Article 1 Subject matter
This Regulation lays down the general rules governing the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) (hereinafter referred to as the Structural Funds) and the Cohesion Fund, without prejudice of the specific provisions laid down in Regulations (EC) No 1080/2006, (EC) No 1081/2006 and (EC) No 1084/2006. This Regulation defines the objectives to which the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund (hereinafter referred to as the Funds) are to contribute, the criteria for Member States and regions to be eligible under those Funds, the financial resources available and the criteria for their allocation. This Regulation defines the context for cohesion policy, including the method for establishing the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, the national strategic reference framework and the process for examination at Community level. To this end, this Regulation lays down the principles and rules on partnership, programming, evaluation, management, including financial management, monitoring and control on the basis of responsibilities shared between the Member States and the Commission.
Article 2 Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following terms shall have the meanings assigned to them here: (1) ‘operational programme’: document submitted by a Member State and adopted by the Commission setting out a development strategy with a coherent set of priorities to be carried out with the aid of a Fund, or, in the case of the Convergence objective, with the aid of the Cohesion Fund and the ERDF; (2) ‘priority axis’: one of the priorities of the strategy in an operational programme comprising a group of operations which are related and have specific measurable goals; (3) ‘operation’: a project or group of projects selected by the managing authority of the operational programme concerned or under its responsibility according to criteria laid down by the monitoring committee and implemented by one or more beneficiaries allowing achievement of the goals of the priority axis to which it relates; (4) ‘beneficiary’: an operator, body or firm, whether public or private, responsible for initiating or initiating and implementing operations. In the context of aid schemes under Article 87 of the Treaty, beneficiaries are public or private firms carrying out an individual project and receiving public aid; (5) ‘public expenditure’: any public contribution to the financing of operations whose origin is the budget of the State, of regional and local authorities, of the European Communities related to the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund and any similar expenditure. Any contribution to the financing of operations whose origin is the budget of public law bodies or associations of one or more regional or local authorities or public law bodies acting in accordance with Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts ( 14 ) shall be regarded as similar expenditure; (6) ‘intermediate body’: any public or private body or service which acts under the responsibility of a managing or certifying authority, or which carries out duties on behalf of such an authority vis-à-vis beneficiaries implementing operations; (7) ‘irregularity’: any infringement of a provision of Community law resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the European Union by charging an unjustified item of expenditure to the general budget.
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The sustained financial and economic crisis is increasing the pressure on national financial resources as Member States are reducing their budgets. In this context ensuring a smooth implementation of cohesion policy programmes is of particular importance as a tool for injecting funds into the economy. Nonetheless, the implementation of the programmes is often challenging as a result of the liquidity problems resulting from budget constraints. This is particularly the case for those Member States which have been most affected by the crisis and have received financial assistance under a programme from the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) for the EURO countries or from the Balance of Payments (BoP) mechanism for non EURO countries. To date, six countries - including Greece which has received financial assistance outside the EFSM - have requested financial assistance under these mechanisms and have agreed with the Commission a macro-economic adjustment programme. These countries are Hungary, Romania, Latvia, Portugal, Greece and Ireland, hereafter called "programme countries". It should be noted that Hungary which has entrered the BoP mechanism in 2008 has already exited in 2010. In order to ensure that these Member States (or any other Member State which maybe concerned by such assistance programmes in the future) continue the implementation of the Structural Fund and Cohesion Fund programmes on the ground and disburse funds to projects, the current proposal contains provisions that would allow the Commission to make increased payments to these countries, for the period they are under the support mechanisms, without modifying their overall allocation under cohesion policy for the period 2007-2013. This will provide additional financial resources to the Member States at a critical juncture and will facilitate the continuation of the implementation of the programmes on the ground. · General context The deepening of the financial crisis in some of the Member States is undoubtedly affecting substantially the real economy due to the amount of debt and the difficulties encountered by the Governments to borrow money from the market. The Commission has put forward proposals in response to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes aiming to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to provide additional pre-financing through advance payments to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments paid out to the Member States in 2009 have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brought the total of advance payments to EUR 11.25 billion. A proposal presented by the Commission in July 2009, provided for additional measures of simplification of the implementation of the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund. The adoption of these measures in June 2010 has contributed significantly towards the simplification of the implementation of the programmes and boosted the absorption of the funds, while reducing administrative burdens on beneficiaries. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal Article 77 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (hereinafter the 'General Regulation') provides that the interim paymensts and the final balance shall be calculated by applying the co-financing rate for each priority axis laid down by the Commission decision adopting the operational programme concerned. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union The proposal is consistent with other proposals and intitiatives adopted by the European Commission as a response to the financial crisis . 
Revised version (Article 2 Definitions):
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following terms shall have the meanings assigned to them here: (1) ‘operational programme’: document submitted by a Member State and adopted by the Commission setting out a development strategy with a coherent set of priorities to be carried out with the aid of a Fund, or, in the case of the Convergence objective, with the aid of the Cohesion Fund and the ERDF; (2) ‘priority axis’: one of the priorities of the strategy in an operational programme comprising a group of operations which are related and have specific measurable goals; (3) ‘operation’: a project or group of projects selected by the managing authority of the operational programme concerned or under its responsibility according to criteria laid down by the monitoring committee and implemented by one or more beneficiaries allowing achievement of the goals of the priority axis to which it relates; (4) ‘beneficiary’: an operator, body or firm, whether public or private, responsible for initiating or initiating and implementing operations. In the context of aid schemes under Article 87 of the Treaty, beneficiaries are public or private firms carrying out an individual project and receiving public aid; (5) ‘public expenditure’: any public contribution to the financing of operations whose origin is the budget of the State, of regional and local authorities, of the European Communities related to the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund and any similar expenditure. Any contribution to the financing of operations whose origin is the budget of public law bodies or associations of one or more regional or local authorities or public law bodies acting in accordance with Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts ( 14 ) shall be regarded as similar expenditure; (6) ‘intermediate body’: any public or private body or service which acts under the responsibility of a managing or certifying authority, or which carries out duties on behalf of such an authority vis-à-vis beneficiaries implementing operations; (7) ‘irregularity’: any infringement of a provision of Community law resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the European Union by charging an unjustified item of expenditure to the general budget; (8) ‘reimbursable grant’: a direct financial contribution by way of a donation, which can be totally or partially reimbursable, without interest; (9) ‘credit line’: a financial facility allowing the beneficiary to draw down the financial contribution, which can be totally or partially reimbursable, in relation to the expenditure paid by the beneficiary and supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value.
Article 3 Objectives
1. The action taken by the Community under Article 158 of the Treaty shall be designed to strengthen the economic and social cohesion of the enlarged European Union in order to promote the harmonious, balanced and sustainable development of the Community. This action shall be taken with the aid of the Funds, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other existing financial instruments. It shall be aimed at reducing the economic, social and territorial disparities which have arisen particularly in countries and regions whose development is lagging behind and in connection with economic and social restructuring and the ageing of the population. The action taken under the Funds shall incorporate, at national and regional level, the Community's priorities in favour of sustainable development by strengthening growth, competitiveness, employment and social inclusion and by protecting and improving the quality of the environment. 2. To that end, the ERDF, the ESF, the Cohesion Fund, the EIB and the other existing Community financial instruments shall each contribute in an appropriate way towards achieving the following three objectives: (a) the Convergence objective, which shall be aimed at speeding up the convergence of the least-developed Member States and regions by improving conditions for growth and employment through the increasing and improvement of the quality of investment in physical and human capital, the development of innovation and of the knowledge society, adaptability to economic and social changes, the protection and improvement of the environment, and administrative efficiency. This objective shall constitute the priority of the Funds; (b) the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, which shall, outside the least-developed regions, be aimed at strengthening regions' competitiveness and attractiveness as well as employment by anticipating economic and social changes, including those linked to the opening of trade, through the increasing and improvement of the quality of investment in human capital, innovation and the promotion of the knowledge society, entrepreneurship, the protection and improvement of the environment, and the improvement of accessibility, adaptability of workers and businesses as well as the development of inclusive job markets; and (c) the European territorial cooperation objective, which shall be aimed at strengthening cross-border cooperation through joint local and regional initiatives, strengthening transnational cooperation by means of actions conducive to integrated territorial development linked to the Community priorities, and strengthening interregional cooperation and exchange of experience at the appropriate territorial level. 3. Under the three objectives referred to in paragraph 2, assistance from the Funds shall, according to their nature, take into account specific economic and social features, on the one hand, and specific territorial features, on the other. The assistance shall, in an appropriate manner, support sustainable urban development particularly as part of regional development and the renewal of rural areas and of areas dependent on fisheries through economic diversification. The assistance shall also support areas affected by geographical or natural handicaps which aggravate the problems of development, particularly in the outermost regions as referred to in Article 299(2) of the Treaty as well as the northern areas with very low population density, certain islands and island Member States, and mountainous areas.
Article 4 Instruments and missions
1. The Funds shall contribute, each in accordance with the specific provisions governing it, towards achieving the three objectives referred to in Article 3(2) as follows: (a) the Convergence objective: the ERDF, the ESF and the Cohesion Fund; (b) the Regional competitiveness and employment objective: the ERDF and the ESF; and (c) the European territorial cooperation objective: the ERDF. 2. The Cohesion Fund shall also intervene in those regions not eligible for support from the Convergence objective under the criteria set out in Article 5(1) which belong to: (a) a Member State eligible for support from the Cohesion Fund under the criteria set out in Article 5(2); and (b) a Member State eligible for support from the Cohesion Fund under the criteria set out in Article 8(3). 3. The Funds shall contribute towards the financing of technical assistance on the initiative of the Member States and the Commission.
Article 5 Convergence
1. The regions eligible for funding from the Structural Funds under the Convergence objective shall be regions corresponding to level 2 of the common classification of territorial units for statistics (hereinafter NUTS level 2) within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 whose gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, measured in purchasing power parities and calculated on the basis of Community figures for the period 2000 to 2002, is less than 75 % of the average GDP of the EU-25 for the same reference period. 2. The Member States eligible for funding from the Cohesion Fund shall be those whose gross national income (GNI) per capita, measured in purchasing power parities and calculated on the basis of Community figures for the period 2001 to 2003, is less than 90 % of the average GNI of the EU-25 and which have a programme for meeting the economic convergence conditions referred to in Article 104 of the Treaty. 3. Immediately following the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall adopt the list of regions fulfilling the criteria under paragraph 1 and of Member States fulfilling the criteria under paragraph 2. This list shall be valid from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013. The eligibility of Member States for the Cohesion Fund shall be reviewed in 2010 on the basis of Community GNI figures for the EU-25.
Article 6 Regional competitiveness and employment
The regions eligible for funding from the Structural Funds under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective shall be those not covered by Article 5(1) and Article 8(1) and (2). When presenting the national strategic reference framework referred to in Article 27, each Member State concerned shall indicate the NUTS level 1 or NUTS level 2 regions for which it will present a programme for financing by the ERDF.
Article 7 European Territorial Cooperation
1. For the purpose of cross-border cooperation, the NUTS level 3 regions of the Community along all internal and certain external land borders and all NUTS level 3 regions of the Community along maritime borders separated, as a general rule, by a maximum of 150 kilometres shall be eligible for financing taking into account potential adjustments needed to ensure the coherence and continuity of the cooperation action. Immediately following the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall adopt, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(2), the list of the eligible regions. This list shall be valid from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013. 2. For the purpose of transnational cooperation, the Commission, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(2), shall adopt the list of the eligible transnational areas broken down by programme. This list shall be valid from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013. 3. For the purpose of interregional cooperation, cooperation networks and exchange of experience, the entire territory of the Community shall be eligible.
Article 8 Transitional support
1. The NUTS level 2 regions which would have been eligible for Convergence objective status under Article 5(1) had the eligibility threshold remained at 75 % of the average GDP of the EU-15, but which lose eligibility because their nominal GDP per capita level will exceed 75 % of the average GDP of the EU-25, measured and calculated according to Article 5(1), shall be eligible, on a transitional and specific basis, for financing by the Structural Funds under the Convergence objective. 2. The NUTS level 2 regions totally covered by Objective 1 in 2006 under Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 whose nominal GDP level per capita, measured and calculated according to Article 5(1), will exceed 75 % of the average GDP of the EU15 shall be eligible, on a transitional and specific basis, for financing by the Structural Funds under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective. Recognising that, on the basis of revised figures for the period 1997 to 1999, Cyprus should have been eligible for Objective 1 in 2004 to 2006, Cyprus shall benefit in 2007 to 2013 from the transitional financing applicable to the regions referred to in the first subparagraph. 3. The Member States eligible for funding from the Cohesion Fund in 2006 which would have continued to be eligible had the eligibility threshold remained at 90 % of the average GNI of the EU-15, but which lose eligibility because their nominal per capita GNI will exceed 90 % of the average GNI of the EU-25 measured and calculated according to Article 5(2), shall be eligible, on a transitional and specific basis, for financing by the Cohesion Fund under the Convergence objective. 4. Immediately following the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall adopt the list of regions fulfilling the criteria under paragraphs 1 and 2 and of Member States fulfilling the criteria under paragraph 3. This list shall be valid from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013.
Article 9 Complementarity, consistency, coordination and compliance
1. The Funds shall provide assistance which complements national actions, including actions at the regional and local levels, integrating into them the priorities of the Community. 2. The Commission and the Member States shall ensure that assistance from the Funds is consistent with the activities, policies and priorities of the Community and complementary to other financial instruments of the Community. This consistency and complementarity shall be indicated in particular in Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, in the national strategic reference framework and in the operational programmes. 3. The assistance co-financed by the Funds shall target the European Union priorities of promoting competitiveness and creating jobs, including meeting the objectives of the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005 to 2008) as set out by Council Decision 2005/600/EC of 12 July 2005 ( 15 ). To this end, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, the Commission and the Member States shall ensure that 60 % of expenditure for the Convergence objective and 75 % of expenditure for the Regional competitiveness and employment objective for all the Member States of the European Union as constituted before 1 May 2004 is set for the abovementioned priorities. These targets, based on the categories of expenditure in Annex IV, shall apply as an average over the entire programming period. With a view to ensuring that specific national circumstances, including the priorities identified in the national reform programme of each Member State concerned, are taken into account, the Commission and that Member State may decide to complement in an appropriate manner the list of categories of Annex IV. Each Member State concerned shall contribute to these targets. At their own initiative, Member States that acceded to the European Union on or after 1 May 2004 may decide to apply these provisions. 4. In accordance with their respective responsibilities, the Commission and the Member States shall ensure the coordination between the assistance from the Funds, the EAFRD, the EFF and the interventions of the EIB and of other existing financial instruments. 5. Operations financed by the Funds shall comply with the provisions of the Treaty and of acts adopted under it.
Article 10 Programming
The objectives of the Funds shall be pursued in the framework of a multiannual programming system organised in several stages comprising the identification of the priorities, the financing, and a system of management and control.
Article 11 Partnership
1. The objectives of the Funds shall be pursued in the framework of close cooperation, (hereinafter referred to as partnership), between the Commission and each Member State. Each Member State shall organise, where appropriate and in accordance with current national rules and practices, a partnership with authorities and bodies such as: (a) the competent regional, local, urban and other public authorities; (b) the economic and social partners; (c) any other appropriate body representing civil society, environmental partners, non-governmental organisations, and bodies responsible for promoting equality between men and women. Each Member State shall designate the most representative partners at national, regional and local level and in the economic, social, environmental or other spheres (hereinafter referred to as partners), in accordance with national rules and practices, taking account of the need to promote equality between men and women and sustainable development through the integration of environmental protection and improvement requirements. 2. The partnership shall be conducted in full compliance with the respective institutional, legal and financial powers of each partner category as defined in paragraph 1. The partnership shall cover the preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of operational programmes. Member States shall involve, where appropriate, each of the relevant partners, and particularly the regions, in the different stages of programming within the time limit set for each stage. 3. Each year the Commission shall consult the organisations representing the economic and social partners at European level on assistance from the Funds.
