             qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission
 Journal of the European Communities.                             and after consulting Parliament, shall raise the ceiling.