CELEX: 51981PC0127
Language: en
Date: 1981-03-23
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL FINANCIAL REGULATION ( EEC ) ON THE APPLICATION OF THE AGREEMENT IN THE FORM OF AN EXCHANGE OF LETTERS BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY AND THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC CONCERNING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PRE-ACCESSION AID FOR PORTUGAL

No C 280/6                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            31. 10.81
                                                           II
                                                    (Preparatory Acts)
                                              COMMISSION
             Proposal for a Council Financial Regulation on the application of the Agreement in the
             form of an exchange of letters between the European Economic Community and the
               Portuguese Republic concerning the implementation of pre-accession aid for Portugal
                            (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 25 March 1981)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                     established in respect of the Agreements and
COMMUNITIES,                                                    Protocols concluded by the Community with certain
                                                                Mediterranean countries, take account of the specific
                                                                objectives of pre-accession aid;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Economic Community, and in particular
Article 209 thereof,                                            Whereas the rules for the management of aid should
                                                                be established, the procedure for examining and
                                                                approving the projects, programmes or schemes
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                provided for in the Agreement should be determined,
                                                                and the detailed rules for supervising the use of the
Having regard to the opinion of the European                    aid should be defined;
Parliament,
                                                                Whereas a Committee of representatives of the
Having regard to the opinion of the Court of                    Member States should be set up under the auspices of
Auditors,                                                       the Commission in respect of operations administered
                                                                by the Commission;
Whereas the European Economic Community and
the Portuguese Republic have concluded an                       Whereas it should be stipulated that financing
Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters                 applications for operations not covered from the
concerning the implementation of pre-accession aid              Bank's own resources be submitted for opinion to a
for Portugal, hereinafter referred to as 'the                   Committee of representatives of the Governments of
Agreement' (');                                                 the Member States and to the Commission;
Whereas this Agreement fixes the total amount of                Whereas the work done by the Commission and the
pre-accession aid provided by the Community for                 Bank to apply the Agreement should be harmonized,
 Portugal at 275 million ECU, made up of 125 million
 ECU in the form of grant aid and 150 million ECU
in the form of loans accorded by the European
 Investment Bank, hereinafter referred to as 'the
                                                                HAS ADOPTED THIS FINANCIAL REGULATION:
Bank', from its own resources;
Whereas it is necessary to lay down implementing                                        Article 1
and administrative rules which, while based on those
                                                                In implementing the aid to Portugal, the Commission
                                                                shall ensure that the general guidelines and objectives
(') OJ No L 349, 23. 12. 1980, p. 1.                            of the Agreement are applied.
 ---pagebreak---  31. 10.81                         Official Journal of the European Communities                           \ o C 280/7
                         Article 2                             A representative of the Bank shall attend its meetings.
 1. The appropriations for the financing of aid not            2.    The Committee shall adopt its own rules of
 covered from the Bank's own resources shall be                procedure.
 administered by the Commission, in accordance with
 the Financial Regulation applicable to the general            3.    Within the Article 5 Committee, the votes of the
 budget of the European Communities, without                   Member States shall be weighted in accordance with
 prejudice to the Bank's powers in administering               Article 148 (2) of the Treaty.
 certain froms of aid.
                                                               The Article 5 Committee shall act by a majority of 45
                                                               votes.
 2.    However, the Commission shall adopt detailed
 administrative rules, having particular regard to the
 appointment of financial implementing bodies and
 conditions guaranteeing equal competition, to the                                     Article 6
 extent that such rules are necessary for the purpose of
 implementing the Agreement.
                                                                1.   The Article 5 Committee shall give its opinion
                                                               on draft financing decisions for cooperation projects
                                                               or programmes and technical assistance schemes in
                         Article 3                             Portugal submitted to it by the Commission.
 1.    A mandate .shall be given to the Bank, on behalf        2.    The draft financing decisions for projects,
 of the Community, to administer the interest rate             programmes or schemes shall explain their relevance
 subsidies for loans from its own resources.                   in the context of Portugal's preparation for accession
The Commission shall administer grants for the                 and shall assess the effectiveness of each project,
cooperation projects or programmes and technical               programme or scheme by setting the effects it is
assistance operations, referred to respectively in             expected to produce against the resources to be
Articles 5 and 6 of the Agreement.                             invested in it.
2.     The mandate given to the Bank in accordance             3.    The assessment by the Article 5 Committee shall
with paragraph 1 above, and in particular the                  relate inter alia tp the conformity of the projects,
provisions concerning movements of funds and the               piirogrammes or schemes with the aid objectives laid
remuneration for executing the mandate, shall be the           down in the Agreement.
subject of an agreement between the Commission and
the Bank. This agreement shall include the provisions
set out in Articles 8 to 10.