Article 12 Territorial level of implementation
Implementation of operational programmes referred to in Article 32 shall be the responsibility of Member States at the appropriate territorial level, in accordance with the institutional system specific to each Member State. That responsibility shall be exercised in accordance with this Regulation.
Article 13 Proportional intervention
1. The financial and administrative resources employed by the Commission and Member States in the implementation of the Funds in relation to: (a) the choice of indicators provided for in Article 37(1)(c); (b) the evaluation under Articles 47 and 48; (c) the general principles of management and control systems referred to in Article 58(e) and (f); (d) the reporting as referred to in Article 67, shall be proportional to the total amount of expenditure allocated to an operational programme. 2. In addition, specific provisions relating to proportionality in relation to controls are set out in Article 74 of this Regulation.
Article 14 Shared management
1. The budget of the European Union allocated to the Funds shall be implemented within the framework of shared management between the Member States and the Commission, in accordance with Article 53(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities ( 16 ), with the exception of the technical assistance referred to in Article 45 of this Regulation. The principle of sound financial management shall be applied in accordance with Article 48(2) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002. 2. The Commission shall exercise its responsibility for implementing the general budget of the European Union in the following ways: (a) the Commission shall check the existence and proper functioning of management and control systems in the Member States in accordance with the procedures described in Articles 71, 72 and 73; (b) the Commission shall interrupt the payment deadline or suspend all or part of payments in accordance with Articles 91 and 92 if the national management and control systems fail, and shall apply any other financial correction required, in accordance with the procedures described in Articles 100 and 101; (c) the Commission shall check reimbursements of payments on account and automatically decommit budget commitments in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 82(2) and Articles 93 to 97.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 14 Shared management):
1. The budget of the European Union allocated to the Funds shall be implemented within the framework of shared management between the Member States and the Commission, in accordance with point (b) of Article 53 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities ( 16 ), with the exception of the instrument referred to in Article 36a of this Regulation and of the technical assistance referred to in Article 45 of this Regulation. The principle of sound financial management shall be applied in accordance with Article 48(2) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002. 2. The Commission shall exercise its responsibility for implementing the general budget of the European Union in the following ways: (a) the Commission shall check the existence and proper functioning of management and control systems in the Member States in accordance with the procedures described in Articles 71, 72 and 73; (b) the Commission shall interrupt the payment deadline or suspend all or part of payments in accordance with Articles 91 and 92 if the national management and control systems fail, and shall apply any other financial correction required, in accordance with the procedures described in Articles 100 and 101; (c) the Commission shall check reimbursements of payments on account and automatically decommit budget commitments in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 82(2) and Articles 93 to 97.
Article 15 Additionality
1. Contributions from the Structural Funds shall not replace public or equivalent structural expenditure by a Member State. 2. For regions covered by the Convergence objective, the Commission and the Member State shall determine the level of public or equivalent structural expenditure which the Member State shall maintain in all the regions concerned during the programming period. The level of expenditure by a Member State shall be one of the items covered by the decision of the Commission on the national strategic reference framework referred to in Article 28(3). The methodological paper of the Commission, adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3), shall provide guidance. 3. As a general rule, the level of the expenditure referred to in paragraph 2 shall be at least equal to the amount of average annual expenditure in real terms attained during the previous programming period. Furthermore, the level of expenditure shall be determined with reference to the general macroeconomic conditions in which the financing is carried out and taking into account certain specific or exceptional economic situations, such as privatisations as well as an exceptional level of public or equivalent structural expenditure by the Member State during the previous programming period. 4. The Commission shall, in cooperation with each Member State, verify additionality mid-term in 2011 for the Convergence objective. As part of this mid-term verification, the Commission, in consultation with the Member State, may decide to modify the required level of structural expenditure if the economic situation in the Member State concerned has significantly changed from the one existing at the moment of the determination of the level of public or equivalent structural expenditure referred to in paragraph 2. The decision of the Commission referred to in Article 28(3) shall be amended to reflect this adjustment. The Commission shall, in cooperation with each Member State, verify additionality ex post on 31 December 2016 for the Convergence objective. The Member State shall transmit to the Commission the information required to enable the verification of compliance with the level of public or equivalent structural expenditure determined ex ante . Where necessary, methods of statistical estimation should be used. The Commission shall publish the results by Member State of the verification of the additionality, including the methodology and sources of information, after the conclusion of each of the three stages of verification.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 15 Additionality):
1. Contributions from the Structural Funds shall not replace public or equivalent structural expenditure by a Member State. 2. For regions covered by the Convergence objective, the Commission and the Member State shall determine the level of public or equivalent structural expenditure which the Member State shall maintain in all the regions concerned during the programming period. The level of expenditure by a Member State shall be one of the items covered by the decision of the Commission on the national strategic reference framework referred to in Article 28(3). The methodological paper of the Commission, adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3), shall provide guidance. 3. As a general rule, the level of the expenditure referred to in paragraph 2 shall be at least equal to the amount of average annual expenditure in real terms attained during the previous programming period. Furthermore, the level of expenditure shall be determined with reference to the general macroeconomic conditions in which the financing is carried out and taking into account certain specific or exceptional economic situations, such as privatisations as well as an exceptional level of public or equivalent structural expenditure by the Member State during the previous programming period. 4. The Commission shall, in cooperation with each Member State, verify additionality mid-term in 2011 for the Convergence objective. As part of this mid-term verification, the Commission, in consultation with the Member State, may decide to modify the required level of structural expenditure if the economic situation in the Member State concerned has significantly changed from the one existing at the moment of the determination of the level of public or equivalent structural expenditure referred to in paragraph 2. The decision of the Commission referred to in Article 28(3) shall be amended to reflect this adjustment. The Commission shall, in cooperation with each Member State, verify additionality ex post on 31 December 2016 for the Convergence objective. With regard to Croatia, the date for this verification shall be 31 December 2017. The Member State shall transmit to the Commission the information required to enable the verification of compliance with the level of public or equivalent structural expenditure determined ex ante . Where necessary, methods of statistical estimation should be used. The Commission shall publish the results by Member State of the verification of the additionality, including the methodology and sources of information, after the conclusion of each of the three stages of verification.
Article 16 Equality between men and women and non-discrimination
The Member States and the Commission shall ensure that equality between men and women and the integration of the gender perspective is promoted during the various stages of implementation of the Funds. The Member States and the Commission shall take appropriate steps to prevent any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation during the various stages of implementation of the Funds and, in particular, in the access to them. In particular, accessibility for disabled persons shall be one of the criteria to be observed in defining operations co-financed by the Funds and to be taken into account during the various stages of implementation.
Article 17 Sustainable development
The objectives of the Funds shall be pursued in the framework of sustainable development and the Community promotion of the goal of protecting and improving the environment as set out in Article 6 of the Treaty.
Article 18 Global resources
1. The resources available for commitment from the Funds for the period 2007 to 2013 shall be EUR 308 041 000 000 at 2004 prices in accordance with the annual breakdown shown in Annex I. For the purpose of programming and subsequent inclusion in the general budget of the European Union, the amount referred to in the first subparagraph shall be indexed at 2 % per year. The breakdown of budgetary resources by the objectives defined in Article 3(2) shall be such as to achieve a significant concentration on the regions of the Convergence objective. 2. The Commission shall make indicative annual breakdowns by Member States in accordance with the criteria and methodology set out in Annex II without prejudice to the provisions referred to in Articles 23 and 24. 3. The amounts referred to in paragraphs 12 to 30 of Annex II shall be included in the amounts referred to in Articles 19, 20 and 21 and shall be clearly identified in the programming documents.
Article 19 Resources for the Convergence objective
Overall resources for the Convergence objective shall amount to 81,54 % of the resources referred to in Article 18(1) (i.e. a total of EUR 251 163 134 221) and shall be distributed between the different components as follows: (a) 70,51 % (i.e. a total of EUR 177 083 601 004) for the financing referred to in Article 5(1), using eligible population, regional prosperity, national prosperity and unemployment rate as the criteria for calculating the indicative breakdowns by Member State; (b) 4,99 % (i.e. a total of EUR 12 521 289 405) for the transitional and specific support referred to in Article 8(1), using eligible population, regional prosperity, national prosperity and unemployment rate as the criteria for calculating the indicative breakdowns by Member State; (c) 23,22 % (i.e. a total of EUR 58 308 243 811) for the financing referred to in Article 5(2), using population, national prosperity, and surface area as the criteria for calculating the indicative breakdowns by Member State; (d) 1,29 % (i.e. a total of EUR 3 250 000 000) for the transitional and specific support referred to in Article 8(3).
Article 20 Resources for the Regional competitiveness and employment objective
Overall resources for the Regional competitiveness and employment objective shall amount to 15,95 % of the resources referred to in Article 18(1) (i.e. a total of EUR 49 127 784 318) and shall be distributed between the different components as follows: (a) 78,86 % (i.e. a total of EUR 38 742 477 688) for the financing referred to in Article 6, using eligible population, regional prosperity, unemployment rate, employment rate and population density as the criteria for calculating the indicative breakdowns by Member State; and (b) 21,14 % (i.e. a total of EUR 10 385 306 630) for the transitional and specific support referred to in Article 8(2), using eligible population, regional prosperity, national prosperity and unemployment rate as the criteria for calculating the indicative breakdowns by Member State.
Article 21 Resources for the European territorial cooperation objective
1. Overall resources for the European territorial cooperation objective shall amount to 2,52 % of the resources referred to in Article 18(1) (i.e. a total of EUR 7 750 081 461) and, excluding the amount referred to in paragraph 22 of Annex II, shall be distributed between the different components as follows: (a) 73,86 % (i.e. a total of EUR 5 576 358 149) for the financing of cross-border cooperation referred to in Article 7(1), using eligible population as the criterion for calculating the indicative breakdowns by Member State; (b) 20,95 % (i.e. a total of EUR 1 581 720 322) for the financing of transnational cooperation referred to in Article 7(2), using eligible population as the criterion for calculating the indicative breakdowns by Member State; (c) 5,19 % (i.e. a total of EUR 392 002 991) for the financing of interregional cooperation, cooperation networks and exchange of experience referred to in Article 7(3). 2. The contribution from the ERDF to the cross-border and sea-basin programmes under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument and to the cross-border programmes under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 shall be EUR 813 966 000, as a result of the indication of each Member State concerned, deducted from their allocations under paragraph 1(a). These ERDF contributions shall not be subject to reallocation between the Member States concerned. 3. The contribution from the ERDF to each cross-border and sea-basin programme under the instruments referred to in paragraph 2 shall be granted provided that the contribution from such instruments to each such programme is at least equivalent to the contribution from the ERDF. However, this equivalence shall be subject to a maximum amount of EUR 465 690 000 under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument and of EUR 243 782 000 under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance. 4. The annual appropriations corresponding to the contribution from the ERDF mentioned in paragraph 2 shall be entered in the relevant budget lines of the cross-border strand of the instruments referred to in paragraph 2 with the 2007 budgetary exercise. 5. In 2008 and in 2009, the annual contribution from the ERDF mentioned in paragraph 2 for which no operational programme has been submitted to the Commission by 30 June at the latest under the cross-border and sea-basin strands of the instruments referred to in paragraph 2 shall then be made available to the Member State concerned for the financing of cross-border cooperation under paragraph 1(a), including cooperation on external borders. If by 30 June 2010 at the latest, there are still operational programmes under the cross-border and sea-basin strands of the instruments referred to in paragraph 2 which have not been submitted to the Commission, the entire contribution from the ERDF mentioned in paragraph 2 for the remaining years up to 2013 shall then be made available to the Member States concerned for financing cross-border cooperation under paragraph 1(a), including cooperation on external borders. 6. If, following the adoption by the Commission of the cross-border and sea basin programmes mentioned in paragraph 2, such programmes need to be discontinued on the grounds that: (a) the partner country does not sign the financing agreement by the end of the year following the adoption of the programme; or (b) the programme cannot be implemented owing to problems arising in relations between the participating countries, the contribution from the ERDF mentioned in paragraph 2 corresponding to the annual instalments not yet committed shall be made available to the Member States concerned, at their request, for the financing of cross-border cooperation under paragraph 1(a), including cooperation on external borders.
Article 22 Non transferability of resources
The total appropriations allocated by Member State under each of the objectives of the Funds and their components shall not be transferable between them. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, each Member State under the European territorial cooperation objective may transfer up to 15 % of the financial allocation of one of the components referred to in Article 21(1)(a) and (b) to the other.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 22 Non transferability of resources):
The total appropriations allocated by Member State under each of the objectives of the Funds and their components shall not be transferable between them. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, each Member State under the European territorial cooperation objective may transfer up to 15 % of the financial allocation of one of the components referred to in Article 21(1)(a) and (b) to the other. By way of derogation from the first paragraph, Croatia may distribute its financial allocation under the European territorial cooperation objective among the three components referred to in Article 21(1)(a) to (c) with a view to achieving a high level of efficiency and simplification.
Article 23 Resources for the performance reserve
Three per cent of the resources referred to in Article 19(a) and (b) and Article 20 may be allocated in accordance with Article 50.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 23 Resources for the performance reserve):
Three per cent of the resources referred to in Article 19(a) and (b) and Article 20 may be allocated by the Member States, with the exception of Croatia, in accordance with Article 50.
Article 24 Resources for technical assistance
Of the resources referred to in Article 18(1), 0,25 % shall be devoted to technical assistance for the Commission as defined in Article 45.
Article 25 Content
The Council shall establish at Community level concise strategic guidelines on economic, social and territorial cohesion defining an indicative framework for the intervention of the Funds, taking account of other relevant Community policies. For each of the objectives of the Funds, those guidelines shall in particular give effect to the priorities of the Community with a view to promoting the harmonious, balanced and sustainable development of the Community referred to in Article 3(1). Those guidelines shall be established taking into account the integrated guidelines, comprising broad economic policy guidelines and employment guidelines, adopted by the Council in accordance with the procedures laid down in Articles 99 and 128 of the Treaty.
Article 26 Adoption and review
The Commission shall propose, following close cooperation with Member States, the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion referred to in Article 25 of this Regulation. By 1 February 2007 the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 161 of the Treaty. The Community strategic guidelines on cohesion shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union . The Community strategic guidelines on cohesion may be subject, following close cooperation with Member States, to mid-term review in accordance with the procedure laid down in the first subparagraph if required in order to take account of any major changes in the priorities of the Community. The mid-term review of the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion shall not impose an obligation on Member States to revise either the operational programmes or their respective national strategic reference frameworks.
