Article 115 Information and communication
1. Member States and managing authorities shall be responsible for: (a) drawing up communication strategies; (b) ensuring the establishment of a single website or a single website portal providing information on, and access to, all operational programmes in that Member State, including information about the timing of implementation of programming and any related public consultation processes; (c) informing potential beneficiaries about funding opportunities under operational programmes; (d) publicising to Union citizens the role and achievements of cohesion policy and of the Funds through information and communication actions on the results and impact of Partnership Agreements, operational programmes and operations. 2. Member States or managing authorities shall, in order to ensure transparency concerning support from the Funds, maintain a list of operations by operational programme and by Fund in a spreadsheet data format, which allows data to be sorted, searched, extracted, compared and easily published on the internet, for instance in CSV or XML format. The list of operations shall be accessible through the single website or the single website portal providing a list and summary of all operational programmes in that Member State. In order to encourage the use of the list of operations subsequently by the private sector, civil society or national public administration, the website may clearly indicate the applicable licensing rules under which data are published. The list of operations shall be updated at least every six months. The minimum information to be set out in the list of operations is laid down in Annex XII. 3. Detailed rules concerning the information and communication measures for the public and information measures for applicants and for beneficiaries are laid down in Annex XII. 4. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts concerning the technical characteristics of information and communication measures for the operation and instructions for creating the emblem and a definition of the standard colours. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 115 Information, communication and visibility):
1. Member States and managing authorities shall be responsible for: (a) drawing up communication strategies; (b) ensuring the establishment of a single website or a single website portal providing information on, and access to, all operational programmes in that Member State, including information about the timing of implementation of programming and any related public consultation processes; (c) informing potential beneficiaries about funding opportunities under operational programmes; (d) publicising to Union citizens the role and achievements of cohesion policy and of the Funds through measures to enhance the visibility of the results and impact of Partnership Agreements, operational programmes and operations. 2. Member States or managing authorities shall, in order to ensure transparency concerning support from the Funds, maintain a list of operations by operational programme and by Fund in a spreadsheet data format, which allows data to be sorted, searched, extracted, compared and easily published on the internet, for instance in CSV or XML format. The list of operations shall be accessible through the single website or the single website portal providing a list and summary of all operational programmes in that Member State. In order to encourage the use of the list of operations subsequently by the private sector, civil society or national public administration, the website may clearly indicate the applicable licensing rules under which data are published. The list of operations shall be updated at least every six months. The minimum information to be set out in the list of operations is laid down in Annex XII. 3. Detailed rules concerning information, communication and visibility for the public and information measures for potential beneficiaries and for beneficiaries are laid down in Annex XII. 4. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts concerning the technical characteristics of information and communication measures for the operation and instructions for creating the emblem and a definition of the standard colours. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3).
Article 116 Communication strategy
1. The Member State or the managing authorities shall draw up a communication strategy for each operational programme. A common communication strategy may be drawn up for several operational programmes. The communication strategy shall take into account the size of the operational programme or programmes concerned, in accordance with the principle of proportionality. The communication strategy shall include the elements set out in Annex XII. 2. The communication strategy shall be submitted to the monitoring committee for approval in accordance with point (d) of Article 110(2) no later than six months after the adoption of the operational programme or programmes concerned. Where a common communication strategy is drawn up for several operational programmes and concerns several monitoring committees, the Member State may designate one monitoring committee to be responsible, in consultation with the other relevant monitoring committees, for the approval of the common communication strategy and for the approval of any subsequent amendments of that strategy. Where necessary, the Member State or managing authorities may amend the communication strategy during the programming period. The amended communication strategy shall be submitted by the managing authority to the monitoring committee for approval in accordance with point (d) of Article 110(2). 3. By way of derogation from the third subparagraph of paragraph 2, the managing authority shall inform the monitoring committee or committees responsible at least once a year on the progress in the implementation of the communication strategy as referred to in point (c) of Article 110(1) and on its analysis of the results as well as on the planned information and communication activities to be carried out in the following year. The monitoring committee shall, if it considers it to be appropriate, give an opinion on the planned activities for the following year.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 116 Communication strategy):
1. The Member State or the managing authorities shall draw up a communication strategy for each operational programme. A common communication strategy may be drawn up for several operational programmes. The communication strategy shall take into account the size of the operational programme or programmes concerned, in accordance with the principle of proportionality. The communication strategy shall include the elements set out in Annex XII. 2. The communication strategy shall be submitted to the monitoring committee for approval in accordance with point (d) of Article 110(2) no later than six months after the adoption of the operational programme or programmes concerned. Where a common communication strategy is drawn up for several operational programmes and concerns several monitoring committees, the Member State may designate one monitoring committee to be responsible, in consultation with the other relevant monitoring committees, for the approval of the common communication strategy and for the approval of any subsequent amendments of that strategy. Where necessary, the Member State or managing authorities may amend the communication strategy during the programming period. The amended communication strategy shall be submitted by the managing authority to the monitoring committee for approval in accordance with point (d) of Article 110(2). 3. By way of derogation from the third subparagraph of paragraph 2 of this Article, the managing authority shall inform the monitoring committee or committees responsible at least once a year on the progress in the implementation of the communication strategy as referred to in point (c) of Article 110(1) and on its analysis of the results of that implementation as well as on the information and communication activities and measures to enhance visibility of the Funds that are planned for the following year. The monitoring committee shall give an opinion on the activities and measures planned for the following year, including on ways to increase the effectiveness of communication activities aimed at the public.
Article 117 Information and communication officers and their networks
1. Each Member State shall designate an information and communication officer to coordinate information and communication actions in relation to one or more Funds, including relevant programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal, and shall inform the Commission accordingly. 2. The information and communication officer shall be responsible for the coordination of the national network of Fund communicators, where such a network exists, the creation and maintenance of the website or website portal referred to in Annex XII and the provision of an overview of communication measures undertaken at Member State level. 3. Each managing authority shall designate one person to be responsible for information and communication at operational programme level and shall inform the Commission of those designated. Where appropriate, one person may be designated for several operational programmes. 4. Union networks comprising the members designated by the Member States shall be set up by the Commission to ensure exchange of information on the results of the implementation of the communication strategies, the exchange of experience in implementing the information and communication measures, and the exchange of good practices.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 117 Information and communication officers and their networks):
1. Each Member State shall designate an information and communication officer to coordinate information and communication actions in relation to one or more Funds, including relevant programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal, and shall inform the Commission accordingly. 2. The information and communication officer shall be responsible for the coordination of the national network of Fund communicators, where such a network exists, the creation and maintenance of the website or website portal referred to in Annex XII and the provision of an overview of communication measures undertaken at Member State level. 3. Each managing authority shall designate one person to be responsible for information and communication at operational programme level and shall inform the Commission of those designated. Where appropriate, one person may be designated for several operational programmes. 4. Union networks comprising the members designated by Member States shall be set up by the Commission to ensure exchange of information on the results of the implementation of the communication strategies, the exchange of experience in implementing the information and communication measures, the exchange of good practices, and to enable joint planning or coordination of communication activities between the Member States and with the Commission where appropriate. The networks shall at least once a year debate and assess the effectiveness of the information and communication measures, and propose recommendations to enhance the outreach and impact of communication activities and to raise awareness about the results and added value of those activities.
Article 118 Technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission
The Funds, taking into account the deductions made in accordance with Article 91(3), may support technical assistance up to a ceiling of 0,35 % of their respective annual allocation.