                                                                                      Article 7
                         Article 4                            The draft financing decisions referred to in Article 6,
                                                              together with the opinion of the Article 5 Committee,
The implementation of the aid shall be discussed              shall be submitted to the Commission for a decision.
periodically by representatives of the Member States,         The Commission shall adopt decisions which shall
the Commission and the Bank. These discussions shall          apply immediately. However, if the Committee has
cover in particular the information obtained by the           not delivered a favourable opinion, these decisions
Commission and the Bank from Portugal on the                  shall forthwith be communicated by the Commission
financing sought and on the operations which the              to the Council. In that event, the Commission shall
Commission and the Bank intend to submit for                  defer application of the decisions which it has
opinions in accordance with Articles 6 to 10.                 adopted for not more than two months from the date
                                                              of such communication. The Council, acting by a
                                                              qualified majority, may take a different decision
                         Article 5                            within two months.
 1.   A committee, hereinafter referred to as the
'Article 5 Committee', consisting of representatives of
                                                                                      Article 8
the Member States, shall be set up under the auspices
of the Commission.
                                                               1.    A Committee consisting of representatives of the
The Article 5 Committee shall be chaired by a re-             Governments of the Member States, hereinafter
presentative of the Commission; its secretarial shall         referred to as the 'Article 8 Committee', shall be set
be provided by the Commission.                                up under the auspices of the Bank.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 280/8                          Official Journal of the European Communities                             31.10.81
The Article 8 Committee shall be chaired by the              context of Portugal's preparation for accession and,
representative of the Government of the Member               where appropriate, indicate the situation as regards
State currently holding the presidency of the Board of       loans granted by the Community.
Governors of the Bank; its secretarial services shall be
provided by the Bank.                                        The Commission and the Bank shall make a joint
                                                             selection of the branches of activity eligible for loans
A representative of the Commission shall attend its          carrying an interest rate subsidy.
meetings.
                                                             2.    Where, in respect of an application for a loan
2.    The Council, acting unanimously, shall adopt           with an interest rate subsidy, the procedure provided
the rules of procedure of the Article 8 Committee.           for in Article 9 results either in tacit agreement or in
                                                             a favourable opinion form the Article 8 Committee,
3.    Within the Article 8 Committee, the votes of the       the application shall be submitted for a decision to the
Member States shall be weighted as specified in              Board of Directors of the Bank, which shall act in
Article 148 (2) of the Treaty.                               accordance with the Bank's Statute.
The Article 8 Committee shall act by a majority of 45        In the absence of a favourable opinion from the
votes.                                                       Article 8 Committee, the Bank shall either withdraw
                                                             the application or decide to maintain it. In the latter
                                                             case, the application, together with a reasoned
                        Article 9                            opinion of the Committee, shall be submitted for a
                                                             decision to the Board of Directors of the Bank, which
1.    Applications for loans with an interest rate           shall act in accordance with the provisions of its
subsidy, submitted by the Portuguese Government, or          Statute.
on which that government has expressed a favourable
opinion, shall be transmitted by the Bank to the
members of the Article 8 Committee and to the                                         Article 11
Commission, accompanied by any relevant comments.
                                                              1.   The Commission shall ascertain from the Bank
2.    The loan application shall be considered               that the mandate provided for in Article 3 is carried
acceptable if the Bank does not receive — within two         out. It shall also ascertain how the aid which id
months from the date of transmission of the                  administers is used by Portugal or by any other
application — any request for consultation of the            recipients referred to in Article 10 of Agreement.
Article 8 Committee from a member of the Article 8
Committee or from the Commission.
                                                             2.    It shall ascertain too, in close collaboration with
                                                             the relevant authorities in Portugal, how projects
3.    If such a request is received, the Article 8           financed with Community aid are used by the
Committee shall examine the loan application and             recipients.
give its opinion thereon.
The Commission representative shall           state  the     3.    When carrying out the examinations provided
Commission's position on the application.                    for in paragraphs 1 and 2, the Commission shall,
                                                             together with the Bank, examine to what extent the
                                                             objectives of the aid have been attained.
4.    The Commission's position and the Committee's
assessment shall cover inter alia the conformity of the
application with the aid objectives laid down in the         4.    The Commission shall inform the Council and
Agreement.                                                   the European Parliament, at their request and at least
                                                             once a year, of its findings pursuant to paragraphs 1,
                                                             2 and 3.
5.    In addition, the Article 8 Committee shall be
informed by the Bank of loans without an interest
rate subsidy which it intends to grant from its own
                                                                                      Article 12
resources.
                                                             This Regulation shall enter into force on the third
                       Article 10                            day following its publication in the Official Journal of
                                                              the European Communities.
 1.   The document in which the Bank submits loan
applications to the Article 8 Committee shall, in            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
particular, explain the relevance of the project in the      directly applicable in all Member States.