Article 27 Content
1. The Member State shall present a national strategic reference framework which ensures that assistance from the Funds is consistent with the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, and which identifies the link between Community priorities, on the one hand, and its national reform programme, on the other. 2. Each national strategic reference framework shall constitute a reference instrument for preparing the programming of the Funds. 3. The national strategic reference framework shall apply to the Convergence objective and the Regional competitiveness and employment objective. It may also, if a Member State so decides, apply to the European territorial cooperation objective, without prejudice to the future choices of other Member States concerned. 4. The national strategic reference framework shall contain the following elements: (a) an analysis of development disparities, weaknesses and potential, taking into account trends in the European and world economy; (b) the strategy chosen on the basis of that analysis, including the thematic and territorial priorities. Where appropriate these priorities shall include actions relating to sustainable urban development, the diversification of rural economies and areas dependent on fisheries; (c) the list of operational programmes for the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives; (d) a description of how the expenditure for the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives will contribute to the European Union priorities of promoting competitiveness and creating jobs, including meeting the objectives of the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005 to 2008) as laid down in Article 9(3). (e) the indicative annual allocation from each Fund by programme; (f) for regions of the Convergence objective only: (i) the action envisaged for reinforcing the Member State's administrative efficiency; (ii) the amount of the total annual appropriation provided for under the EAFRD and the EFF; (iii) the information required for ex ante verification of compliance with the additionality principle referred to in Article 15; (f) for regions of the Convergence objective only: (i) the action envisaged for reinforcing the Member State's administrative efficiency; (ii) the amount of the total annual appropriation provided for under the EAFRD and the EFF; (iii) the information required for ex ante verification of compliance with the additionality principle referred to in Article 15; (g) for Member States eligible for the Cohesion Fund under Articles 5(2) and 8(3), information on the mechanisms for ensuring coordination between operational programmes themselves and between these and the EAFRD, the EFF and, where appropriate, the interventions of the EIB and of other existing financial instruments. 5. In addition, the national strategic reference framework may also contain, where relevant, the following elements: (a) the procedure for coordination between Community cohesion policy and the relevant national, sectoral and regional policies of the Member State concerned; (b) for Member States other than those referred to in paragraph 4(g), information on the mechanisms for ensuring coordination between operational programmes themselves and between these and the EAFRD, the EFF and the interventions of the EIB and of other existing financial instruments. 6. The information contained in the national strategic reference framework shall take account of the specific institutional arrangements of each Member State.
Article 28 Preparation and adoption
1. The national strategic reference framework shall be prepared by the Member State, after consultation with relevant partners as referred to in Article 11, in accordance with the procedure that it considers most appropriate and with its institutional structure. It shall cover the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013. The Member State shall prepare the national strategic reference framework in dialogue with the Commission, with a view to ensuring a common approach. 2. Each Member State shall transmit the national strategic reference framework to the Commission within five months following the adoption of the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion. The Commission shall take note of the national strategy and the priority themes chosen for assistance from the Funds, and make such observations as it considers appropriate within three months from the date of receipt of the framework. The Member State may present at the same time the national strategic reference framework and the operational programmes referred to in Article 32. 3. Before or at the same time as the adoption of the operational programmes referred to in Article 32(5), the Commission, following consultation with the Member State, shall take a decision covering: (a) the list of operational programmes referred to in Article 27(4)(c); (b) the indicative annual allocation from each Fund by programme referred to in Article 27(4)(e); and (c) for the Convergence objective only, the level of expenditure guaranteeing compliance with the additionality principle referred to in Article 15 and the action envisaged for reinforcing administrative efficiency as referred to in Article 27(4)(f)(i).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 28 Preparation and adoption):
1. The national strategic reference framework shall be prepared by the Member State, after consultation with relevant partners as referred to in Article 11, in accordance with the procedure that it considers most appropriate and with its institutional structure. It shall cover the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013. With regard to Croatia, the national strategic reference framework shall cover the period from the date of accession to 31 December 2013. The Member State shall prepare the national strategic reference framework in dialogue with the Commission, with a view to ensuring a common approach. 2. Each Member State shall transmit the national strategic reference framework to the Commission within five months following the adoption of the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion. The Commission shall take note of the national strategy and the priority themes chosen for assistance from the Funds, and make such observations as it considers appropriate within three months from the date of receipt of the framework. Croatia shall transmit its national strategic reference framework to the Commission within three months from the date of accession. The Member State may present at the same time the national strategic reference framework and the operational programmes referred to in Article 32. 3. Before or at the same time as the adoption of the operational programmes referred to in Article 32(5), the Commission, following consultation with the Member State, shall take a decision covering: (a) the list of operational programmes referred to in Article 27(4)(c); (b) the indicative annual allocation from each Fund by programme referred to in Article 27(4)(e); and (c) for the Convergence objective only, the level of expenditure guaranteeing compliance with the additionality principle referred to in Article 15 and the action envisaged for reinforcing administrative efficiency as referred to in Article 27(4)(f)(i).
Article 29 Strategic reporting by the Member States
1. For the first time in 2007, each Member State shall include in the annual implementation report on its national reform programme a concise section on the contribution of the operational programmes co-financed by the Funds towards the implementation of the national reform programme. 2. At the latest by the end of 2009 and 2012, the Member States shall provide a concise report containing information on the contribution of the programmes co-financed by the Funds: (a) towards implementing the objectives of cohesion policy as established by the Treaty; (b) towards fulfilling the tasks of the Funds as set out in this Regulation; (c) towards implementing the priorities detailed in the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion referred to in Article 25 and specified in the priorities set by the national strategic reference framework referred to in Article 27; and (d) towards achieving the objective of promoting competitiveness and job creation and working towards meeting the objectives of the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005 to 2008) as laid down in Article 9(3). 3. Each Member State shall define the content of the reports referred to in paragraph 2, with a view to identifying: (a) the socio-economic situation and trends; (b) achievements, challenges and future prospects in relation to implementation of the agreed strategy; and (c) examples of good practice. 4. References to the national reform programme in this Article shall relate to the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005 to 2008) and shall equally apply to any equivalent guidelines defined by the European Council.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 29 Strategic reporting by the Member States):
1. For the first time in 2007, each Member State shall include in the annual implementation report on its national reform programme a concise section on the contribution of the operational programmes co-financed by the Funds towards the implementation of the national reform programme. 2. At the latest by the end of 2009 and 2012, the Member States shall provide a concise report containing information on the contribution of the programmes co-financed by the Funds: (a) towards implementing the objectives of cohesion policy as established by the Treaty; (b) towards fulfilling the tasks of the Funds as set out in this Regulation; (c) towards implementing the priorities detailed in the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion referred to in Article 25 and specified in the priorities set by the national strategic reference framework referred to in Article 27; and (d) towards achieving the objective of promoting competitiveness and job creation and working towards meeting the objectives of the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005 to 2008) as laid down in Article 9(3). 3. Each Member State shall define the content of the reports referred to in paragraph 2, with a view to identifying: (a) the socio-economic situation and trends; (b) achievements, challenges and future prospects in relation to implementation of the agreed strategy; and (c) examples of good practice. 4. References to the national reform programme in this Article shall relate to the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005 to 2008) and shall equally apply to any equivalent guidelines defined by the European Council. 5. Paragraphs 1 to 4 shall not apply to Croatia.
Article 30 Strategic reporting by the Commission and debate on cohesion policy
1. For the first time in 2008, and annually thereafter, the Commission shall include in its Annual Progress Report to the Spring European Council a section summarising the reports of the Member States referred to in Article 29(1), in particular progress towards achieving the European Union priorities of promoting competitiveness and creating jobs, including meeting the objectives of the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005 to 2008) as laid down in Article 9(3). 2. In the years 2010 and 2013, and at the latest by 1 April, the Commission shall prepare a strategic report summarising the reports of the Member States referred to in Article 29(2). As appropriate, this report shall be incorporated as a specific section in the report referred to in Article 159 of the Treaty. 3. The Council shall examine the strategic report referred to in paragraph 2 as soon as possible after its publication. It shall be submitted to the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, and these institutions shall be invited to hold a debate on it.
Article 31 Cohesion report
1. The report of the Commission referred to in Article 159 of the Treaty shall include in particular: (a) a record of the progress made on economic and social cohesion, including the socio-economic situation and development of the regions, as well as the integration of Community priorities; (b) a record of the role of the Funds, the EIB and the other financial instruments, as well as the effect of other Community and national policies on the progress made. 2. The report shall also contain, if necessary: (a) any proposals on Community measures and policies which should be adopted in order to strengthen economic and social cohesion; (b) any proposed adjustments to the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion needed to reflect changes in Community policy.
Article 32 Preparation and approval of operational programmes
1. The activities of the Funds in the Member States shall take the form of operational programmes within the national strategic reference framework. Each operational programme shall cover a period between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2013. An operational programme shall cover only one of the three objectives referred to in Article 3, save as otherwise agreed between the Commission and the Member State. 2. Each operational programme shall be drawn up by the Member State or any authority designated by the Member State, in cooperation with the partners referred to in Article 11. 3. The Member State shall submit a proposal for an operational programme to the Commission containing all the components referred to in Article 37 as soon as possible but no later than five months following the adoption of the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, as referred to in Article 26. 4. The Commission shall appraise the proposed operational programme to determine whether it contributes to the goals and priorities of the national strategic reference framework and the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion. Where the Commission, within two months following the receipt of the operational programme, considers that an operational programme does not contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the national strategic reference framework and the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, it may invite the Member State to provide all necessary additional information and, where appropriate, to revise the proposed programme accordingly. 5. The Commission shall adopt each operational programme as soon as possible but no later than four months following its formal submission by the Member State and not before 1 January 2007.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 32 Preparation and approval of operational programmes):
1. The activities of the Funds in the Member States shall take the form of operational programmes within the national strategic reference framework. Each operational programme shall cover a period between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2013. An operational programme shall cover only one of the three objectives referred to in Article 3, save as otherwise agreed between the Commission and the Member State. 2. Each operational programme shall be drawn up by the Member State or any authority designated by the Member State, in cooperation with the partners referred to in Article 11. 3. The Member State shall submit a proposal for an operational programme to the Commission containing all the components referred to in Article 37 as soon as possible but no later than five months following the adoption of the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, as referred to in Article 26. With regard to Croatia, the Commission shall adopt the decision approving an operational programme to be financed under the programming period 2007-2013 no later than 31 December 2013. Croatia shall in this operational programme take into account any observations made by the Commission and submit it to the Commission no later than three months from the date of accession. 4. The Commission shall appraise the proposed operational programme to determine whether it contributes to the goals and priorities of the national strategic reference framework and the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion. Where the Commission, within two months following the receipt of the operational programme, considers that an operational programme does not contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the national strategic reference framework and the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, it may invite the Member State to provide all necessary additional information and, where appropriate, to revise the proposed programme accordingly. 5. The Commission shall adopt each operational programme as soon as possible but no later than four months following its formal submission by the Member State and not before 1 January 2007.
Article 33 Revision of operational programmes
1. At the initiative of the Member State or the Commission in agreement with the Member State concerned, operational programmes may be re-examined and, if necessary, the remainder of the programme revised, in one or more of the following cases: (a) following significant socio-economic changes; (b) in order to take greater or different account of major changes in Community, national or regional priorities; (c) in the light of the evaluation referred to in Article 48(3); or (d) following implementation difficulties. Operational programmes shall, if necessary, be revised following allocation of the reserves referred to in Articles 50 and 51. 2. The Commission shall adopt a decision on a request for revision of operational programmes as soon as possible but no later than three months after its formal submission by the Member State. 3. The revision of operational programmes shall not require revision of the decision of the Commission referred to in Article 28(3).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 33 Revision of operational programmes):
1. At the initiative of the Member State or the Commission in agreement with the Member State concerned, operational programmes may be re-examined and, if necessary, the remainder of the programme revised, in one or more of the following cases: (a) following significant socio-economic changes; (b) in order to take greater or different account of major changes in Community, national or regional priorities; (c) in the light of the evaluation referred to in Article 48(3); or (d) following implementation difficulties. Operational programmes shall, if necessary, be revised following allocation of the reserves referred to in Articles 50 and 51. With regard to Croatia, operational programmes adopted before the date of accession may be revised for the sole purpose of a better alignment with this Regulation. 2. The Commission shall adopt a decision on a request for revision of operational programmes as soon as possible but no later than three months after its formal submission by the Member State. 3. The revision of operational programmes shall not require revision of the decision of the Commission referred to in Article 28(3).
Article 34 Specific character of the Funds
1. Operational programmes shall receive financing from only one Fund, save as otherwise provided in paragraph 3. 2. Without prejudice to the derogations laid down in the specific regulations of the Funds, the ERDF and the ESF may finance, in a complementary manner and subject to a limit of 10 % of Community funding for each priority axis of an operational programme, actions falling within the scope of assistance from the other Fund, provided that they are necessary for the satisfactory implementation of the operation and are directly linked to it. 3. In the Member States receiving support from the Cohesion Fund, the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund shall jointly provide assistance for operational programmes on transport infrastructure and the environment, including for major projects.
Article 35 Geographical scope
1. Operational programmes submitted under the Convergence objective shall be drawn up at the appropriate geographical level and at least at NUTS level 2. Operational programmes submitted under the Convergence objective with a contribution from the Cohesion Fund shall be drawn up at national level. 2. Operational programmes submitted under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective shall be drawn up at NUTS level 1 or NUTS level 2, in accordance with the institutional system specific to the Member State, for regions benefiting from financing by the ERDF, save as otherwise agreed between the Commission and the Member State. They shall be drawn up by the Member State at the appropriate level if they are financed by the ESF. 3. Operational programmes submitted under the European territorial cooperation objective for cross-border cooperation shall be drawn up, as a general rule, for each border or group of borders by an appropriate grouping at NUTS level 3, including enclaves. Operational programmes submitted under the European territorial cooperation objective for transnational cooperation shall be drawn up at the level of each transnational cooperation area. Interregional cooperation and exchange of experience programmes shall relate to the whole territory of the Community.
Article 36 Participation by the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund
1. The EIB and the EIF may participate, in accordance with the modalities laid down in their statutes, in the programming of assistance from the Funds. 2. The EIB and the EIF may, at the request of Member States, participate in the preparation of national strategic reference frameworks and operational programmes, as well as in activities relating to the preparation of projects, in particular major projects, the arrangement of finance, and public-private partnerships. The Member State, in agreement with the EIB and the EIF, may concentrate the loans granted on one or more priorities of an operational programme, in particular in the spheres of innovation and the knowledge economy, human capital, the environment and basic infrastructure projects. 3. The Commission may consult the EIB and the EIF before adoption of the decision referred to in Article 28(3) and of the operational programmes. That consultation shall relate in particular to operational programmes containing an indicative list of major projects or programmes which, by the nature of their priorities, are suitable for mobilising loans or other types of market-based financing. 4. The Commission may, if it considers it appropriate for the appraisal of major projects, request the EIB to examine the technical quality and economic and financial viability of the projects concerned, in particular as regards the financial engineering instruments to be implemented or developed. 5. The Commission, in implementing the provisions of this Article, may award a grant to the EIB or the EIF.