Article 119 Technical assistance of the Member States
1. The amount of the Funds allocated to technical assistance shall be limited to 4 % of the total amount of the Funds allocated to operational programmes in a Member State under each category of region, where applicable, of the Investment for growth and jobs goal. The specific allocation for YEI may be taken into account by a Member State in the calculation of the limit to the total amount of the Funds allocated to the technical assistance of the Member State. 2. Each Fund may support technical assistance operations eligible under any of the other Funds. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, the allocation for technical assistance from a Fund shall not exceed 10 % of the total allocation of that Fund to operational programmes in a Member State under each category of region, where applicable, of the Investment for growth and jobs goal. 3. By way of derogation from Article 70(1) and (2), technical assistance operations may be implemented outside the programme area, but within the Union, provided that the operations are for the benefit of the operational programme, or, in the case of a technical assistance operational programme, for the other programmes concerned. 4. In the case of the Structural Funds, where the allocations referred to in paragraph 1 are used to support technical assistance operations relating to more than one category of region, the expenditure relating to the operations may be implemented under a priority axis combining different categories of region and attributed on a pro rata basis taking into account the allocation under each category of region as a share of the total allocation to the Member State. 5. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, where the total amount of the Funds allocated to a Member State under the Investment for growth and jobs goal does not exceed EUR 1 000 000 000 the amount allocated to technical assistance may increase up to 6 % of that total amount or EUR 50 000 000, whichever is the lower. 6. Technical assistance shall take the form of a mono-fund priority axis within an operational programme or of a specific operational programme, or both.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 119 Technical assistance of the Member States):
1. The amount of the Funds allocated to technical assistance in a Member State shall be limited to 4 % of the total amount of the Funds allocated to operational programmes under the Investment for growth and jobs goal. The specific allocation for YEI may be taken into account by a Member State in the calculation of the limit to the total amount of the Funds allocated to the technical assistance of the Member State. 2. thout prejudice to paragraph 1, the allocation for technical assistance from a Fund shall not exceed 10 % of the total allocation of that Fund to operational programmes in a Member State under each category of region, where applicable, of the Investment for growth and jobs goal. 3. By way of derogation from Article 70(1) and (2), technical assistance operations may be implemented outside the programme area, but within the Union, provided that the operations are for the benefit of the operational programme, or, in the case of a technical assistance operational programme, for the other programmes concerned. 4. In the case of the Structural Funds, where the allocations referred to in paragraph 1 are used to support technical assistance operations altogether relating to more than one category of region, the expenditure relating to the operations may be implemented under a priority axis combining different categories of region and attributed on a pro rata basis taking into account either the respective allocations to the different categories of regions of the operational programme or the allocation under each category of region as a share of the total allocation to the Member State. 5. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, where the total amount of the Funds allocated to a Member State under the Investment for growth and jobs goal does not exceed EUR 1 000 000 000 the amount allocated to technical assistance may increase up to 6 % of that total amount or EUR 50 000 000 , whichever is the lower. 5a. The assessment of the respect of the percentages shall be carried out at the time of adoption of the operational programme. 6. Technical assistance shall take the form of a mono-fund priority axis within an operational programme or of a specific operational programme, or both.
Article 120 Determination of co-financing rates
1. The Commission decision adopting an operational programme shall fix the co-financing rate and the maximum amount of support from Funds for each priority axis. Where a priority axis concerns more than one category of regions or more than one Fund, the Commission decision shall, where necessary, fix the co-financing rate by category of region and Fund. 2. For each priority axis, the Commission decision shall set out whether the co-financing rate for the priority axis is to be applied to: (a) total eligible expenditure, including public and private expenditure; or (b) eligible public expenditure. 3. The co-financing rate at the level of each priority axis and, where relevant, by category of region and Fund, of operational programmes under the Investment for growth and jobs goal shall be no higher than: (a) 85 % for the Cohesion Fund; (b) 85 % for the less developed regions of Member States whose average GDP per capita for the period 2007 - 2009 was below 85 % of the EU-27 average during the same period and for the outermost regions including the additional allocation for outermost regions in accordance with point (e) of Article 92(1) and Article 4(2) of the ETC Regulation; (c) 80 % for the less developed regions of Member States other than those referred to in point (b), and for all regions whose GDP per capita used as an eligibility criterion for the 2007-2013 programming period was less than 75 % of the average of the EU-25 but whose GDP per capita is above 75 % of the GDP average of the EU-27, as well as for regions defined in Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) 1083/2006 receiving transitional support for the 2007-2013 programming period; (d) 60 % for the transition regions other than those referred to in point (c); (e) 50 % for the more developed regions other than those referred to in point (c). For the period from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2017 the co-financing rate at the level of each priority axis for all operational programmes in Cyprus shall be not higher than 85 %. The Commission shall carry out a review to assess the justification for maintaining the co-financing rate, referred to in the second subparagraph, after 30 June 2017 and shall if necessary make a legislative proposal before 30 June 2016. The co-financing rate at the level of each priority axis of operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal shall be no higher than 85 %. The maximum co-financing rate under points (b), (c), (d) and (e) of the first subparagraph shall be increased for each priority axis implementing the YEI and where a priority axis is dedicated to social innovation or to transnational cooperation, or a combination of both. That increase shall be determined in accordance with the Fund-specific rules. 4. The co-financing rate of the additional allocation in accordance with point (e) of Article 92(1) shall be no higher than 50 % for NUTS level 2 regions fulfilling the criteria laid down in Protocol No 6 to the 1994 Act of Accession. 5. The maximum co-financing rate under paragraph 3 at the level of a priority axis shall be increased by ten percentage points, where the whole of a priority axis is delivered through financial instruments, or through community-led local development. 6. The contribution from the Funds for each priority axis shall not be less than 20 % of the eligible public expenditure. 7. A separate priority axis with a co-financing rate of up to 100 % may be established within an operational programme to support operations implemented through financial instruments set up at Union level and managed directly or indirectly by the Commission. Where a separate priority axis is established for this purpose, the support under this axis may not be implemented by any other means.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(1) and (5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI to decisions adopted since the adoption of that Regulation. Firstly, to adapt the amounts to the result of the technical adjustment exercise in accordance with Article 92(3) of that Regulation; secondly, to reflect the different transfers decided on the basis of Articles 25, 93 and 94 of that Regulation affecting the global amounts per year; thirdly, to include the increase of the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI') until 2020 by an total amount of EUR 1.2 billion in current prices for the specific allocation for the YEI, which needs to be complemented by at least EUR 1.2 billion from targeted ESF investment; and fourthly to reflect the transfer of some of the 2014 commitment appropriations to subsequent years because of the adoption of new programmes after 1 January 2015. The results of the technical adjustment and the transfers decided on the basis of Articles 25, 93 and 94 of that Regulation were already addressed in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1941 2 . The proposal also reflects that Cyprus was to become newly eligible for support from the Cohesion Fund and was no longer to receive support from the Cohesion Fund on a transitional and specific basis as of 1 January 2017. This had already been addressed in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1916 3 . The technical adjustment exercise has its origin in Article 7 of Council Regulation (EU) No 1311/2013 4 to take account of the particularly difficult situation of Member States suffering from the crisis and to review in 2016 the total allocation for the Investment for growth and jobs goal. Article 25 sets out a mechanism regarding the management of technical assistance for Member States with temporary budgetary difficulties, i.e. the transfer of part of that technical assistance to the technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission. Under certain conditions, Article 93 allows for the transfer of resources between categories of regions and Article 94 for the transfer of resources between goals. 
Revised version (Article 120 Determination of co-financing rates):
1. The Commission decision adopting an operational programme shall fix the co-financing rate and the maximum amount of support from Funds for each priority axis. Where a priority axis concerns more than one category of regions or more than one Fund, the Commission decision shall, where necessary, fix the co-financing rate by category of region and Fund. 2. For each priority axis, the Commission decision shall set out whether the co-financing rate for the priority axis is to be applied to: (a) total eligible expenditure, including public and private expenditure; or (b) eligible public expenditure. 3. The co-financing rate at the level of each priority axis and, where relevant, by category of region and Fund, of operational programmes under the Investment for growth and jobs goal shall be no higher than: (a) 85 % for the Cohesion Fund; (b) 85 % for the less developed regions of Member States whose average GDP per capita for the period 2007 - 2009 was below 85 % of the EU-27 average during the same period and for the outermost regions including the additional allocation for outermost regions in accordance with point (e) of Article 92(1) and Article 4(2) of the ETC Regulation; (c) 80 % for the less developed regions of Member States other than those referred to in point (b), and for all regions whose GDP per capita used as an eligibility criterion for the 2007-2013 programming period was less than 75 % of the average of the EU-25 but whose GDP per capita is above 75 % of the GDP average of the EU-27, as well as for regions defined in Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) 1083/2006 receiving transitional support for the 2007-2013 programming period; (d) 60 % for the transition regions other than those referred to in point (c); (e) 50 % for the more developed regions other than those referred to in point (c). For the period from 1 January 2014 until closure of the operational programme the co-financing rate at the level of each priority axis for all operational programmes in Cyprus shall not be higher than 85 %. The Commission shall carry out a review to assess the justification for maintaining the co-financing rate, referred to in the second subparagraph, after 30 June 2017 and shall if necessary make a legislative proposal before 30 June 2016. The co-financing rate at the level of each priority axis of operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal shall be no higher than 85 %. The maximum co-financing rate under points (b), (c), (d) and (e) of the first subparagraph shall be increased for each priority axis implementing the YEI and where a priority axis is dedicated to social innovation or to transnational cooperation, or a combination of both. That increase shall be determined in accordance with the Fund-specific rules. 4. The co-financing rate of the additional allocation in accordance with point (e) of Article 92(1) shall be no higher than 50 % for NUTS level 2 regions fulfilling the criteria laid down in Protocol No 6 to the 1994 Act of Accession. 5. The maximum co-financing rate under paragraph 3 at the level of a priority axis shall be increased by ten percentage points, where the whole of a priority axis is delivered through financial instruments, or through community-led local development. 6. The contribution from the Funds for each priority axis shall not be less than 20 % of the eligible public expenditure. 7. A separate priority axis with a co-financing rate of up to 100 % may be established within an operational programme to support operations implemented through financial instruments set up at Union level and managed directly or indirectly by the Commission. Where a separate priority axis is established for this purpose, the support under this axis may not be implemented by any other means. 8. A separate priority axis with a co-financing rate of up to 95 % may be established within an operational programme to support operations which fulfil all of the following conditions: (a) the operations are selected by managing authorities in response to major or regional natural disasters as defined in Article 2(2) and (3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 ( 20 ); (b) the operations are aimed at reconstruction in response to the natural disaster; and (c) the operations are supported under an ERDF investment priority. The amount allocated to the operations referred to in the first subparagraph shall not exceed 5 % of the total ERDF allocation in a Member State for the 2014-2020 programming period. By way of derogation from Article 65(9), expenditure for operations under this priority axis shall be eligible from the date when the natural disaster occurred. Where expenditure in relation to operations referred to in the first subparagraph has been included in a payment application submitted to the Commission before the establishment of the separate priority axis, the Member State shall make the necessary adjustments to the next payment application and, where appropriate, to the next accounts submitted following the adoption of the amendment to the programme.
Article 121 Modulation of the co-financing rates
The co-financing rate from the Funds to a priority axis may be modulated to take account of: (1) the importance of the priority axis for the delivery of the Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, having regard to the specific gaps to be addressed; (2) the protection and improvement of the environment, principally through the application of the precautionary principle, the principle of preventive action and the polluter pays principle; (3) the rate of mobilisation of private financing; (4) the coverage of areas with severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps defined as follows: (a) 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; (b) mountainous areas as defined by the national legislation of the Member State; (c) sparsely (i.e. less than 50 inhabitants per square kilometre) and very sparsely (less than 8 inhabitants per square kilometre) populated areas; (d) the inclusion of the outermost regions as referred to in Article 349 TFEU.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 121 Modulation of the co-financing rates):
The co-financing rate from the Funds to a priority axis may be modulated to take account of: (1) the importance of the priority axis for the delivery of the Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, having regard to the specific gaps to be addressed; (2) the protection and improvement of the environment, principally through the application of the precautionary principle, the principle of preventive action and the polluter pays principle; (3) the rate of mobilisation of private financing; (4) the coverage of areas with severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps defined as follows: (a) 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; (b) mountainous areas as defined by the national legislation of the Member State; (c) sparsely (i.e. less than 50 inhabitants per square kilometre) and very sparsely (less than 8 inhabitants per square kilometre) populated areas; (d) the inclusion of the outermost regions as referred to in Article 349 TFEU. (4) the coverage of areas with severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps defined as follows: (a) 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; (b) mountainous areas as defined by the national legislation of the Member State; (c) sparsely (i.e. less than 50 inhabitants per square kilometre) and very sparsely (less than 8 inhabitants per square kilometre) populated areas; (d) the inclusion of the outermost regions as referred to in Article 349 TFEU.