Article 37 Operational programmes for the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives
1. Operational programmes relating to the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives shall contain: (a) an analysis of the situation of the eligible area or sector in terms of strengths and weaknesses and the strategy chosen in response; (b) a justification of the priorities chosen having regard to the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, the national strategic reference framework, as well as the results of the ex ante evaluation referred to in Article 48; (c) information on the priority axes and their specific targets. Those targets shall be quantified using a limited number of indicators for output and results, taking into account the proportionality principle. The indicators shall make it possible to measure the progress in relation to the baseline situation and the achievement of the targets of the priority axis; (d) for information purposes, an indicative breakdown by category of the programmed use of the contribution from the Funds to the operational programme in accordance with the implementing rules of this Regulation adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3); (e) a financing plan containing two tables: (i) a table breaking down for each year, in accordance with Articles 52, 53 and 54, the amount of the total financial appropriation envisaged for the contribution from each Fund. The financing plan shall show separately within the total annual contribution from the Structural Funds the appropriations provided for regions receiving transitional support. The total contribution from the Funds provided for annually shall be compatible with the applicable financial framework taking into account the phased reduction laid down in paragraph 6 of Annex II; (ii) a table specifying, for the whole programming period, for the operational programme and for each priority axis, the amount of the total financial appropriation of the Community contribution and the national counterparts and the rate of contribution from the Funds. Where in accordance with Article 53, the national counterpart is made up of public and private expenditure, the table shall give the indicative breakdown between the public and the private components. Where in accordance with Article 53, the national counterpart is made up of public expenditure, the table shall indicate the amount of the national public contribution. It shall show, for information, the contribution from the EIB and the other existing financial instruments; (e) a financing plan containing two tables: (i) a table breaking down for each year, in accordance with Articles 52, 53 and 54, the amount of the total financial appropriation envisaged for the contribution from each Fund. The financing plan shall show separately within the total annual contribution from the Structural Funds the appropriations provided for regions receiving transitional support. The total contribution from the Funds provided for annually shall be compatible with the applicable financial framework taking into account the phased reduction laid down in paragraph 6 of Annex II; (ii) a table specifying, for the whole programming period, for the operational programme and for each priority axis, the amount of the total financial appropriation of the Community contribution and the national counterparts and the rate of contribution from the Funds. Where in accordance with Article 53, the national counterpart is made up of public and private expenditure, the table shall give the indicative breakdown between the public and the private components. Where in accordance with Article 53, the national counterpart is made up of public expenditure, the table shall indicate the amount of the national public contribution. It shall show, for information, the contribution from the EIB and the other existing financial instruments; (f) information on complementarity with measures financed by the EAFRD and those financed by the EFF, where relevant; (g) the implementing provisions for the operational programme, including: (i) designation by the Member State of all the entities referred to in Article 59 or, if the Member State exercises the option provided for in Article 74, the designation of other bodies and procedures in accordance with the rules laid down in Article 74; (ii) a description of the monitoring and evaluation systems; (iii) information about the competent body for receiving the payments made by the Commission and the body or bodies responsible for making payments to the beneficiaries; (iv) a definition of the procedures for the mobilisation and circulation of financial flows in order to ensure their transparency; (v) the elements aiming at ensuring the publicity and the information of the operational programme as referred to in Article 69; (vi) a description of the procedures agreed between the Commission and the Member State for the exchange of computerised data to meet the payment, monitoring and evaluation requirements laid down by this Regulation; (g) the implementing provisions for the operational programme, including: (i) designation by the Member State of all the entities referred to in Article 59 or, if the Member State exercises the option provided for in Article 74, the designation of other bodies and procedures in accordance with the rules laid down in Article 74; (ii) a description of the monitoring and evaluation systems; (iii) information about the competent body for receiving the payments made by the Commission and the body or bodies responsible for making payments to the beneficiaries; (iv) a definition of the procedures for the mobilisation and circulation of financial flows in order to ensure their transparency; (v) the elements aiming at ensuring the publicity and the information of the operational programme as referred to in Article 69; (vi) a description of the procedures agreed between the Commission and the Member State for the exchange of computerised data to meet the payment, monitoring and evaluation requirements laid down by this Regulation; (h) an indicative list of major projects within the meaning of Article 39, which are expected to be submitted within the programming period for Commission approval. 2. Operational programmes financed jointly by the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund with respect to transport and the environment shall contain priority axis specific to each Fund and a specific commitment by Fund. 3. Without prejudice to the second subparagraph of Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006, each operational programme under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective shall include a justification for the thematic, geographical and financial concentration on the priorities as laid down respectively in Article 5 of that Regulation and in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1081/2006. 4. Operational programmes financed by the ERDF shall contain in addition for the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives: (a) information on the approach to the sustainable urban development where appropriate; (b) Specific priority axis for the measures financed under the additional allocation referred to in paragraph 20 of Annex II in operational programmes providing assistance in outermost regions; 5. Operational programmes affected by one or more specific allocations referred to in the additional provisions in Annex II shall contain information on the procedures foreseen to allocate and ensure the monitoring of these specific allocations. 6. At the initiative of the Member State, the operational programmes financed by the ERDF may also contain for the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives: (a) the list of cities chosen for addressing urban issues and the procedures for sub-delegation to urban authorities, possibly by means of a global grant; (b) actions for interregional cooperation with, at least, one regional or local authority of another Member State. 7. At the initiative of the Member State concerned, the operational programmes for the ESF may also contain for the Convergence and Regional Competitiveness and Employment objectives a horizontal approach or a dedicated priority axis for interregional and transnational actions involving the national, regional or local authorities of at least one other Member State.
Article 38 Operational programmes for the European territorial cooperation objective
Specific rules on operational programmes are laid down in the Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 as regards operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation objective.
Article 39 Content
As part of an operational programme, the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund may finance expenditure in respect of an operation comprising a series of works, activities or services intended in itself to accomplish an indivisible task of a precise economic or technical nature, which has clearly identified goals and whose total cost exceeds EUR 25 million in the case of the environment and EUR 50 million in other fields (hereinafter referred to as major projects).
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The current financial and economic crisis has created major challenges for the European Union. Therefore the Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. Whereas a number of important measures to counterbalance the negative effects of the crisis have already been taken both at the Community and national level, including amendments of the Community legislative framework governing Cohesion policy, the actual impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and on the labour market starts only now to make itself widely felt. On 3 June the Commission presented the Communication on 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' in which additional measures were proposed in order to boost job creation and counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The pressure on national financial resources increases and necessitates taking further steps to alleviate this pressure through a better use of Community funding, and mobilisation and acceleration of all available Funds to tackle the crisis, in particular using the ESF for rapid recovery packages as outlined in the above-mentioned Communication. In the context of the current crisis, ensuring a smooth implementation of Cohesion programmes is of particular relevance as they represent the most powerful and relevant lever for assisting the real economy. With total financial resources of 347 billion € for the 2007-2013 period, Cohesion policy provides a powerful support for both budgetary stability and public investment in the Member States and the regions of the European Union. Experience shows that more effort is needed to facilitate the management of the Community funding in order to speed up the flow of the funding to the beneficiaries that are most affected by the economic downturn. The December European Council supported proposals for 'simplification of procedures and faster implementation of programmes financed by the Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds'. The current proposal therefore includes further elements of simplification, with the overall objective to accelerate co-financed investments in Member States and regions and to increase the impact of the funding on the economy as a whole. · General context The current crisis is substantially affecting the real economy due to the difficulties encountered by the banks and due to the tightening of credit policy which could reduce household consumption as well as business investment, support to innovation, technological and industrial development with negative effects on GDP and employment. The crisis is also having a negative impact on the budgets of Member States and the increase in unemployment outlined below is a significant factor in this. On the one hand, an increase in the number of persons entitled to receive benefits can automatically lead to a strain on budgetary resources. At the same time the need to implement active labour market measures in order to maintain people in employment or to get them back to work becomes more acute. Given the general budgetary constraints, severe cash-flow difficulties can arise for the sources of public finance in Member States for the implementation of active labour market measures. As a consequence, such measures may be delayed at a time when they are increasingly necessary, to the detriment of the citizens. The Commission's most recent economic forecasts predict a marked reduction of growth in the European Union - which would fall to 1,4 % in 2008 (half of that achieved in 2007), 0,2 % in 2009 and 1,1 % in 2010. These poor economic prospects will probably weigh heavily on public finances. Assuming unchanged policies, budget deficits could increase from 1 % of GDP in 2007 to 2,6 % in 2010. Reliable forecasting on public finances - and particularly in the area of debt - is difficult, however, on account of the uncertainty surrounding the budgetary impacts of emergency measures already taken by governments. It is in this context that the Commission has endeavoured to contribute to the debate currently taking place within the Union and with its international partners on how best to react to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In particular in the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to increase the pre-financing (advance payments) to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion in 2009 to pre-finance investment, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brings the total of advance payments in 2009 to EUR 11.25 billion. The Commission proposal was adopted by the Council in May 2009 and all advance payments now have been paid to Member States. The Commission has repeatedly encouraged Member States to transfer the additional advance payments to the bodies involved in project management to frontload expenditure to Cohesion Policy Projects. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal The current serious economic repercussions in the European economy lead to the reduction of growth perspectives over the medium term and the marked slow-down in real growth in 2009 and 2010. According to the latest available forecasts, several national economies are in recession. These poor economic prospects have considerable negative impacts on the public finances of the Member States. Moreover the basic conditions for implementing cohesion policy – which requires public match-funding in order to mobilise Structural Funds – risk being seriously disrupted. In addition, the latest data covering the first months of 2009 show that EU labour markets are now reacting even more strongly than expected to the current economic downturn, with companies announcing substantial job reductions in several sectors and business and consumer confidence continuing to drop. More than 20 million Europeans are unemployed, which is 4 million more than one year ago, and the trend is still upwards. In order to further accelerate programmes implementation and provide help to overcome the difficulties mentioned earlier, an additional measure is proposed to alleviate the current pressures and allow the highest possible use of Community funding targeting particularly the actions necessary to fight the crisis where the added value for the citizens, especially the unemployed or those at risk to become unemployed, will be highest. This measure will require amendment of Council Regulation n° 1083/2006 on general provisions governing Cohesion policy, including, as proposed in the Communication 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' a temporary change to the ways in which interim payments to programmes co-financed by the European Social Fund are calculated. This involves introducing a temporary option for Member States, where severe cash-flow difficulties exist for the financing of labour market measures necessary to combat the crisis, and which are eligible under the ESF, to request reimbursements made by the Commission at 100% during 2009 and 2010, thus obviating the need to provide national co-financing during this period. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of the important role assigned to the ESF in the above-mentioned communication in implementing active labour market measures, such as training in the context of short-time working arrangements, the anticipation and managing of restructuring, the upgrading of skills as well as the providing of high-quality apprenticeships for the young by the end of 2010. This proposal is presented together with a number of simplification measures that also imply amendments to the Council Regulation. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union Not applicable.
Revised version (Article 39 Content):
As part of an operational programme or operational programmes, the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund may finance expenditure comprising a series of works, activities or services intended in itself to accomplish an indivisible task of a precise economic or technical nature which has clearly identified goals and whose total cost exceeds EUR 50 million (hereinafter a major project).
Article 40 Information submitted to the Commission
The Member State or the managing authority shall provide the Commission with the following information on major projects: (a) information on the body to be responsible for implementation; (b) information on the nature of the investment and a description of it, its financial volume and location; (c) the results of the feasibility studies; (d) a timetable for implementing the project and, where the implementation period for the operation concerned is expected to be longer than the programming period, the phases for which Community co-financing is requested during the 2007 to 2013 programming period; (e) a cost-benefit analysis, including a risk assessment and the foreseeable impact on the sector concerned and on the socio-economic situation of the Member State and/or the region and, when possible and where appropriate, of other regions of the Community; (f) an analysis of the environmental impact; (g) a justification for the public contribution; (h) the financing plan showing the total planned financial resources and the planned contribution from the Funds, the EIB, the EIF and all other sources of Community financing, including the indicative annual plan of the financial contribution from the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund for the major project. The Commission shall provide indicative guidance on the methodology to be used in carrying out the cost-benefit analysis in (e) above in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(2).
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The current financial and economic crisis has created major challenges for the European Union. Therefore the Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. Whereas a number of important measures to counterbalance the negative effects of the crisis have already been taken both at the Community and national level, including amendments of the Community legislative framework governing Cohesion policy, the actual impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and on the labour market starts only now to make itself widely felt. On 3 June the Commission presented the Communication on 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' in which additional measures were proposed in order to boost job creation and counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The pressure on national financial resources increases and necessitates taking further steps to alleviate this pressure through a better use of Community funding, and mobilisation and acceleration of all available Funds to tackle the crisis, in particular using the ESF for rapid recovery packages as outlined in the above-mentioned Communication. In the context of the current crisis, ensuring a smooth implementation of Cohesion programmes is of particular relevance as they represent the most powerful and relevant lever for assisting the real economy. With total financial resources of 347 billion € for the 2007-2013 period, Cohesion policy provides a powerful support for both budgetary stability and public investment in the Member States and the regions of the European Union. Experience shows that more effort is needed to facilitate the management of the Community funding in order to speed up the flow of the funding to the beneficiaries that are most affected by the economic downturn. The December European Council supported proposals for 'simplification of procedures and faster implementation of programmes financed by the Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds'. The current proposal therefore includes further elements of simplification, with the overall objective to accelerate co-financed investments in Member States and regions and to increase the impact of the funding on the economy as a whole. · General context The current crisis is substantially affecting the real economy due to the difficulties encountered by the banks and due to the tightening of credit policy which could reduce household consumption as well as business investment, support to innovation, technological and industrial development with negative effects on GDP and employment. The crisis is also having a negative impact on the budgets of Member States and the increase in unemployment outlined below is a significant factor in this. On the one hand, an increase in the number of persons entitled to receive benefits can automatically lead to a strain on budgetary resources. At the same time the need to implement active labour market measures in order to maintain people in employment or to get them back to work becomes more acute. Given the general budgetary constraints, severe cash-flow difficulties can arise for the sources of public finance in Member States for the implementation of active labour market measures. As a consequence, such measures may be delayed at a time when they are increasingly necessary, to the detriment of the citizens. The Commission's most recent economic forecasts predict a marked reduction of growth in the European Union - which would fall to 1,4 % in 2008 (half of that achieved in 2007), 0,2 % in 2009 and 1,1 % in 2010. These poor economic prospects will probably weigh heavily on public finances. Assuming unchanged policies, budget deficits could increase from 1 % of GDP in 2007 to 2,6 % in 2010. Reliable forecasting on public finances - and particularly in the area of debt - is difficult, however, on account of the uncertainty surrounding the budgetary impacts of emergency measures already taken by governments. It is in this context that the Commission has endeavoured to contribute to the debate currently taking place within the Union and with its international partners on how best to react to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In particular in the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to increase the pre-financing (advance payments) to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion in 2009 to pre-finance investment, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brings the total of advance payments in 2009 to EUR 11.25 billion. The Commission proposal was adopted by the Council in May 2009 and all advance payments now have been paid to Member States. The Commission has repeatedly encouraged Member States to transfer the additional advance payments to the bodies involved in project management to frontload expenditure to Cohesion Policy Projects. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal The current serious economic repercussions in the European economy lead to the reduction of growth perspectives over the medium term and the marked slow-down in real growth in 2009 and 2010. According to the latest available forecasts, several national economies are in recession. These poor economic prospects have considerable negative impacts on the public finances of the Member States. Moreover the basic conditions for implementing cohesion policy – which requires public match-funding in order to mobilise Structural Funds – risk being seriously disrupted. In addition, the latest data covering the first months of 2009 show that EU labour markets are now reacting even more strongly than expected to the current economic downturn, with companies announcing substantial job reductions in several sectors and business and consumer confidence continuing to drop. More than 20 million Europeans are unemployed, which is 4 million more than one year ago, and the trend is still upwards. In order to further accelerate programmes implementation and provide help to overcome the difficulties mentioned earlier, an additional measure is proposed to alleviate the current pressures and allow the highest possible use of Community funding targeting particularly the actions necessary to fight the crisis where the added value for the citizens, especially the unemployed or those at risk to become unemployed, will be highest. This measure will require amendment of Council Regulation n° 1083/2006 on general provisions governing Cohesion policy, including, as proposed in the Communication 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' a temporary change to the ways in which interim payments to programmes co-financed by the European Social Fund are calculated. This involves introducing a temporary option for Member States, where severe cash-flow difficulties exist for the financing of labour market measures necessary to combat the crisis, and which are eligible under the ESF, to request reimbursements made by the Commission at 100% during 2009 and 2010, thus obviating the need to provide national co-financing during this period. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of the important role assigned to the ESF in the above-mentioned communication in implementing active labour market measures, such as training in the context of short-time working arrangements, the anticipation and managing of restructuring, the upgrading of skills as well as the providing of high-quality apprenticeships for the young by the end of 2010. This proposal is presented together with a number of simplification measures that also imply amendments to the Council Regulation. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union Not applicable.