Article 122 Responsibilities of Member States
1. Member States shall ensure that management and control systems for operational programmes are set up in accordance with Articles 72, 73 and 74. 2. Member States shall prevent, detect and correct irregularities and shall recover amounts unduly paid, together with any interest on late payments. They shall notify the Commission of irregularities that exceed EUR 10 000 in contribution from the Funds and shall keep it informed of significant progress in related administrative and legal proceedings. The Member States shall not notify the Commission of irregularities in relation to the following: (a) cases where the irregularity consists solely of the failure to execute, in whole or in part, an operation included in the co-financed operational programme owing to the bankruptcy of the beneficiary; (b) cases brought to the attention of the managing authority or certifying authority by the beneficiary voluntarily and before detection by either authority, whether before or after the payment of the public contribution; (c) cases which are detected and corrected by the managing authority or certifying authority before inclusion of the expenditure concerned in a statement of expenditure submitted to the Commission. In all other cases, in particular those preceding a bankruptcy or in cases of suspected fraud, the detected irregularities and the associated preventive and corrective measures shall be reported to the Commission. When amounts unduly paid to a beneficiary cannot be recovered and this is as a result of fault or negligence on the part of a Member State, the Member State shall be responsible for reimbursing the amounts concerned to the budget of the Union. Member States may decide not to recover an amount unduly paid if the amount to be recovered from the beneficiary, not including interest, does not exceed EUR 250 in contribution from the Funds. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 149 laying down additional detailed rules on the criteria for determining the cases of irregularity to be reported, the data to be provided and on the conditions and procedures to be applied to determine whether amounts which are irrecoverable shall be reimbursed by Member States. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts setting out the frequency of the reporting of irregularities and the reporting format to be used. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 150(2). 3. Member States shall ensure that no later than 31 December 2015, all exchanges of information between beneficiaries and a managing authority, a certifying authority, an audit authority and intermediate bodies can be carried out by means of electronic data exchange systems. The systems referred to in the first subparagraph shall facilitate interoperability with national and Union frameworks and allow for the beneficiaries to submit all information referred to in the first subparagraph only once. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down detailed rules concerning the exchanges of information under this paragraph. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3). 4. Paragraph 3 shall not apply to the EMFF.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 122 Responsibilities of Member States):
1. Member States shall ensure that management and control systems for operational programmes are set up in accordance with Articles 72, 73 and 74. 2. Member States shall prevent, detect and correct irregularities and shall recover amounts unduly paid, together with any interest on late payments. They shall notify the Commission of irregularities that exceed EUR 10 000 in contribution from any of the Funds or the EMFF, and shall keep it informed of significant progress in related administrative and legal proceedings. The Member States shall not notify the Commission of irregularities in relation to the following: (a) cases where the irregularity consists solely of the failure to execute, in whole or in part, an operation included in the co-financed operational programme owing to the bankruptcy of the beneficiary; (b) cases brought to the attention of the managing authority or certifying authority by the beneficiary voluntarily and before detection by either authority, whether before or after the payment of the public contribution; (c) cases which are detected and corrected by the managing authority or certifying authority before inclusion of the expenditure concerned in a payment application submitted to the Commission. In all other cases, in particular those preceding a bankruptcy or in cases of suspected fraud, the detected irregularities and the associated preventive and corrective measures shall be reported to the Commission. When amounts unduly paid to a beneficiary cannot be recovered and this is as a result of fault or negligence on the part of a Member State, the Member State shall be responsible for reimbursing the amounts concerned to the budget of the Union. Member States may decide not to recover an amount unduly paid if the amount to be recovered from the beneficiary, not including interest, does not exceed EUR 250 in contribution from any of the Funds or the EMFF. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 149 laying down additional detailed rules on the criteria for determining the cases of irregularity to be reported, the data to be provided and on the conditions and procedures to be applied to determine whether amounts which are irrecoverable shall be reimbursed by Member States. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts setting out the frequency of the reporting of irregularities and the reporting format to be used. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 150(2). 3. Member States shall ensure that no later than 31 December 2015, all exchanges of information between beneficiaries and a managing authority, a certifying authority, an audit authority and intermediate bodies can be carried out by means of electronic data exchange systems. The systems referred to in the first subparagraph shall facilitate interoperability with national and Union frameworks and allow for the beneficiaries to submit all information referred to in the first subparagraph only once. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down detailed rules concerning the exchanges of information under this paragraph. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3). 4. Paragraph 3 shall not apply to the EMFF.
Article 123 Designation of authorities
1. Each Member State shall designate, for each operational programme, a national, regional or local public authority or body or a private body as managing authority. The same managing authority may be designated for more than one operational programme. 2. The Member State shall designate, for each operational programme, a national, regional or local public authority or body as a certifying authority, without prejudice to paragraph 3. The same certifying authority may be designated for more than one operational programme. 3. The Member State may designate for an operational programme a managing authority, which is a public authority or body, to carry out, in addition, the functions of the certifying authority. 4. The Member State shall designate, for each operational programme, a national, regional or local public authority or body, functionally independent from the managing authority and the certifying authority, as audit authority. The same audit authority may be designated for more than one operational programme. 5. In the case of the Funds relating to the Investment for growth and jobs goal and in the case of the EMFF, provided that the principle of separation of functions is respected, the managing authority, the certifying authority, where applicable, and the audit authority may be part of the same public authority or body. Where the total amount of support from the Funds to an operational programme exceeds EUR 250 000 000 or from the EMFF exceeds EUR 100 000 000, the audit authority may be part of the same public authority or body as the managing authority either if, pursuant to the applicable provisions for the previous programming period, the Commission has informed the Member State prior to the date of adoption of the operational programme concerned of its conclusion that it can rely principally on its audit opinion, or if the Commission is satisfied on the basis of the experience of the previous programming period that the institutional organisation and accountability of the audit authority provide adequate guarantees of its functional independence and reliability. 6. The Member State may designate one or more intermediate bodies to carry out certain tasks of the managing or the certifying authority under the responsibility of that authority. The relevant arrangements between the managing authority or certifying authority and the intermediate bodies shall be formally recorded in writing. 7. The Member State or the managing authority may entrust the management of part of an operational programme to an intermediate body by way of an agreement in writing between the intermediate body and the Member State or managing authority (a 'global grant'). The intermediate body shall provide guarantees of its solvency and competence in the domain concerned, as well as of its administrative and financial management capacity. 8. The Member State may, at its own initiative, designate a coordinating body whose responsibility shall be to liaise with and provide information to the Commission, to coordinate activities of the other relevant designated bodies and to promote the harmonised application of applicable law. 9. The Member State shall lay down in writing rules governing its relationship with the managing authorities, certifying authorities and audit authorities, the relations between such authorities, and the relationship of such authorities with the Commission.
Article 124 Procedure for the designation of the managing authority and the certifying authority
1. The Member State shall notify the Commission of the date and form of the designations, which shall be carried out at an appropriate level, of the managing authority and, where appropriate, of the certifying authority prior to the submission of the first application for interim payment to the Commission. 2. The designations referred to in paragraph 1 shall be based on a report and an opinion of an independent audit body that assesses the fulfilment by the authorities of the criteria relating to the internal control environment, risk management, management and control activities, and monitoring set out in Annex XIII. The independent audit body shall be the audit authority, or another public or private law body with the necessary audit capacity, which is independent of the managing authority and, where applicable, of the certifying authority, and which shall carry out its work taking account of internationally accepted audit standards. Where the independent audit body concludes that the part of the management and control system, concerning the managing authority or the certifying authority, is essentially the same as for the previous programming period, and that there is evidence, on the basis of audit work done in accordance with the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 and Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 ( 38 ) , of their effective functioning during that period, it may conclude that the relevant criteria are fulfilled without carrying out additional audit work. 3. Where the total amount of support from the Funds to an operational programme exceeds EUR 250 000 000 or from the EMFF exceeds EUR 100 000 000, the Commission may request, within one month of notification of the designations referred to in paragraph 1, the report and the opinion of the independent audit body referred to in paragraph 2 and the description of the functions and procedures in place for the managing authority or, where appropriate, the certifying authority. The Commission shall decide whether to request those documents on the basis of its risk assessment, taking into account information on significant changes in the functions and procedures of the managing authority or, where appropriate, the certifying authority compared to those in place for the previous programming period, and relevant evidence of their effective functioning. The Commission may make observations within two months of receipt of the documents referred to in the first subparagraph. Without prejudice to Article 83, the examination of those documents shall not interrupt the treatment of applications for interim payments. 4. Where the total amount of support from the Funds to an operational programme exceeds EUR 250 000 000 or from the EMFF exceeds EUR 100 000 000 and there are significant changes in the functions and procedures of the managing authority or, where appropriate, of the certifying authority compared to those in place for the previous programming period, the Member State may, at its own initiative, submit to the Commission, within two months of the notification of the designations referred to in paragraph 1, the documents referred to in paragraph 3. The Commission shall make observations on those documents within three months of their receipt. 5. Where existing audit and control results show that the designated authority no longer fulfils the criteria referred to in paragraph 2, the Member State shall, at an appropriate level, fix, according to the severity of the problem, a period of probation, during which the necessary remedial action shall be taken. Where the designated authority fails to implement the required remedial action within the period of probation determined by the Member State, the Member State, at an appropriate level, shall end its designation. The Member State shall notify the Commission without delay when a designated authority is put under probation, providing information on the respective period of probation, when, following implementation of remedial actions, the probation is ended, as well as when the designation of an authority is ended. The notification that a designated body is put on probation by the Member State, without prejudice to the application of Article 83, shall not interrupt the treatment of applications for interim payments. 6. Where the designation of a managing authority or a certifying authority is ended, Member States shall designate, in accordance with the procedure provided for in paragraph 2, a new body, to take over the functions of the managing authority or of the certifying authority, and shall notify the Commission thereof. 7. The Commission shall, in order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts concerning the model for the report and opinion of the independent audit body and the description of the functions and procedures in place for the managing authority and, where appropriate, the certifying authority. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3).
Article 125 Functions of the managing authority
1. The managing authority shall be responsible for managing the operational programme in accordance with the principle of sound financial management. 2. As regards the management of the operational programme, the managing authority shall: (a) support the work of the monitoring committee referred to in Article 47 and provide it with the information it requires to carry out its tasks, in particular data relating to the progress of the operational programme in achieving its objectives, financial data and data relating to indicators and milestones; (b) draw up and, after approval by the monitoring committee, submit to the Commission annual and final implementation reports referred to in Article 50; (c) make available to intermediate bodies and beneficiaries information that is relevant to the execution of their tasks and the implementation of operations respectively; (d) establish a system to record and store in computerised form data on each operation necessary for monitoring, evaluation, financial management, verification and audit, including data on individual participants in operations, where applicable; (e) ensure that the data referred to in point (d) is collected, entered and stored in the system referred to in point (d), and that data on indicators is broken down by gender where required by Annexes I and II of the ESF Regulation. 3. As regards the selection of operations, the managing authority shall: (a) draw up and, once approved, apply appropriate selection procedures and criteria that: (i) ensure the contribution of operations to the achievement of the specific objectives and results of the relevant priority; (ii) are non-discriminatory and transparent; (iii) take into account the general principles set out in Articles 7 and 8; (b) ensure that a selected operation falls within the scope of the Fund or Funds concerned and can be attributed to a category of intervention or, in the case of the EMFF, a measure identified in the priority or priorities of the operational programme; (c) ensure that the beneficiary is provided with a document setting out the conditions for support for each operation including the specific requirements concerning the products or services to be delivered under the operation, the financing plan, and the time-limit for execution; (d) satisfy itself that the beneficiary has the administrative, financial and operational capacity to fulfil the conditions referred to in point (c) before approval of the operation; (e) satisfy itself that, where the operation has started before the submission of an application for funding to the managing authority, applicable law relevant for the operation has been complied with; (f) ensure that operations selected for support from the Funds or the EMFF do not include activities which were part of an operation which has been or should have been subject to a procedure of recovery in accordance with Article 71 following the relocation of a productive activity outside the programme area; (g) determine the categories of intervention or, in the case of the EMFF, the measures to which the expenditure of an operation shall be attributed. 4. As regards the financial management and control of the operational programme, the managing authority shall: (a) verify that the co-financed products and services have been delivered and that expenditure declared by the beneficiaries has been paid and that it complies with applicable law, the operational programme and the conditions for support of the operation; (b) ensure that beneficiaries involved in the implementation of operations reimbursed on the basis of eligible costs actually incurred maintain either a separate accounting system or an adequate accounting code for all transactions relating to an operation; (c) put in place effective and proportionate anti-fraud measures taking into account the risks identified; (d) set up procedures to ensure that all documents regarding expenditure and audits required to ensure an adequate audit trail are held in accordance with the requirements of point (g) of Article 72; (e) draw up the management declaration and annual summary referred to in points (a) and (b) of Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation. By way of derogation from point (a) of the first subparagraph, the ETC Regulation may establish specific rules on verification applicable to cooperation programmes. 5. Verifications pursuant to point (a) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 shall include the following procedures: (a) administrative verifications in respect of each application for reimbursement by beneficiaries; (b) on-the-spot verifications of operations. The frequency and coverage of the on-the-spot verifications shall be proportionate to the amount of public support to an operation and to the level of risk identified by such verifications and audits by the audit authority for the management and control system as a whole. 6. On-the-spot verifications of individual operations pursuant to point (b) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 5 may be carried out on a sample basis. 7. Where the managing authority is also a beneficiary under the operational programme, arrangements for the verifications referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 shall ensure adequate separation of functions. 8. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 149, laying down rules specifying the information in relation to the data to be recorded and stored in computerised form within the monitoring system established under point (d) of paragraph 2 of this Article. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down the technical specifications of the system established under point (d) of paragraph 2 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3). 9. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 149, laying down the detailed minimum requirements for the audit trail referred to in point (d) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 of this Article in respect of the accounting records to be maintained and the supporting documents to be held at the level of the certifying authority, managing authority, intermediate bodies and beneficiaries. 10. The Commission shall, in order to ensure uniform conditions on the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts concerning the model for the management declaration referred to in point (e) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 150(2).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 125 Functions of the managing authority):
1. The managing authority shall be responsible for managing the operational programme in accordance with the principle of sound financial management. 2. As regards the management of the operational programme, the managing authority shall: (a) support the work of the monitoring committee referred to in Article 47 and provide it with the information it requires to carry out its tasks, in particular data relating to the progress of the operational programme in achieving its objectives, financial data and data relating to indicators and milestones; (b) draw up and, after approval by the monitoring committee, submit to the Commission annual and final implementation reports referred to in Article 50; (c) make available to intermediate bodies and beneficiaries information that is relevant to the execution of their tasks and the implementation of operations respectively; (d) establish a system to record and store in computerised form data on each operation necessary for monitoring, evaluation, financial management, verification and audit, including data on individual participants in operations, where applicable; (e) ensure that the data referred to in point (d) is collected, entered and stored in the system referred to in point (d), and that data on indicators is broken down by gender where required by Annexes I and II of the ESF Regulation. 3. As regards the selection of operations, the managing authority shall: (a) draw up and, once approved, apply appropriate selection procedures and criteria that: (i) ensure the contribution of operations to the achievement of the specific objectives and results of the relevant priority; (ii) are non-discriminatory and transparent; (iii) take into account the general principles set out in Articles 7 and 8; (a) draw up and, once approved, apply appropriate selection procedures and criteria that: (i) ensure the contribution of operations to the achievement of the specific objectives and results of the relevant priority; (ii) are non-discriminatory and transparent; (iii) take into account the general principles set out in Articles 7 and 8; (b) ensure that a selected operation falls within the scope of the EMFF, the Fund or Funds concerned and can be attributed to a category of intervention or, in the case of the EMFF, a measure identified in the priority or priorities of the operational programme; (c) ensure that the beneficiary is provided with a document setting out the conditions for support for each operation including the specific requirements concerning the products or services to be delivered under the operation, the financing plan, and the time-limit for execution; (d) satisfy itself that the beneficiary has the administrative, financial and operational capacity to fulfil the conditions referred to in point (c) before approval of the operation; (e) satisfy itself that, where the operation has started before the submission of an application for funding to the managing authority, applicable law relevant for the operation has been complied with; (f) ensure that operations selected for support from the Funds or the EMFF do not include activities which were part of an operation which has been or should have been subject to a procedure of recovery in accordance with Article 71 following the relocation of a productive activity outside the programme area; (g) determine the categories of intervention or, in the case of the EMFF, the measures to which the expenditure of an operation shall be attributed. 