Revised version (Article 40 Information submitted to the Commission):
The Member State or the managing authorities shall provide the Commission with the following information on major projects: (a) information on the body to be responsible for implementation; (b) information on the nature of the investment and a description of it, its financial volume and location; (c) the results of the feasibility studies; (d) a timetable for implementing the major project and, where the implementation period is expected to be longer than the programming period, the phases for which Union co-financing is requested during the 2007 to 2013 programming period; (e) a cost-benefit analysis, including a risk assessment and the foreseeable impact on the sector concerned and on the socio-economic situation of the Member State and/or the region and, when possible and where appropriate, of other regions of the Community; (f) an analysis of the environmental impact; (g) a justification for the public contribution; (h) the financing plan showing the total planned financial resources and the planned contribution from the Funds, the EIB, the EIF and all other sources of Community financing, including the indicative annual plan of the financial contribution from the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund for the major project. The Commission shall provide indicative guidance on the methodology to be used in carrying out the cost-benefit analysis in (e) above in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(2).
Article 41 Decision of the Commission
1. The Commission shall appraise the major project, if necessary consulting outside experts, including the EIB, in the light of the factors referred to in Article 40, its consistency with the priorities of the operational programme, its contribution to achieving the goals of those priorities and its consistency with other Community policies. 2. The Commission shall adopt a decision as soon as possible but no later than three months after the submission by the Member State or the managing authority of a major project, provided that the submission is in accordance with Article 40. That decision shall define the physical object, the amount to which the co-financing rate for the priority axis applies, and the annual plan of financial contribution from the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund. 3. Where the Commission refuses to make a financial contribution from the Funds to a major project, it shall notify the Member State of its reasons within the period and the related conditions laid down in paragraph 2.
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The current financial and economic crisis has created major challenges for the European Union. Therefore the Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. Whereas a number of important measures to counterbalance the negative effects of the crisis have already been taken both at the Community and national level, including amendments of the Community legislative framework governing Cohesion policy, the actual impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and on the labour market starts only now to make itself widely felt. On 3 June the Commission presented the Communication on 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' in which additional measures were proposed in order to boost job creation and counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The pressure on national financial resources increases and necessitates taking further steps to alleviate this pressure through a better use of Community funding, and mobilisation and acceleration of all available Funds to tackle the crisis, in particular using the ESF for rapid recovery packages as outlined in the above-mentioned Communication. In the context of the current crisis, ensuring a smooth implementation of Cohesion programmes is of particular relevance as they represent the most powerful and relevant lever for assisting the real economy. With total financial resources of 347 billion € for the 2007-2013 period, Cohesion policy provides a powerful support for both budgetary stability and public investment in the Member States and the regions of the European Union. Experience shows that more effort is needed to facilitate the management of the Community funding in order to speed up the flow of the funding to the beneficiaries that are most affected by the economic downturn. The December European Council supported proposals for 'simplification of procedures and faster implementation of programmes financed by the Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds'. The current proposal therefore includes further elements of simplification, with the overall objective to accelerate co-financed investments in Member States and regions and to increase the impact of the funding on the economy as a whole. · General context The current crisis is substantially affecting the real economy due to the difficulties encountered by the banks and due to the tightening of credit policy which could reduce household consumption as well as business investment, support to innovation, technological and industrial development with negative effects on GDP and employment. The crisis is also having a negative impact on the budgets of Member States and the increase in unemployment outlined below is a significant factor in this. On the one hand, an increase in the number of persons entitled to receive benefits can automatically lead to a strain on budgetary resources. At the same time the need to implement active labour market measures in order to maintain people in employment or to get them back to work becomes more acute. Given the general budgetary constraints, severe cash-flow difficulties can arise for the sources of public finance in Member States for the implementation of active labour market measures. As a consequence, such measures may be delayed at a time when they are increasingly necessary, to the detriment of the citizens. The Commission's most recent economic forecasts predict a marked reduction of growth in the European Union - which would fall to 1,4 % in 2008 (half of that achieved in 2007), 0,2 % in 2009 and 1,1 % in 2010. These poor economic prospects will probably weigh heavily on public finances. Assuming unchanged policies, budget deficits could increase from 1 % of GDP in 2007 to 2,6 % in 2010. Reliable forecasting on public finances - and particularly in the area of debt - is difficult, however, on account of the uncertainty surrounding the budgetary impacts of emergency measures already taken by governments. It is in this context that the Commission has endeavoured to contribute to the debate currently taking place within the Union and with its international partners on how best to react to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In particular in the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to increase the pre-financing (advance payments) to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion in 2009 to pre-finance investment, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brings the total of advance payments in 2009 to EUR 11.25 billion. The Commission proposal was adopted by the Council in May 2009 and all advance payments now have been paid to Member States. The Commission has repeatedly encouraged Member States to transfer the additional advance payments to the bodies involved in project management to frontload expenditure to Cohesion Policy Projects. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal The current serious economic repercussions in the European economy lead to the reduction of growth perspectives over the medium term and the marked slow-down in real growth in 2009 and 2010. According to the latest available forecasts, several national economies are in recession. These poor economic prospects have considerable negative impacts on the public finances of the Member States. Moreover the basic conditions for implementing cohesion policy – which requires public match-funding in order to mobilise Structural Funds – risk being seriously disrupted. In addition, the latest data covering the first months of 2009 show that EU labour markets are now reacting even more strongly than expected to the current economic downturn, with companies announcing substantial job reductions in several sectors and business and consumer confidence continuing to drop. More than 20 million Europeans are unemployed, which is 4 million more than one year ago, and the trend is still upwards. In order to further accelerate programmes implementation and provide help to overcome the difficulties mentioned earlier, an additional measure is proposed to alleviate the current pressures and allow the highest possible use of Community funding targeting particularly the actions necessary to fight the crisis where the added value for the citizens, especially the unemployed or those at risk to become unemployed, will be highest. This measure will require amendment of Council Regulation n° 1083/2006 on general provisions governing Cohesion policy, including, as proposed in the Communication 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' a temporary change to the ways in which interim payments to programmes co-financed by the European Social Fund are calculated. This involves introducing a temporary option for Member States, where severe cash-flow difficulties exist for the financing of labour market measures necessary to combat the crisis, and which are eligible under the ESF, to request reimbursements made by the Commission at 100% during 2009 and 2010, thus obviating the need to provide national co-financing during this period. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of the important role assigned to the ESF in the above-mentioned communication in implementing active labour market measures, such as training in the context of short-time working arrangements, the anticipation and managing of restructuring, the upgrading of skills as well as the providing of high-quality apprenticeships for the young by the end of 2010. This proposal is presented together with a number of simplification measures that also imply amendments to the Council Regulation. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union Not applicable.
Revised version (Article 41 Decision of the Commission):
1. The Commission shall appraise the major project, if necessary consulting outside experts, including the EIB, in the light of the factors referred to in Article 40, its consistency with the priorities of the operational programme or programmes concerned, its contribution to achieving the goals of those priorities and its consistency with other Union policies. 2. The Commission shall adopt a decision as soon as possible but no later than three months after the submission by the Member State or the managing authority of a major project, provided that it is submitted in accordance with Article 40. That decision shall define the physical object, the amount to which the co-financing rate for the priority axis of the operational programme or programmes concerned applies, and the annual plan or plans of financial contribution from the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund. 3. Where the Commission refuses to make a financial contribution from the Funds to a major project, it shall notify the Member State of its reasons within the period and the related conditions laid down in paragraph 2.
Article 42 General provisions
1. The Member State or the managing authority may entrust the management and implementation of a part of an operational programme to one or more intermediate bodies, designated by the Member State or the managing authority, including local authorities, regional development bodies or non-governmental organisations, in accordance with the provisions of an agreement concluded between the Member State or the managing authority and that body. Such delegation shall be without prejudice to the financial responsibility of the managing authority and of the Member States. 2. The intermediate body responsible for managing the global grant shall provide guarantees of its solvency and competence in the domain concerned as well as in administrative and financial management. It shall as a general rule be established or represented in the region or regions covered by the operational programme at the moment of its designation.
Article 43 Implementing rules
The agreement referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 42(1) shall detail in particular: (a) the types of operation to be covered by the global grant; (b) the criteria for selecting beneficiaries; (c) the rates of assistance from the Funds and the rules governing that assistance, including as regards the use of any interest accruing; (d) the arrangements for monitoring, evaluating and ensuring the financial control of the global grant referred to in Article 59(1) vis-à-vis the managing authority, including the arrangements for recovering amounts unduly paid and the presentation of accounts; (e) where applicable, any use of a financial guarantee or equivalent facility, unless the Member State or the managing authority provides such guarantee according to the institutional arrangements of each Member State.
Article 44 Financial engineering instruments
As part of an operational programme, the Structural Funds may finance expenditure in respect of an operation comprising contributions to support financial engineering instruments for enterprises, primarily small and medium-sized ones, such as venture capital funds, guarantee funds and loan funds, and for urban development funds, that is, funds investing in public-private partnerships and other projects included in an integrated plan for sustainable urban development. When such operations are organised through holding funds, that is, funds set up to invest in several venture capital funds, guarantee funds, loan funds and urban development funds, the Member State or the managing authority shall implement them through one or more of the following forms: (a) the award of a public contract in accordance with applicable public procurement law; (b) when the agreement is not a public service contract within the meaning of applicable public procurement law, the award of a grant, defined for this purpose as a direct financial contribution by way of donation to a financial institution without a call for proposals, if this is in accordance with a national law compatible with the Treaty; (c) the award of a contract directly to the EIB or the EIF. The implementing rules of this Article shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3).
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The current financial and economic crisis has created major challenges for the European Union. Therefore the Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. Whereas a number of important measures to counterbalance the negative effects of the crisis have already been taken both at the Community and national level, including amendments of the Community legislative framework governing Cohesion policy, the actual impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and on the labour market starts only now to make itself widely felt. On 3 June the Commission presented the Communication on 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' in which additional measures were proposed in order to boost job creation and counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The pressure on national financial resources increases and necessitates taking further steps to alleviate this pressure through a better use of Community funding, and mobilisation and acceleration of all available Funds to tackle the crisis, in particular using the ESF for rapid recovery packages as outlined in the above-mentioned Communication. In the context of the current crisis, ensuring a smooth implementation of Cohesion programmes is of particular relevance as they represent the most powerful and relevant lever for assisting the real economy. With total financial resources of 347 billion € for the 2007-2013 period, Cohesion policy provides a powerful support for both budgetary stability and public investment in the Member States and the regions of the European Union. Experience shows that more effort is needed to facilitate the management of the Community funding in order to speed up the flow of the funding to the beneficiaries that are most affected by the economic downturn. The December European Council supported proposals for 'simplification of procedures and faster implementation of programmes financed by the Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds'. The current proposal therefore includes further elements of simplification, with the overall objective to accelerate co-financed investments in Member States and regions and to increase the impact of the funding on the economy as a whole. · General context The current crisis is substantially affecting the real economy due to the difficulties encountered by the banks and due to the tightening of credit policy which could reduce household consumption as well as business investment, support to innovation, technological and industrial development with negative effects on GDP and employment. The crisis is also having a negative impact on the budgets of Member States and the increase in unemployment outlined below is a significant factor in this. On the one hand, an increase in the number of persons entitled to receive benefits can automatically lead to a strain on budgetary resources. At the same time the need to implement active labour market measures in order to maintain people in employment or to get them back to work becomes more acute. Given the general budgetary constraints, severe cash-flow difficulties can arise for the sources of public finance in Member States for the implementation of active labour market measures. As a consequence, such measures may be delayed at a time when they are increasingly necessary, to the detriment of the citizens. The Commission's most recent economic forecasts predict a marked reduction of growth in the European Union - which would fall to 1,4 % in 2008 (half of that achieved in 2007), 0,2 % in 2009 and 1,1 % in 2010. These poor economic prospects will probably weigh heavily on public finances. Assuming unchanged policies, budget deficits could increase from 1 % of GDP in 2007 to 2,6 % in 2010. Reliable forecasting on public finances - and particularly in the area of debt - is difficult, however, on account of the uncertainty surrounding the budgetary impacts of emergency measures already taken by governments. It is in this context that the Commission has endeavoured to contribute to the debate currently taking place within the Union and with its international partners on how best to react to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In particular in the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to increase the pre-financing (advance payments) to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion in 2009 to pre-finance investment, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brings the total of advance payments in 2009 to EUR 11.25 billion. The Commission proposal was adopted by the Council in May 2009 and all advance payments now have been paid to Member States. The Commission has repeatedly encouraged Member States to transfer the additional advance payments to the bodies involved in project management to frontload expenditure to Cohesion Policy Projects. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal The current serious economic repercussions in the European economy lead to the reduction of growth perspectives over the medium term and the marked slow-down in real growth in 2009 and 2010. According to the latest available forecasts, several national economies are in recession. These poor economic prospects have considerable negative impacts on the public finances of the Member States. Moreover the basic conditions for implementing cohesion policy – which requires public match-funding in order to mobilise Structural Funds – risk being seriously disrupted. In addition, the latest data covering the first months of 2009 show that EU labour markets are now reacting even more strongly than expected to the current economic downturn, with companies announcing substantial job reductions in several sectors and business and consumer confidence continuing to drop. More than 20 million Europeans are unemployed, which is 4 million more than one year ago, and the trend is still upwards. In order to further accelerate programmes implementation and provide help to overcome the difficulties mentioned earlier, an additional measure is proposed to alleviate the current pressures and allow the highest possible use of Community funding targeting particularly the actions necessary to fight the crisis where the added value for the citizens, especially the unemployed or those at risk to become unemployed, will be highest. This measure will require amendment of Council Regulation n° 1083/2006 on general provisions governing Cohesion policy, including, as proposed in the Communication 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' a temporary change to the ways in which interim payments to programmes co-financed by the European Social Fund are calculated. This involves introducing a temporary option for Member States, where severe cash-flow difficulties exist for the financing of labour market measures necessary to combat the crisis, and which are eligible under the ESF, to request reimbursements made by the Commission at 100% during 2009 and 2010, thus obviating the need to provide national co-financing during this period. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of the important role assigned to the ESF in the above-mentioned communication in implementing active labour market measures, such as training in the context of short-time working arrangements, the anticipation and managing of restructuring, the upgrading of skills as well as the providing of high-quality apprenticeships for the young by the end of 2010. This proposal is presented together with a number of simplification measures that also imply amendments to the Council Regulation. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union Not applicable.
Revised version (Article 44 Financial engineering instruments):
As part of an operational programme, the Structural Funds may finance expenditure in respect of an operation comprising contributions to support any of the following: (a) financial engineering instruments for enterprises, primarily small and medium-sized ones, such as venture capital funds, guarantee funds and loan funds; (b) urban development funds, that is, funds investing in public-private partnerships and other projects included in an integrated plan for sustainable urban development; (c) funds or other incentive schemes providing loans, guarantees for repayable investments, or equivalent instruments, for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in buildings, including in existing housing. Where such operations are organised through holding funds, that is, funds set up to invest in several venture capital funds, guarantee funds, loan funds, urban development funds, funds or other incentive schemes providing loans, guarantees for repayable investments, or equivalent instruments, for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in buildings, including in existing housing, the Member State or the managing authority shall implement them through one or more of the following forms: (a) the award of a public contract in accordance with applicable public procurement law; (b) when the agreement is not a public service contract within the meaning of applicable public procurement law, the award of a grant, defined for this purpose as a direct financial contribution by way of donation to a financial institution without a call for proposals, if this is in accordance with a national law compatible with the Treaty; (c) the award of a contract directly to the EIB or the EIF. The implementing rules of this Article shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3).