4. As regards the financial management and control of the operational programme, the managing authority shall: (a) verify that the co-financed products and services have been delivered and that expenditure declared by the beneficiaries has been paid and that it complies with applicable law, the operational programme and the conditions for support of the operation; (b) ensure that beneficiaries involved in the implementation of operations reimbursed on the basis of eligible costs actually incurred maintain either a separate accounting system or an adequate accounting code for all transactions relating to an operation; (c) put in place effective and proportionate anti-fraud measures taking into account the risks identified; (d) set up procedures to ensure that all documents regarding expenditure and audits required to ensure an adequate audit trail are held in accordance with the requirements of point (g) of Article 72; (e) draw up the management declaration and annual summary referred to in points (a) and (b) of Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation. By way of derogation from point (a) of the first subparagraph, the ETC Regulation may establish specific rules on verification applicable to cooperation programmes. 5. Verifications pursuant to point (a) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 shall include the following procedures: (a) administrative verifications in respect of each application for reimbursement by beneficiaries; (b) on-the-spot verifications of operations. The frequency and coverage of the on-the-spot verifications shall be proportionate to the amount of public support to an operation and to the level of risk identified by such verifications and audits by the audit authority for the management and control system as a whole. 6. On-the-spot verifications of individual operations pursuant to point (b) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 5 may be carried out on a sample basis. 7. Where the managing authority is also a beneficiary under the operational programme, arrangements for the verifications referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 shall ensure adequate separation of functions. 8. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 149, laying down rules specifying the information in relation to the data to be recorded and stored in computerised form within the monitoring system established under point (d) of paragraph 2 of this Article. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down the technical specifications of the system established under point (d) of paragraph 2 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3). 9. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 149, laying down the detailed minimum requirements for the audit trail referred to in point (d) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 of this Article in respect of the accounting records to be maintained and the supporting documents to be held at the level of the certifying authority, managing authority, intermediate bodies and beneficiaries. 10. The Commission shall, in order to ensure uniform conditions on the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts concerning the model for the management declaration referred to in point (e) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 150(2).
Article 126 Functions of the certifying authority
The certifying authority of an operational programme shall be responsible in particular for: (a) drawing up and submitting payment applications to the Commission, and certifying that they result from reliable accounting systems, are based on verifiable supporting documents and have been subject to verifications by the managing authority; (b) drawing up the accounts referred to in point (a) of Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation; (c) certifying the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts and that the expenditure entered in the accounts complies with applicable law and has been incurred in respect of operations selected for funding in accordance with the criteria applicable to the operational programme and complying with applicable law; (d) ensuring that there is a system which records and stores, in computerised form, accounting records for each operation, and which supports all the data required for drawing up payment applications and accounts, including records of amounts recoverable, amounts recovered and amounts withdrawn following cancellation of all or part of the contribution for an operation or operational programme; (e) ensuring, for the purposes of drawing up and submitting payment applications, that it has received adequate information from the managing authority on the procedures and verifications carried out in relation to expenditure; (f) taking account when drawing up and submitting payment applications of the results of all audits carried out by, or under the responsibility of, the audit authority; (g) maintaining, in a computerised form, accounting records of expenditure declared to the Commission and of the corresponding public contribution paid to beneficiaries; (h) keeping an account of amounts recoverable and of amounts withdrawn following cancellation of all or part of the contribution for an operation. Amounts recovered shall be repaid to the budget of the Union prior to the closure of the operational programme by deducting them from the subsequent statement of expenditure.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 126 Functions of the certifying authority):
The certifying authority of an operational programme shall be responsible in particular for: (a) drawing up and submitting payment applications to the Commission, and certifying that they result from reliable accounting systems, are based on verifiable supporting documents and have been subject to verifications by the managing authority; (b) drawing up the accounts referred to in point (a) of Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation; (c) certifying the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts and that the expenditure entered in the accounts complies with applicable law and has been incurred in respect of operations selected for funding in accordance with the criteria applicable to the operational programme and complying with applicable law; (d) ensuring that there is a system which records and stores, in computerised form, accounting records for each operation, and which supports all the data required for drawing up payment applications and accounts, including records of amounts recoverable, amounts recovered and amounts withdrawn following cancellation of all or part of the contribution for an operation or operational programme; (e) ensuring, for the purposes of drawing up and submitting payment applications, that it has received adequate information from the managing authority on the procedures and verifications carried out in relation to expenditure; (f) taking account when drawing up and submitting payment applications of the results of all audits carried out by, or under the responsibility of, the audit authority; (g) maintaining, in a computerised form, accounting records of expenditure declared to the Commission and of the corresponding public contribution paid to beneficiaries; (h) keeping an account of amounts recoverable and of amounts withdrawn following cancellation of all or part of the contribution for an operation. Amounts recovered shall be repaid to the budget of the Union prior to the closure of the operational programme by deducting them from the subsequent payment application.
Article 127 Functions of the audit authority
1. The audit authority shall ensure that audits are carried out on the proper functioning of the management and control system of the operational programme and on an appropriate sample of operations on the basis of the declared expenditure. The declared expenditure shall be audited based on a representative sample and, as a general rule, on statistical sampling methods. A non- statistical sampling method may be used on the professional judgement of the audit authority, in duly justified cases, in accordance with internationally accepted audit standards and in any case where the number of operations for an accounting year is insufficient to allow the use of a statistical method. In such cases, the size of the sample shall be sufficient to enable the audit authority to draw up a valid audit opinion in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation. The non-statistical sample method shall cover a minimum of 5 % of operations for which expenditure has been declared to the Commission during an accounting year and 10 % of the expenditure which has been declared to the Commission during an accounting year. 2. Where audits are carried out by a body other than the audit authority, the audit authority shall ensure that any such body has the necessary functional independence. 3. The audit authority shall ensure that audit work takes account of internationally accepted audit standards. 4. The audit authority shall, within eight months of adoption of an operational programme, prepare an audit strategy for performance of audits. The audit strategy shall set out the audit methodology, the sampling method for audits on operations and the planning of audits in relation to the current accounting year and the two subsequent accounting years. The audit strategy shall be updated annually from 2016 until and including 2024. Where a common management and control system applies to more than one operational programme, a single audit strategy may be prepared for the operational programmes concerned. The audit authority shall submit the audit strategy to the Commission upon request. 5. The audit authority shall draw up: (a) an audit opinion in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation; (b) a control report setting out the main findings of the audits carried out in accordance with paragraph 1, including findings with regard to deficiencies found in the management and control systems, and the proposed and implemented corrective actions. Where a common management and control system applies to more than one operational programme, the information required under point (b) of the first subparagraph may be grouped in a single report. 6. The Commission shall, in order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts laying down models for the audit strategy, the audit opinion and the control report. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 150(2). 7. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 149, to set out the scope and content of audits of operations and audits of the accounts and the methodology for the selection of the sample of operations referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. 8. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 149, laying down detailed rules on the use of data collected during audits carried out by Commission officials or authorised Commission representatives.
Article 128 Cooperation with audit authorities
1. The Commission shall cooperate with audit authorities to coordinate their audit plans and methods and shall immediately exchange with those authorities the results of audits carried out on management and control systems. 2. To facilitate this cooperation in cases where a Member State designates more than one audit authority, the Member State may designate a coordination body. 3. The Commission, the audit authorities and any coordination body shall meet on a regular basis and, as a general rule, at least once a year, unless otherwise agreed, to examine the annual control report, the audit opinion and the audit strategy, and to exchange views on issues relating to improvement of the management and control systems.
Article 129 Common rules for payments
The Member State shall ensure that by the closure of the operational programme, the amount of public expenditure paid to beneficiaries is at least equal to the contribution from the Funds paid by the Commission to the Member State.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 129 Common rules for payments):
The Member State shall ensure that by the closure of the operational programme, the amount of public expenditure paid to beneficiaries is at least equal to the contribution from the Funds and the EMFF paid by the Commission to the Member State.
Article 130 Common rules for calculating interim payments and payment of the final balance
1. The Commission shall reimburse as interim payments 90 % of the amount resulting from applying the co-financing rate for each priority, laid down in the decision adopting the operational programme, to the eligible expenditure for the priority included in the payment application. The Commission shall determine the remaining amounts to be reimbursed as interim payments or to be recovered in accordance with Article 139. 2. The contribution from the Funds or the EMFF to a priority through the interim payments and payment of the final balance shall not be higher than: (a) the eligible public expenditure indicated in the payment application for the priority; or (b) the contribution from the Funds or the EMFF for the priority laid down in the decision of the Commission approving the operational programme.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 130 Common rules for calculating interim payments and payment of the final balance):
1. The Commission shall reimburse as interim payments 90 % of the amount resulting from applying the co-financing rate for each priority, laid down in the decision adopting the operational programme, to the eligible expenditure for the priority included in the payment application. The Commission shall determine the remaining amounts to be reimbursed as interim payments or to be recovered in accordance with Article 139. 2. The contribution from the Funds or the EMFF to a priority through the interim payments and payment of the final balance shall not be higher than: (a) the eligible public expenditure indicated in the payment applications for the priority; or (b) the contribution from the Funds or the EMFF for the priority laid down in the decision of the Commission approving the operational programme, whichever is the lower.
Article 131 Payment applications
1. Payment applications shall include, for each priority: (a) the total amount of eligible expenditure incurred by beneficiaries and paid in implementing operations, as entered in the accounting system of the certifying authority; (b) the total amount of public expenditure incurred in implementing operations, as entered in the accounting system of the certifying authority. 2. Eligible expenditure included in a payment application shall be supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value, except for forms of support under points (b), (c) and (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 67(1), under Article 68, Article 69(1) and Article 109 of this Regulation and under Article 14 of the ESF Regulation. For those forms of support, the amounts included in a payment application shall be the costs calculated on the applicable basis. 3. In the case of aid schemes under Article 107 TFEU, the public contribution corresponding to the expenditure included in a payment application shall have been paid to the beneficiaries by the body granting the aid. 4. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, in the case of State aid, the payment application may include advances paid to the beneficiary by the body granting the aid under the following cumulative conditions: (a) those advances are subject to a guarantee provided by a bank or other financial institution established in the Member State or be covered by a facility provided as a guarantee by a public entity or by the Member State; (b) those advances do not exceed 40 % of the total amount of the aid to be granted to a beneficiary for a given operation; (c) those advances are covered by expenditure paid by beneficiaries in implementing the operation and supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value at the latest within three years following the year of the payment of the advance or on 31 December 2023, whichever is earlier, failing which the next payment application shall be corrected accordingly. 5. Each payment application which includes advances of the type referred to in paragraph 4 shall separately disclose the total amount paid from the operational programme as advances, the amount which has been covered by expenditure paid by beneficiaries within three years of the payment of the advance in accordance with point (c) of paragraph 4, and the amount which has not been covered by expenditure paid by beneficiaries and for which the three year period has not yet elapsed. 6. The Commission shall, in order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts laying down the model for payment applications. These implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 131 Payment applications):
1. Payment applications shall include, for each priority: (a) the total amount of eligible expenditure incurred by beneficiaries and paid in implementing operations, as entered in the accounting system of the certifying authority; (b) the total amount of public expenditure incurred in implementing operations, as entered in the accounting system of the certifying authority. With regard to the amounts to be included in payment applications for the form of support referred to in point (e) of the first subparagraph of Article 67(1), the payment applications shall include the elements set out in the delegated acts adopted in accordance with Article 67(5a) and shall use the model for payment applications set out in the implementing acts adopted in accordance with paragraph 6 of this Article. 2. Eligible expenditure included in a payment application shall be supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value, except for the forms of support referred to in points (b) to (e) of the first subparagraph of Article 67(1) of this Regulation, Articles 68, 68a and 68b of this Regulation, Article 69(1) of this Regulation and Article 109 of this Regulation and in Article 14 of the ESF Regulation. For those forms of support, the amounts included in a payment application shall be the costs calculated on the applicable basis. 3. In the case of State aid, the public contribution corresponding to the expenditure included in a payment application shall have been paid to the beneficiaries by the body granting the aid or, where Member States have decided that the beneficiary is the body granting the aid pursuant to point (10)(a) of Article 2, paid by the beneficiary to the body receiving the aid. 4. By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article, in the case of State aid, the payment application may include advances paid to the beneficiary by the body granting the aid or, where Member States have decided that the beneficiary is the body granting the aid pursuant to point (10)(a) of Article 2, paid by the beneficiary to the body receiving the aid, under the following cumulative conditions: (a) those advances are subject to a guarantee provided by a bank or other financial institution established in the Member State or are covered by a facility provided as a guarantee by a public entity or by the Member State; (b) those advances do not exceed 40 % of the total amount of the aid to be granted to a beneficiary for a given operation or, where Member States have decided that the beneficiary is the body granting the aid pursuant to point (10)(a) of Article 2, of the total amount of the aid to be granted to the body receiving the aid as part of a given operation; (c) those advances are covered by expenditure paid by the beneficiary or, where Member States have decided that the beneficiary is the body granting the aid pursuant to point (10)(a) of Article 2, expenditure paid by the body receiving the aid in implementing the operation, and supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value within three years of the year of the payment of the advance or on 31 December 2023, whichever is earlier. Where the conditions set out in point (c) of the first subparagraph are not met, the next payment application shall be corrected accordingly. 5. Each payment application which includes advances of the type referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article shall separately disclose: (a) the total amount paid from the operational programme as advances; (b) the amount which, within three years of the payment of the advance in accordance with point (c) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 4, has been covered by expenditure paid by the beneficiary or, where Member States have decided that the beneficiary is the body granting the aid pursuant to point (10)(a) of Article 2, by the body receiving the aid; and (c) the amount which has not been covered by expenditure paid by the beneficiary or, where Member States have decided that the beneficiary is the body granting the aid pursuant to point (10)(a) of Article 2, by the body receiving the aid, and for which the three year period has not yet elapsed. 6. The Commission shall, in order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts laying down the model for payment applications. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3).