Article 45 Technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission
1. At the initiative of and/or on behalf of the Commission, subject to a ceiling of 0,25 % of their respective annual allocation, the Funds may finance the preparatory, monitoring, administrative and technical support, evaluation, audit and inspection measures necessary for implementing this Regulation. Those actions shall include, in particular: (a) assistance for project preparation and appraisal, including with the EIB through a grant or other forms of cooperation, as appropriate; (b) studies linked to the drawing up of the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, the Commission's reporting on cohesion policy and the three-yearly cohesion report; (c) evaluations, expert reports, statistics and studies, including those of a general nature concerning the operation of the Funds, which may be carried out where appropriate by the EIB or the EIF through a grant or other forms of cooperation; (d) measures aimed at the partners, the beneficiaries of assistance from the Funds and the general public, including information measures; (e) measures to disseminate information, networking, raise awareness, promote cooperation and exchange experiences throughout the Community; (f) the installation, operation and interconnection of computerised systems for management, monitoring, inspection and evaluation; (g) improvements in evaluation methods and the exchange of information on practices in this field. 2. The Commission shall adopt a decision concerning the types of action listed under paragraph 1 of this Article, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(2), when a contribution from the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund is foreseen. 3. The Commission shall adopt a decision concerning the types of action listed under paragraph 1 of this Article, after consulting the committee referred to in Article 104, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(2), when a contribution from the ESF is foreseen.
Article 46 Technical assistance of the Member States
1. At the initiative of the Member State, the Funds may finance the preparatory, management, monitoring, evaluation, information and control activities of operational programmes together with activities to reinforce the administrative capacity for implementing the Funds within the following limits: (a) 4 % of the total amount allocated under the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives; (b) 6 % of the total amount allocated under the European territorial cooperation objective. The EIB or the EIF may, upon request of the Member States, take part in technical assistance activities referred to in the first subparagraph. 2. For each of the three objectives, technical assistance actions, within the limits set in paragraph 1, shall, in principle, be undertaken within the framework of each operational programme. On a complementary basis, however, such actions may be undertaken partially and subject to the overall limits for technical assistance set in paragraph 1, in the form of a specific operational programme. 3. If the Member State decides to undertake technical assistance actions in the framework of each operational programme, the proportion of the total amount allocated for technical assistance in respect of each operational programme shall not exceed the limits set in paragraph 1. In this case, where technical assistance actions are also undertaken in the form of a specific operational programme, the total amount allocated for technical assistance in such a specific programme shall not cause the total proportion of Funds allocated to technical assistance to exceed the limits set in paragraph 1.
Article 47 General provisions
1. Evaluations shall aim to improve the quality, effectiveness and consistency of the assistance from the Funds and the strategy and implementation of operational programmes with respect to the specific structural problems affecting the Member States and regions concerned, while taking account of the objective of sustainable development and of the relevant Community legislation concerning environmental impact and strategic environmental assessment. 2. Evaluations may be of a strategic nature in order to examine the evolution of a programme or group of programmes in relation to Community and national priorities, or of an operational nature in order to support the monitoring of an operational programme. Evaluations shall be carried out before, during and after the programming period. 3. Evaluations shall be carried out under the responsibility of the Member State or the Commission, as appropriate, in accordance with the principle of proportionality laid down in Article 13. Evaluations shall be carried out by experts or bodies, internal or external, functionally independent of the authorities referred to in Article 59(b) and (c). The results shall be published according to the applicable rules on access to documents. 4. Evaluations shall be financed from the budget for technical assistance. 5. The Commission shall provide indicative guidance on evaluation methods, including quality standards, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 103(2).
Article 48 Responsibility of Member States
1. The Member States shall provide the resources necessary for carrying out evaluations, organise the production and gathering of the necessary data and use the various types of information provided by the monitoring system. They may also draw up, where appropriate, under the Convergence objective, in accordance with the principle of proportionality set out in Article 13, an evaluation plan presenting the indicative evaluation activities which the Member State intends to carry out in the different phases of the implementation. 2. Member States shall carry out an ex ante evaluation for each operational programme separately under the Convergence objective. In duly justified cases, taking into account the proportionality principle as set out in Article 13 and as agreed between the Commission and the Member State, Member States may carry out a single ex ante evaluation covering more than one operational programme. For the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, Member States shall carry out either an ex ante evaluation covering all the operational programmes or an evaluation for each Fund or an evaluation for each priority or an evaluation for each operational programme. For the European territorial cooperation objective, the Member States shall jointly carry out an ex ante evaluation covering either each operational programme or several operational programmes. Ex ante evaluations shall be carried out under the responsibility of the authority responsible for the preparation of the programming documents. Ex ante evaluations shall aim to optimise the allocation of budgetary resources under operational programmes and improve programming quality. They shall identify and appraise the disparities, gaps and potential for development, the goals to be achieved, the results expected, the quantified targets, the coherence, if necessary, of the strategy proposed for the region, the Community value-added, the extent to which the Community's priorities have been taken into account, the lessons drawn from previous programming and the quality of the procedures for implementation, monitoring, evaluation and financial management. 3. During the programming period, Member States shall carry out evaluations linked to the monitoring of operational programmes in particular where that monitoring reveals a significant departure from the goals initially set or where proposals are made for the revision of operational programmes, as referred to in Article 33. The results shall be sent to the monitoring committee for the operational programme and to the Commission.
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The current financial and economic crisis has created major challenges for the European Union. Therefore the Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. Whereas a number of important measures to counterbalance the negative effects of the crisis have already been taken both at the Community and national level, including amendments of the Community legislative framework governing Cohesion policy, the actual impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and on the labour market starts only now to make itself widely felt. On 3 June the Commission presented the Communication on 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' in which additional measures were proposed in order to boost job creation and counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The pressure on national financial resources increases and necessitates taking further steps to alleviate this pressure through a better use of Community funding, and mobilisation and acceleration of all available Funds to tackle the crisis, in particular using the ESF for rapid recovery packages as outlined in the above-mentioned Communication. In the context of the current crisis, ensuring a smooth implementation of Cohesion programmes is of particular relevance as they represent the most powerful and relevant lever for assisting the real economy. With total financial resources of 347 billion € for the 2007-2013 period, Cohesion policy provides a powerful support for both budgetary stability and public investment in the Member States and the regions of the European Union. Experience shows that more effort is needed to facilitate the management of the Community funding in order to speed up the flow of the funding to the beneficiaries that are most affected by the economic downturn. The December European Council supported proposals for 'simplification of procedures and faster implementation of programmes financed by the Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds'. The current proposal therefore includes further elements of simplification, with the overall objective to accelerate co-financed investments in Member States and regions and to increase the impact of the funding on the economy as a whole. · General context The current crisis is substantially affecting the real economy due to the difficulties encountered by the banks and due to the tightening of credit policy which could reduce household consumption as well as business investment, support to innovation, technological and industrial development with negative effects on GDP and employment. The crisis is also having a negative impact on the budgets of Member States and the increase in unemployment outlined below is a significant factor in this. On the one hand, an increase in the number of persons entitled to receive benefits can automatically lead to a strain on budgetary resources. At the same time the need to implement active labour market measures in order to maintain people in employment or to get them back to work becomes more acute. Given the general budgetary constraints, severe cash-flow difficulties can arise for the sources of public finance in Member States for the implementation of active labour market measures. As a consequence, such measures may be delayed at a time when they are increasingly necessary, to the detriment of the citizens. The Commission's most recent economic forecasts predict a marked reduction of growth in the European Union - which would fall to 1,4 % in 2008 (half of that achieved in 2007), 0,2 % in 2009 and 1,1 % in 2010. These poor economic prospects will probably weigh heavily on public finances. Assuming unchanged policies, budget deficits could increase from 1 % of GDP in 2007 to 2,6 % in 2010. Reliable forecasting on public finances - and particularly in the area of debt - is difficult, however, on account of the uncertainty surrounding the budgetary impacts of emergency measures already taken by governments. It is in this context that the Commission has endeavoured to contribute to the debate currently taking place within the Union and with its international partners on how best to react to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In particular in the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to increase the pre-financing (advance payments) to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion in 2009 to pre-finance investment, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brings the total of advance payments in 2009 to EUR 11.25 billion. The Commission proposal was adopted by the Council in May 2009 and all advance payments now have been paid to Member States. The Commission has repeatedly encouraged Member States to transfer the additional advance payments to the bodies involved in project management to frontload expenditure to Cohesion Policy Projects. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal The current serious economic repercussions in the European economy lead to the reduction of growth perspectives over the medium term and the marked slow-down in real growth in 2009 and 2010. According to the latest available forecasts, several national economies are in recession. These poor economic prospects have considerable negative impacts on the public finances of the Member States. Moreover the basic conditions for implementing cohesion policy – which requires public match-funding in order to mobilise Structural Funds – risk being seriously disrupted. In addition, the latest data covering the first months of 2009 show that EU labour markets are now reacting even more strongly than expected to the current economic downturn, with companies announcing substantial job reductions in several sectors and business and consumer confidence continuing to drop. More than 20 million Europeans are unemployed, which is 4 million more than one year ago, and the trend is still upwards. In order to further accelerate programmes implementation and provide help to overcome the difficulties mentioned earlier, an additional measure is proposed to alleviate the current pressures and allow the highest possible use of Community funding targeting particularly the actions necessary to fight the crisis where the added value for the citizens, especially the unemployed or those at risk to become unemployed, will be highest. This measure will require amendment of Council Regulation n° 1083/2006 on general provisions governing Cohesion policy, including, as proposed in the Communication 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' a temporary change to the ways in which interim payments to programmes co-financed by the European Social Fund are calculated. This involves introducing a temporary option for Member States, where severe cash-flow difficulties exist for the financing of labour market measures necessary to combat the crisis, and which are eligible under the ESF, to request reimbursements made by the Commission at 100% during 2009 and 2010, thus obviating the need to provide national co-financing during this period. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of the important role assigned to the ESF in the above-mentioned communication in implementing active labour market measures, such as training in the context of short-time working arrangements, the anticipation and managing of restructuring, the upgrading of skills as well as the providing of high-quality apprenticeships for the young by the end of 2010. This proposal is presented together with a number of simplification measures that also imply amendments to the Council Regulation. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union Not applicable.
Revised version (Article 48 Responsibility of Member States):
1. The Member States shall provide the resources necessary for carrying out evaluations, organise the production and gathering of the necessary data and use the various types of information provided by the monitoring system. They may also draw up, where appropriate, under the Convergence objective, in accordance with the principle of proportionality set out in Article 13, an evaluation plan presenting the indicative evaluation activities which the Member State intends to carry out in the different phases of the implementation. 2. Member States shall carry out an ex ante evaluation for each operational programme separately under the Convergence objective. In duly justified cases, taking into account the proportionality principle as set out in Article 13 and as agreed between the Commission and the Member State, Member States may carry out a single ex ante evaluation covering more than one operational programme. For the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, Member States shall carry out either an ex ante evaluation covering all the operational programmes or an evaluation for each Fund or an evaluation for each priority or an evaluation for each operational programme. For the European territorial cooperation objective, the Member States shall jointly carry out an ex ante evaluation covering either each operational programme or several operational programmes. Ex ante evaluations shall be carried out under the responsibility of the authority responsible for the preparation of the programming documents. Ex ante evaluations shall aim to optimise the allocation of budgetary resources under operational programmes and improve programming quality. They shall identify and appraise the disparities, gaps and potential for development, the goals to be achieved, the results expected, the quantified targets, the coherence, if necessary, of the strategy proposed for the region, the Community value-added, the extent to which the Community's priorities have been taken into account, the lessons drawn from previous programming and the quality of the procedures for implementation, monitoring, evaluation and financial management. 3. During the programming period, Member States shall carry out evaluations linked to the monitoring of operational programmes in particular where that monitoring reveals a significant departure from the goals initially set. Where proposals are made for the revision of operational programmes, as referred to in Article 33, analyses shall be provided on the reasons for the revision, including any implementation difficulties, and the expected impact of the revision, including that on the strategy of the operational programme. The results of such evaluations or analyses shall be sent to the monitoring committee for the operational programme and to the Commission.
Article 49 Responsibility of the Commission
1. The Commission may carry out strategic evaluations. 2. The Commission may carry out, at its initiative and in partnership with the Member State concerned, evaluations linked to the monitoring of operational programmes where the monitoring of programmes reveals a significant departure from the goals initially set. The results shall be sent to the monitoring committee for the operational programme. 3. The Commission shall carry out an ex post evaluation for each objective in close cooperation with the Member State and managing authorities. Ex post evaluation shall cover all the operational programmes under each objective and examine the extent to which resources were used, the effectiveness and efficiency of Fund programming and the socio-economic impact. It shall be carried out for each of the objectives and shall aim to draw conclusions for the policy on economic and social cohesion. It shall identify the factors contributing to the success or failure of the implementation of operational programmes and identify good practice. Ex post evaluation shall be completed by 31 December 2015.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 49 Responsibility of the Commission):
1. The Commission may carry out strategic evaluations. 2. The Commission may carry out, at its initiative and in partnership with the Member State concerned, evaluations linked to the monitoring of operational programmes where the monitoring of programmes reveals a significant departure from the goals initially set. The results shall be sent to the monitoring committee for the operational programme. 3. The Commission shall carry out an ex post evaluation for each objective in close cooperation with the Member State and managing authorities. Ex post evaluation shall cover all the operational programmes under each objective and examine the extent to which resources were used, the effectiveness and efficiency of Fund programming and the socio-economic impact. It shall be carried out for each of the objectives and shall aim to draw conclusions for the policy on economic and social cohesion. It shall identify the factors contributing to the success or failure of the implementation of operational programmes and identify good practice. Ex post evaluation shall be completed by 31 December 2015. With regard to Croatia's operational programmes the ex post evaluation shall be completed by 31 December 2016.
Article 50 National performance reserve
1. At its own initiative, a Member State may decide to establish a national performance reserve for the Convergence objective and/or the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, consisting of 3 % of its total allocation for each one. 2. Where a Member State has decided to establish such a reserve, it shall assess under each of the objectives not later than 30 June 2011 the performance of its operational programmes. 3. Not later than 31 December 2011, on the basis of proposals from and in close consultation with each Member State concerned, the Commission shall allocate the national performance reserve.
Article 51 National contingency reserve
At its own initiative, a Member State may reserve an amount of 1 % of the annual Structural Fund contribution to the Convergence objective and 3 % of the annual Structural Fund contribution to the Regional competitiveness and employment objective to cover unforeseen local or sectoral crises linked to economic and social restructuring or to the consequences of the opening up of trade. The Member State may allocate the reserve for each objective to a specific national programme or within operational programmes.
Article 52 Modulation of the contribution rates
The contribution from the Funds may be modulated in the light of the following: (a) the gravity of the specific problems, in particular of an economic, social or territorial nature; (b) the importance of each priority axis for the Community's priorities as set out in the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, as well as for national and regional priorities; (c) protection and improvement of the environment, principally through the application of the precautionary principle, the principle of preventive action, and the polluter-pays principle; (d) the rate of mobilisation of private financing, in particular under public-private partnerships, in the fields concerned; (e) the inclusion of interregional cooperation as referred to in Article 37(6)(b) under the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives; (f) under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, the coverage of areas with a geographical or natural handicap defined as follows: (i) island Member States eligible under the Cohesion Fund, and other islands except those on which the capital of a Member State is situated or which have a fixed link to the mainland; (ii) mountainous areas as defined by the national legislation of the Member State; (iii) sparsely (less than 50 inhabitants per square kilometre) and very sparsely (less than 8 inhabitants per square kilometre) populated areas; (iv) the areas which were external borders of the Community on 30 April 2004 and which ceased to be so on the day after that date. (f) under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, the coverage of areas with a geographical or natural handicap defined as follows: (i) island Member States eligible under the Cohesion Fund, and other islands except those on which the capital of a Member State is situated or which have a fixed link to the mainland; (ii) mountainous areas as defined by the national legislation of the Member State; (iii) sparsely (less than 50 inhabitants per square kilometre) and very sparsely (less than 8 inhabitants per square kilometre) populated areas; (iv) the areas which were external borders of the Community on 30 April 2004 and which ceased to be so on the day after that date.
Article 53 Contribution from the Funds
1. The contribution from the Funds, at the level of operational programmes, shall be calculated with reference to: (a) either the total eligible expenditure including public and private expenditure; (b) or the public eligible expenditure. 2. The contribution from the Funds at the level of operational programmes under the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives shall be subject to the ceilings set out in Annex III. 3. For operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation objective in which at least one participant belongs to a Member State whose average GDP per capita for the period 2001 to 2003 was below 85 % of the EU-25 average during the same period, the contribution from the ERDF shall not be higher than 85 % of the eligible expenditure. For all other operational programmes, the contribution from the ERDF shall not be higher than 75 % of the eligible expenditure co-financed by the ERDF. 4. The contribution from the Funds at the priority axis level shall not be subject to the ceilings set out in paragraph 3 and in Annex III. However, it shall be fixed so as to ensure compliance with the maximum amount of contribution from the Funds and the maximum contribution rate per Fund fixed at the level of the operational programme. 5. For operational programmes co-financed jointly: (a) by the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund; or (b) by the additional allocation for the outermost regions provided for in Annex II, the ERDF and/or the Cohesion Fund, the decision adopting the operational programme shall fix the maximum rate and the maximum amount of the contribution for each Fund and allocation separately. 6. The Commission's decision adopting an operational programme shall fix the maximum rate and the maximum amount of the contribution from Fund for each operational programme and for each priority axis. The decision shall show separately the appropriations for regions receiving transitional support.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL In the context of the negotiations of the new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020, certain issues stemming from the final outcome of the negotiations should be addressed. The European Commission is therefore proposing to provide France, Italy and Spain with EUR 100 million, EUR 30 million and EUR 20 million respectively as additional commitments to their 2013 ESF allocations. Nonetheless, since the amounts in the regulation are expressed in 2004 prices, the corresponding amounts quoted in the regulation total EUR 126 million as follows: EUR 84 million for France, EUR 17 million for Spain and EUR 25 million for Italy. The compensation will be provided from the 2007-2013 period with the amounts been made available through the flexibility instrument. 
Revised version (Article 53 Contribution from the Funds):
1. The contribution from the Funds, at the level of operational programmes, shall be calculated with reference to: (a) either the total eligible expenditure including public and private expenditure; (b) or the public eligible expenditure. 2. The contribution from the Funds at the level of operational programmes under the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives shall be subject to the ceilings set out in Annex III. 3. For operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation objective in which at least one participant belongs to a Member State whose average GDP per capita for the period 2001 to 2003 was below 85 % of the EU-25 average during the same period, or for such programmes where Croatia is a participating country, the contribution from the ERDF shall not be higher than 85 % of the eligible expenditure. For all other operational programmes, the contribution from the ERDF shall not be higher than 75 % of the eligible expenditure co-financed by the ERDF. 4. The contribution from the Funds at the priority axis level shall not be subject to the ceilings set out in paragraph 3 and in Annex III. However, it shall be fixed so as to ensure compliance with the maximum amount of contribution from the Funds and the maximum contribution rate per Fund fixed at the level of the operational programme. 5. For operational programmes co-financed jointly: (a) by the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund; or (b) by the additional allocation for the outermost regions provided for in Annex II, the ERDF and/or the Cohesion Fund, the decision adopting the operational programme shall fix the maximum rate and the maximum amount of the contribution for each Fund and allocation separately. 6. The Commission's decision adopting an operational programme shall fix the maximum rate and the maximum amount of the contribution from Fund for each operational programme and for each priority axis. The decision shall show separately the appropriations for regions receiving transitional support.
Article 54 Other provisions
1. The contribution from the Funds for each priority axis shall not be less than 20 % of the eligible public expenditure. 2. Technical assistance measures implemented at the initiative of or on behalf of the Commission may be financed at the rate of 100 %. 3. During the period of eligibility referred to in Article 56(1): (a) a priority axis may receive assistance from only one Fund and one objective at a time; (b) an operation may receive assistance from a Fund under only one operational programme at a time; (c) an operation shall not receive an assistance from a Fund higher than the total public expenditure allocated. 4. For State aid to enterprises within the meaning of Article 87 of the Treaty, public aid granted under operational programmes shall observe the ceilings on State aid. 5. An expenditure co-financed by the Funds shall not receive assistance from another Community financial instrument.
Article 55 Revenue-generating projects
1. For the purposes of this Regulation, a revenue-generating project means any operation involving an investment in infrastructure the use of which is subject to charges borne directly by users or any operation involving the sale or rent of land or buildings or any other provision of services against payment. 2. Eligible expenditure on revenue-generating projects shall not exceed the current value of the investment cost less the current value of the net revenue from the investment over a specific reference period for: (a) investments in infrastructure; or (b) other projects where it is possible to objectively estimate the revenues in advance. Where not all the investment cost is eligible for co-financing, the net revenue shall be allocated pro rata to the eligible and non-eligible parts of the investment cost. In the calculation, the managing authority shall take account of the reference period appropriate to the category of investment concerned, the category of project, the profitability normally expected of the category of investment concerned, the application of the polluter-pays principle, and, if appropriate, considerations of equity linked to the relative prosperity of the Member State concerned. 3. Where it is objectively not possible to estimate the revenue in advance, the revenue generated within five years of the completion of an operation shall be deducted from the expenditure declared to the Commission. The deduction shall be made by the certifying authority at the latest at partial or at final closure of the operational programme. The application for payment of the final balance shall be corrected accordingly. 4. Where, at the latest three years after closure of the operational programme, it is established that an operation has generated revenue that has not been taken into account under paragraphs 2 and 3, such revenue shall be refunded to the general budget of the European Union in proportion to the contribution from the Funds. 5. Paragraphs 1 to 4 of this Article shall apply only to operations which are co-financed by the ERDF or Cohesion Fund and the total cost of which exceeds EUR 1 000 000. 6. This Article shall not apply to projects subject to the rules on State aid within the meaning of Article 87 of the Treaty.
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The current financial and economic crisis has created major challenges for the European Union. Therefore the Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. Whereas a number of important measures to counterbalance the negative effects of the crisis have already been taken both at the Community and national level, including amendments of the Community legislative framework governing Cohesion policy, the actual impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and on the labour market starts only now to make itself widely felt. On 3 June the Commission presented the Communication on 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' in which additional measures were proposed in order to boost job creation and counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The pressure on national financial resources increases and necessitates taking further steps to alleviate this pressure through a better use of Community funding, and mobilisation and acceleration of all available Funds to tackle the crisis, in particular using the ESF for rapid recovery packages as outlined in the above-mentioned Communication. In the context of the current crisis, ensuring a smooth implementation of Cohesion programmes is of particular relevance as they represent the most powerful and relevant lever for assisting the real economy. With total financial resources of 347 billion € for the 2007-2013 period, Cohesion policy provides a powerful support for both budgetary stability and public investment in the Member States and the regions of the European Union. Experience shows that more effort is needed to facilitate the management of the Community funding in order to speed up the flow of the funding to the beneficiaries that are most affected by the economic downturn. The December European Council supported proposals for 'simplification of procedures and faster implementation of programmes financed by the Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds'. The current proposal therefore includes further elements of simplification, with the overall objective to accelerate co-financed investments in Member States and regions and to increase the impact of the funding on the economy as a whole. · General context The current crisis is substantially affecting the real economy due to the difficulties encountered by the banks and due to the tightening of credit policy which could reduce household consumption as well as business investment, support to innovation, technological and industrial development with negative effects on GDP and employment. The crisis is also having a negative impact on the budgets of Member States and the increase in unemployment outlined below is a significant factor in this. On the one hand, an increase in the number of persons entitled to receive benefits can automatically lead to a strain on budgetary resources. At the same time the need to implement active labour market measures in order to maintain people in employment or to get them back to work becomes more acute. Given the general budgetary constraints, severe cash-flow difficulties can arise for the sources of public finance in Member States for the implementation of active labour market measures. As a consequence, such measures may be delayed at a time when they are increasingly necessary, to the detriment of the citizens. The Commission's most recent economic forecasts predict a marked reduction of growth in the European Union - which would fall to 1,4 % in 2008 (half of that achieved in 2007), 0,2 % in 2009 and 1,1 % in 2010. These poor economic prospects will probably weigh heavily on public finances. Assuming unchanged policies, budget deficits could increase from 1 % of GDP in 2007 to 2,6 % in 2010. Reliable forecasting on public finances - and particularly in the area of debt - is difficult, however, on account of the uncertainty surrounding the budgetary impacts of emergency measures already taken by governments. It is in this context that the Commission has endeavoured to contribute to the debate currently taking place within the Union and with its international partners on how best to react to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In particular in the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to increase the pre-financing (advance payments) to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion in 2009 to pre-finance investment, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brings the total of advance payments in 2009 to EUR 11.25 billion. The Commission proposal was adopted by the Council in May 2009 and all advance payments now have been paid to Member States. The Commission has repeatedly encouraged Member States to transfer the additional advance payments to the bodies involved in project management to frontload expenditure to Cohesion Policy Projects. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal The current serious economic repercussions in the European economy lead to the reduction of growth perspectives over the medium term and the marked slow-down in real growth in 2009 and 2010. According to the latest available forecasts, several national economies are in recession. These poor economic prospects have considerable negative impacts on the public finances of the Member States. Moreover the basic conditions for implementing cohesion policy – which requires public match-funding in order to mobilise Structural Funds – risk being seriously disrupted. In addition, the latest data covering the first months of 2009 show that EU labour markets are now reacting even more strongly than expected to the current economic downturn, with companies announcing substantial job reductions in several sectors and business and consumer confidence continuing to drop. More than 20 million Europeans are unemployed, which is 4 million more than one year ago, and the trend is still upwards. In order to further accelerate programmes implementation and provide help to overcome the difficulties mentioned earlier, an additional measure is proposed to alleviate the current pressures and allow the highest possible use of Community funding targeting particularly the actions necessary to fight the crisis where the added value for the citizens, especially the unemployed or those at risk to become unemployed, will be highest. This measure will require amendment of Council Regulation n° 1083/2006 on general provisions governing Cohesion policy, including, as proposed in the Communication 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' a temporary change to the ways in which interim payments to programmes co-financed by the European Social Fund are calculated. This involves introducing a temporary option for Member States, where severe cash-flow difficulties exist for the financing of labour market measures necessary to combat the crisis, and which are eligible under the ESF, to request reimbursements made by the Commission at 100% during 2009 and 2010, thus obviating the need to provide national co-financing during this period. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of the important role assigned to the ESF in the above-mentioned communication in implementing active labour market measures, such as training in the context of short-time working arrangements, the anticipation and managing of restructuring, the upgrading of skills as well as the providing of high-quality apprenticeships for the young by the end of 2010. This proposal is presented together with a number of simplification measures that also imply amendments to the Council Regulation. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union Not applicable.
Revised version (Article 55 Revenue-generating projects):
1. For the purposes of this Regulation, a revenue-generating project means any operation involving an investment in infrastructure the use of which is subject to charges borne directly by users or any operation involving the sale or rent of land or buildings or any other provision of services against payment. 2. Eligible expenditure on revenue-generating projects shall not exceed the current value of the investment cost less the current value of the net revenue from the investment over a specific reference period for: (a) investments in infrastructure; or (b) other projects where it is possible to objectively estimate the revenues in advance. Where not all the investment cost is eligible for co-financing, the net revenue shall be allocated pro rata to the eligible and non-eligible parts of the investment cost. In the calculation, the managing authority shall take account of the reference period appropriate to the category of investment concerned, the category of project, the profitability normally expected of the category of investment concerned, the application of the polluter-pays principle, and, if appropriate, considerations of equity linked to the relative prosperity of the Member State concerned. 3. Where it is objectively not possible to estimate the revenue in advance, the net revenue generated within five years of the completion of an operation shall be deducted from the expenditure declared to the Commission. 4. Where it is established that an operation has generated net revenue that has not been taken into account under paragraphs 2 and 3, such net revenue shall be deducted by the certifying authority at the latest on submission of the documents for the operational programme referred to in Article 89(1)(a). The application for payment of the final balance shall be corrected accordingly. 5. Paragraphs 1 to 4 of this Article shall apply only to operations which are co-financed by the ERDF or Cohesion Fund and the total cost of which exceeds EUR 1 000 000. 6. This Article shall not apply to projects subject to the rules on State aid within the meaning of Article 87 of the Treaty.
Article 56 Eligibility of expenditure
1. Expenditure, including for major projects, shall be eligible for a contribution from the Funds if it has actually been paid between the date of submission of the operational programmes to the Commission or from 1 January 2007, whichever is earlier, and 31 December 2015. Operations must not have been completed before the starting date for eligibility. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, contributions in kind, depreciation costs and overheads may be considered as incurred expenditure by beneficiaries for the implementation of operations under the conditions laid down in the third subparagraph of this paragraph. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, contributions in kind, as regards financial engineering instruments as defined in Article 78(6), first subparagraph, can be treated as expenditure paid at the constitution of the funds or holding funds or contributing to those funds or holding funds, under the conditions established in the third subparagraph of this paragraph. Expenditure mentioned in the first and second subparagraphs must fulfil the following conditions: (a) the eligibility rules drawn up on the basis of paragraph 4 foresee the eligibility of such expenditure; (b) the amount of the expenditure is duly justified by supporting documents having equivalent probative value to invoices, without prejudice to provisions set out in specific Regulations; (c) in the case of contributions in kind, the co-financing from the Funds does not exceed the total of eligible expenditure, excluding the value of such contributions. 3. Expenditure shall be eligible for a contribution from the Funds only where incurred for operations decided on by the managing authority of the operational programme concerned or under its responsibility, in accordance with criteria fixed by the monitoring committee. New expenditure, added at the moment of the revision of an operational programme referred to in Article 33, shall be eligible from the date of the submission to the Commission of the request for revision of the operational programme. 4. The rules on the eligibility of expenditure shall be laid down at national level subject to the exceptions provided for in the specific Regulations for each Fund. They shall cover the entirety of the expenditure declared under the operational programme. 5. This Article shall be without prejudice to the expenditure referred to in Article 45.
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The current financial and economic crisis has created major challenges for the European Union. Therefore the Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. Whereas a number of important measures to counterbalance the negative effects of the crisis have already been taken both at the Community and national level, including amendments of the Community legislative framework governing Cohesion policy, the actual impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and on the labour market starts only now to make itself widely felt. On 3 June the Commission presented the Communication on 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' in which additional measures were proposed in order to boost job creation and counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The pressure on national financial resources increases and necessitates taking further steps to alleviate this pressure through a better use of Community funding, and mobilisation and acceleration of all available Funds to tackle the crisis, in particular using the ESF for rapid recovery packages as outlined in the above-mentioned Communication. In the context of the current crisis, ensuring a smooth implementation of Cohesion programmes is of particular relevance as they represent the most powerful and relevant lever for assisting the real economy. With total financial resources of 347 billion € for the 2007-2013 period, Cohesion policy provides a powerful support for both budgetary stability and public investment in the Member States and the regions of the European Union. Experience shows that more effort is needed to facilitate the management of the Community funding in order to speed up the flow of the funding to the beneficiaries that are most affected by the economic downturn. The December European Council supported proposals for 'simplification of procedures and faster implementation of programmes financed by the Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds'. The current proposal therefore includes further elements of simplification, with the overall objective to accelerate co-financed investments in Member States and regions and to increase the impact of the funding on the economy as a whole. · General context The current crisis is substantially affecting the real economy due to the difficulties encountered by the banks and due to the tightening of credit policy which could reduce household consumption as well as business investment, support to innovation, technological and industrial development with negative effects on GDP and employment. The crisis is also having a negative impact on the budgets of Member States and the increase in unemployment outlined below is a significant factor in this. On the one hand, an increase in the number of persons entitled to receive benefits can automatically lead to a strain on budgetary resources. At the same time the need to implement active labour market measures in order to maintain people in employment or to get them back to work becomes more acute. Given the general budgetary constraints, severe cash-flow difficulties can arise for the sources of public finance in Member States for the implementation of active labour market measures. As a consequence, such measures may be delayed at a time when they are increasingly necessary, to the detriment of the citizens. The Commission's most recent economic forecasts predict a marked reduction of growth in the European Union - which would fall to 1,4 % in 2008 (half of that achieved in 2007), 0,2 % in 2009 and 1,1 % in 2010. These poor economic prospects will probably weigh heavily on public finances. Assuming unchanged policies, budget deficits could increase from 1 % of GDP in 2007 to 2,6 % in 2010. Reliable forecasting on public finances - and particularly in the area of debt - is difficult, however, on account of the uncertainty surrounding the budgetary impacts of emergency measures already taken by governments. It is in this context that the Commission has endeavoured to contribute to the debate currently taking place within the Union and with its international partners on how best to react to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In particular in the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to increase the pre-financing (advance payments) to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion in 2009 to pre-finance investment, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brings the total of advance payments in 2009 to EUR 11.25 billion. The Commission proposal was adopted by the Council in May 2009 and all advance payments now have been paid to Member States. The Commission has repeatedly encouraged Member States to transfer the additional advance payments to the bodies involved in project management to frontload expenditure to Cohesion Policy Projects. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal The current serious economic repercussions in the European economy lead to the reduction of growth perspectives over the medium term and the marked slow-down in real growth in 2009 and 2010. According to the latest available forecasts, several national economies are in recession. These poor economic prospects have considerable negative impacts on the public finances of the Member States. Moreover the basic conditions for implementing cohesion policy – which requires public match-funding in order to mobilise Structural Funds – risk being seriously disrupted. In addition, the latest data covering the first months of 2009 show that EU labour markets are now reacting even more strongly than expected to the current economic downturn, with companies announcing substantial job reductions in several sectors and business and consumer confidence continuing to drop. More than 20 million Europeans are unemployed, which is 4 million more than one year ago, and the trend is still upwards. In order to further accelerate programmes implementation and provide help to overcome the difficulties mentioned earlier, an additional measure is proposed to alleviate the current pressures and allow the highest possible use of Community funding targeting particularly the actions necessary to fight the crisis where the added value for the citizens, especially the unemployed or those at risk to become unemployed, will be highest. This measure will require amendment of Council Regulation n° 1083/2006 on general provisions governing Cohesion policy, including, as proposed in the Communication 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' a temporary change to the ways in which interim payments to programmes co-financed by the European Social Fund are calculated. This involves introducing a temporary option for Member States, where severe cash-flow difficulties exist for the financing of labour market measures necessary to combat the crisis, and which are eligible under the ESF, to request reimbursements made by the Commission at 100% during 2009 and 2010, thus obviating the need to provide national co-financing during this period. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of the important role assigned to the ESF in the above-mentioned communication in implementing active labour market measures, such as training in the context of short-time working arrangements, the anticipation and managing of restructuring, the upgrading of skills as well as the providing of high-quality apprenticeships for the young by the end of 2010. This proposal is presented together with a number of simplification measures that also imply amendments to the Council Regulation. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union Not applicable.
Revised version (Article 56 Eligibility of expenditure):
1. Expenditure, including for major projects, shall be eligible for a contribution from the Funds if it has actually been paid between the date of submission of the operational programmes to the Commission or from 1 January 2007, whichever is earlier, and 31 December 2015. Operations must not have been completed before the starting date for eligibility. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, contributions in kind, depreciation costs and overheads may be considered as incurred expenditure by beneficiaries for the implementation of operations under the conditions laid down in the third subparagraph of this paragraph. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, contributions in kind, as regards financial engineering instruments as defined in Article 78(6), first subparagraph, can be treated as expenditure paid at the constitution of the funds or holding funds or contributing to those funds or holding funds, under the conditions established in the third subparagraph of this paragraph. Expenditure mentioned in the first and second subparagraphs must fulfil the following conditions: (a) the eligibility rules drawn up on the basis of paragraph 4 foresee the eligibility of such expenditure; (b) the amount of the expenditure is duly justified by supporting documents having equivalent probative value to invoices, without prejudice to provisions set out in specific Regulations; (c) in the case of contributions in kind, the co-financing from the Funds does not exceed the total of eligible expenditure, excluding the value of such contributions. 3. Expenditure shall be eligible for a contribution from the Funds only where incurred for operations decided on by the managing authority of the operational programme concerned or under its responsibility, in accordance with criteria fixed by the monitoring committee. Where a new category of expenditure as referred to in Table 1 of Part A of Annex II to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 ( 17 ) is added at the time of the revision of an operational programme referred to in Article 33 of this Regulation, any expenditure falling under such category shall be eligible from the date of the submission to the Commission of the request for revision of the operational programme. 4. The rules on the eligibility of expenditure shall be laid down at national level subject to the exceptions provided for in the specific Regulations for each Fund. They shall cover the entirety of the expenditure declared under the operational programme. 5. This Article shall be without prejudice to the expenditure referred to in Article 45.
Article 57 Durability of operations
1. The Member State or managing authority shall ensure that an operation retains the contribution from the Funds only if that operation does not, within five years from the completion of the operation or three years from the completion of the operation in Member States which have exercised the option of reducing that time limit for the maintenance of an investment or jobs created by SMEs, undergo a substantial modification: (a) affecting its nature or its implementation conditions or giving to a firm or a public body an undue advantage; and (b) resulting either from a change in the nature of ownership of an item of infrastructure or the cessation of a productive activity. 2. The Member State and the managing authority shall inform the Commission in the annual implementation report referred to in Article 67 of any modification referred to in paragraph 1. The Commission shall inform the other Member States. 3. Sums unduly paid shall be recovered in accordance with Articles 98 to 102. 4. The Member States and the Commission shall ensure that undertakings which are or have been subject to a procedure of recovery in accordance with paragraph 3 following the transfer of a productive activity within a Member State or to another Member State do not benefit from a contribution from the Funds.
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. background to the proposal · Reasons and objectives for the proposal The current financial and economic crisis has created major challenges for the European Union. Therefore the Council of the European Union of 11 and 12 December 2008 agreed on a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable European economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. Whereas a number of important measures to counterbalance the negative effects of the crisis have already been taken both at the Community and national level, including amendments of the Community legislative framework governing Cohesion policy, the actual impact of the financial crisis on the real economy and on the labour market starts only now to make itself widely felt. On 3 June the Commission presented the Communication on 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' in which additional measures were proposed in order to boost job creation and counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The pressure on national financial resources increases and necessitates taking further steps to alleviate this pressure through a better use of Community funding, and mobilisation and acceleration of all available Funds to tackle the crisis, in particular using the ESF for rapid recovery packages as outlined in the above-mentioned Communication. In the context of the current crisis, ensuring a smooth implementation of Cohesion programmes is of particular relevance as they represent the most powerful and relevant lever for assisting the real economy. With total financial resources of 347 billion € for the 2007-2013 period, Cohesion policy provides a powerful support for both budgetary stability and public investment in the Member States and the regions of the European Union. Experience shows that more effort is needed to facilitate the management of the Community funding in order to speed up the flow of the funding to the beneficiaries that are most affected by the economic downturn. The December European Council supported proposals for 'simplification of procedures and faster implementation of programmes financed by the Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds'. The current proposal therefore includes further elements of simplification, with the overall objective to accelerate co-financed investments in Member States and regions and to increase the impact of the funding on the economy as a whole. · General context The current crisis is substantially affecting the real economy due to the difficulties encountered by the banks and due to the tightening of credit policy which could reduce household consumption as well as business investment, support to innovation, technological and industrial development with negative effects on GDP and employment. The crisis is also having a negative impact on the budgets of Member States and the increase in unemployment outlined below is a significant factor in this. On the one hand, an increase in the number of persons entitled to receive benefits can automatically lead to a strain on budgetary resources. At the same time the need to implement active labour market measures in order to maintain people in employment or to get them back to work becomes more acute. Given the general budgetary constraints, severe cash-flow difficulties can arise for the sources of public finance in Member States for the implementation of active labour market measures. As a consequence, such measures may be delayed at a time when they are increasingly necessary, to the detriment of the citizens. The Commission's most recent economic forecasts predict a marked reduction of growth in the European Union - which would fall to 1,4 % in 2008 (half of that achieved in 2007), 0,2 % in 2009 and 1,1 % in 2010. These poor economic prospects will probably weigh heavily on public finances. Assuming unchanged policies, budget deficits could increase from 1 % of GDP in 2007 to 2,6 % in 2010. Reliable forecasting on public finances - and particularly in the area of debt - is difficult, however, on account of the uncertainty surrounding the budgetary impacts of emergency measures already taken by governments. It is in this context that the Commission has endeavoured to contribute to the debate currently taking place within the Union and with its international partners on how best to react to the current financial crisis and to its socio-economic consequences. In particular in the framework of its recovery package, the Commission proposed in December 2008 a number of regulatory changes to simplify the implementation rules for Cohesion Policy and to increase the pre-financing (advance payments) to ERDF and ESF programmes. The additional advance payments have provided an immediate cash injection of EUR 6.25 billion in 2009 to pre-finance investment, within the financial envelope agreed for each Member State for the 2007-2013 period. This amendment brings the total of advance payments in 2009 to EUR 11.25 billion. The Commission proposal was adopted by the Council in May 2009 and all advance payments now have been paid to Member States. The Commission has repeatedly encouraged Member States to transfer the additional advance payments to the bodies involved in project management to frontload expenditure to Cohesion Policy Projects. · Provisions in force in the policy sphere of the proposal The current serious economic repercussions in the European economy lead to the reduction of growth perspectives over the medium term and the marked slow-down in real growth in 2009 and 2010. According to the latest available forecasts, several national economies are in recession. These poor economic prospects have considerable negative impacts on the public finances of the Member States. Moreover the basic conditions for implementing cohesion policy – which requires public match-funding in order to mobilise Structural Funds – risk being seriously disrupted. In addition, the latest data covering the first months of 2009 show that EU labour markets are now reacting even more strongly than expected to the current economic downturn, with companies announcing substantial job reductions in several sectors and business and consumer confidence continuing to drop. More than 20 million Europeans are unemployed, which is 4 million more than one year ago, and the trend is still upwards. In order to further accelerate programmes implementation and provide help to overcome the difficulties mentioned earlier, an additional measure is proposed to alleviate the current pressures and allow the highest possible use of Community funding targeting particularly the actions necessary to fight the crisis where the added value for the citizens, especially the unemployed or those at risk to become unemployed, will be highest. This measure will require amendment of Council Regulation n° 1083/2006 on general provisions governing Cohesion policy, including, as proposed in the Communication 'A Shared Commitment for Employment' a temporary change to the ways in which interim payments to programmes co-financed by the European Social Fund are calculated. This involves introducing a temporary option for Member States, where severe cash-flow difficulties exist for the financing of labour market measures necessary to combat the crisis, and which are eligible under the ESF, to request reimbursements made by the Commission at 100% during 2009 and 2010, thus obviating the need to provide national co-financing during this period. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of the important role assigned to the ESF in the above-mentioned communication in implementing active labour market measures, such as training in the context of short-time working arrangements, the anticipation and managing of restructuring, the upgrading of skills as well as the providing of high-quality apprenticeships for the young by the end of 2010. This proposal is presented together with a number of simplification measures that also imply amendments to the Council Regulation. · Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union Not applicable.
Revised version (Article 57 Durability of operations):
1. The Member State or managing authority shall ensure that an operation comprising investment in infrastructure or productive investment retains the contribution from the Funds only if it does not, within five years from its completion, undergo a substantial modification which is caused by a change in the nature of ownership of an item of infrastructure or the cessation of a productive activity and which affects the nature or the implementation conditions of the operation or gives to a firm or a public body an undue advantage. Actions falling within the scope of assistance from the ESF shall be considered as not having retained the contribution only where they are subject to an obligation for maintenance of investment under the applicable rules on State aid within the meaning of Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and where they undergo a substantial modification as a result of the cessation of productive activity within the period laid down in those rules. Member States may reduce the time limit set out in the first subparagraph to three years in cases concerning the maintenance of investments by small and medium-sized enterprises. 2. The Member State and the managing authority shall inform the Commission in the annual implementation report referred to in Article 67 of any modification referred to in paragraph 1. The Commission shall inform the other Member States. 3. Sums unduly paid shall be recovered in accordance with Articles 98 to 102. 4. The Member States and the Commission shall ensure that undertakings which are or have been subject to a procedure of recovery in accordance with paragraph 3 following the transfer of a productive activity within a Member State or to another Member State do not benefit from a contribution from the Funds. 5. Paragraphs 1 to 4 shall not apply to any operation which undergoes a substantial modification as a result of the cessation of the productive activity due to a non-fraudulent bankruptcy.
Article 58 General principles of the management and control systems
The management and control systems of operational programmes set up by Member States shall provide for: (a) the definition of the functions of the bodies concerned in management and control and the allocation of functions within each body; (b) compliance with the principle of separation of functions between and within such bodies; (c) procedures for ensuring the correctness and regularity of expenditure declared under the operational programme; (d) reliable accounting, monitoring and financial reporting systems in computerised form; (e) a system of reporting and monitoring where the responsible body entrusts the execution of tasks to another body; (f) arrangements for auditing the functioning of the systems; (g) systems and procedures to ensure an adequate audit trail; (h) reporting and monitoring procedures for irregularities and for the recovery of amounts unduly paid.
Article 59 Designation of authorities
1. For each operational programme the Member State shall designate the following: (a) a managing authority: a national, regional or local public authority or a public or private body designated by the Member State to manage the operational programme; (b) a certifying authority: a national, regional or local public authority or body designated by the Member State to certify statement of expenditure and applications for payment before they are sent to the Commission; (c) an audit authority: a national, regional or local public authority or body, functionally independent of the managing authority and the certifying authority, designated by the Member State for each operational programme and responsible for verifying the effective functioning of the management and control system. The same authority may be designated for more than one operational programme. 2. The Member State may designate one or more intermediate bodies to carry out some or all of the tasks of the managing or certifying authority under the responsibility of that authority. 3. The Member State shall lay down rules governing its relations with the authorities referred to in paragraph 1 and their relations with the Commission. Without prejudice to this Regulation, the Member State shall lay down the mutual relations between the authorities referred to in paragraph 1, which shall carry out their tasks in full accordance with the institutional, legal and financial systems of the Member State concerned. 4. Subject to Article 58(b), some or all of the authorities referred to in paragraph 1 may be part of the same body. 5. Specific rules on management and control are laid down in the Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 for operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation objective. 6. The Commission shall adopt implementing rules of Articles 60, 61 and 62 in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3).