Article 132 Payment to beneficiaries
1. Subject to the availability of funding from initial and annual pre-financing and interim payments, the managing authority shall ensure that a beneficiary receives the total amount of eligible public expenditure due in full and no later than 90 days from the date of submission of the payment claim by the beneficiary. No amount shall be deducted or withheld and no specific charge or other charge with equivalent effect shall be levied that would reduce amounts due to beneficiaries. 2. The payment deadline referred to in paragraph 1 may be interrupted by the managing authority in either of the following duly justified cases: (a) the amount of the payment claim is not due or the appropriate supporting documents, including the documents necessary for management verifications under point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 125(4), have not been provided; (b) an investigation has been initiated in relation to a possible irregularity affecting the expenditure concerned. The beneficiary concerned shall be informed in writing of the interruption and the reasons for it.
Article 133 Use of the euro
1. Member States which have not adopted the euro as their currency on the date of an application for payment shall convert the amounts of expenditure incurred in national currency into euro. Those amounts shall be converted into euro using the monthly accounting exchange rate of the Commission in the month during which the expenditure was registered in the accounts of the certifying authority of the operational programme concerned. The exchange rate shall be published electronically by the Commission each month. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the ETC Regulation may establish specific rules on the timing for conversion into euro. 3. When the euro becomes the currency of a Member State, the conversion procedure set out in paragraph 1 shall continue to apply to all expenditure recorded in the accounts by the certifying authority before the date of entry into force of the fixed conversion rate between the national currency and the euro.
Article 134 Payment of pre-financing
1. The initial pre-financing amount shall be paid in instalments as follows: (a) in 2014: 1 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme or 1,5 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme when a Member State has been receiving financial assistance since 2010, in accordance with Articles 122 and 143 TFEU, or from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), or is receiving financial assistance on 31 December 2013 in accordance with Articles 136 and 143 TFEU; (b) in 2015: 1 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme or 1,5 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme when a Member State has been receiving financial assistance since 2010, in accordance with Articles 122 and 143 TFEU, or from the EFSF, or is receiving financial assistance on 31 December 2014 in accordance with Articles 136 and 143 TFEU; (c) in 2016: 1 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme. If an operational programme is adopted in 2015 or later, the earlier instalments shall be paid in the year of adoption. 2. An annual pre-financing amount shall be paid before 1 July in the years 2016 to 2023. It shall be a percentage of the amount of the support from the Funds and the EMFF for the whole programming period to the operational programme as follows: — 2016: 2 % — 2017: 2,625 % — 2018: 2,75 % — 2019: 2,875 % — 2020 to 2023: 3 %. 3. When calculating the amount of initial pre-financing referred to in paragraph 1, the amount of support for the entire programming period shall exclude the amounts from the performance reserve which were initially allocated to the operational programme. When calculating the amount of annual pre-financing referred to in paragraph 2 up to and including 2020, the amount of support for the entire programming period shall exclude the amounts from the performance reserve which were initially allocated to the operational programme.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 134 Payment of pre-financing):
1. The initial pre-financing amount shall be paid in instalments as follows: (a) in 2014: 1 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme or 1,5 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme when a Member State has been receiving financial assistance since 2010, in accordance with Articles 122 and 143 TFEU, or from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), or is receiving financial assistance on 31 December 2013 in accordance with Articles 136 and 143 TFEU; (b) in 2015: 1 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme or 1,5 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme when a Member State has been receiving financial assistance since 2010, in accordance with Articles 122 and 143 TFEU, or from the EFSF, or is receiving financial assistance on 31 December 2014 in accordance with Articles 136 and 143 TFEU; (c) in 2016: 1 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period to the operational programme. If an operational programme is adopted in 2015 or later, the earlier instalments shall be paid in the year of adoption. 1a. In addition to the instalments provided for in points (b) and (c) of paragraph 1, an additional initial pre-financing amount of 3,5 % of the amount of support from the Funds and the EMFF for the entire programming period shall be paid to operational programmes in Greece each year in 2015 and 2016. The additional initial pre-financing shall not apply to programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal nor to the specific allocation for the Youth Employment Initiative. If, by 31 December 2016, the total amount of the additional initial pre-financing paid on the basis of this paragraph in 2015 and 2016 to an operational programme by Fund, where applicable, is not covered by payment applications submitted by the certifying authority for that programme, Greece shall repay to the Commission the total amount of the additional initial pre-financing for that Fund paid to that programme. Those repayments shall not constitute a financial correction and shall not reduce support from the Funds or the EMFF to the operational programmes. The amounts repaid shall constitute internal assigned revenue in accordance with point (c) of Article 21(3) of the Financial Regulation. 2. An annual pre-financing amount shall be paid before 1 July in the years 2016 to 2023. It shall be a percentage of the amount of the support from the Funds and the EMFF for the whole programming period to the operational programme as follows: — 2016: 2 % — 2017: 2,625 % — 2018: 2,75 % — 2019: 2,875 % — 2020 to 2023: 3 %. 3. When calculating the amount of initial pre-financing referred to in paragraph 1, the amount of support for the entire programming period shall exclude the amounts from the performance reserve which were initially allocated to the operational programme. When calculating the amount of annual pre-financing referred to in paragraph 2 up to and including 2020, the amount of support for the entire programming period shall exclude the amounts from the performance reserve which were initially allocated to the operational programme.
Article 135 Deadlines for presentation of interim payment applications and for their payment
1. The certifying authority shall submit on a regular basis an application for interim payment in accordance with Article 131(1) covering amounts entered in its accounting system in the accounting year. However, the certifying authority, where it considers it to be necessary, may include such amounts in payment applications submitted in subsequent accounting years. 2. The certifying authority shall submit the final application for an interim payment by 31 July following the end of the previous accounting year and, in any event, before the first application for interim payment for the next accounting year. 3. The first application for interim payment shall not be made before the notification to the Commission of the designation of the managing authorities and certifying authorities in accordance with Article 124. 4. Interim payments shall not be made for an operational programme unless the annual implementation report has been sent to the Commission in accordance with the Fund-specific rules. 5. Subject to available funding, the Commission shall make the interim payment no later than 60 days after the date on which a payment application is registered with the Commission.
Article 136 Decommitment
1. The Commission shall decommit any part of the amount in an operational programme that has not been used for payment of the initial and annual pre-financing and interim payments by 31 December of the third financial year following the year of budget commitment under the operational programme or for which a payment application drawn up in accordance with Article 131 has not been submitted in accordance with Article 135. 2. That part of commitments still open on 31 December 2023 shall be decommitted if any of the documents required under Article 141(1) has not been submitted to the Commission by the deadline set out in Article 141(1).
Article 137 Preparation of the accounts
1. The accounts referred to in point (a) of Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation shall be submitted to the Commission for each operational programme. The accounts shall cover the accounting year and shall include at the level of each priority and, where applicable, fund and category of regions: (a) the total amount of eligible expenditure entered into the accounting systems of the certifying authority which has been included in payment applications submitted to the Commission in accordance with Article 131 and Article 135(2) by 31 July following the end of the accounting year, the total amount of the corresponding public expenditure incurred in implementing operations, and the total amount of corresponding payments made to beneficiaries under Article 132(1); (b) the amounts withdrawn and recovered during the accounting year, the amounts to be recovered as at the end of the accounting year, the recoveries effected pursuant to Article 71, and the irrecoverable amounts; (c) the amounts of programme contributions paid to financial instruments under Article 41(1) and advances of State aid under Article 131(4); (d) for each priority, a reconciliation between the expenditure stated pursuant to point (a) and the expenditure declared in respect of the same accounting year in payment applications, accompanied by an explanation of any differences. 2. Where expenditure previously included in an application for interim payment for the accounting year is excluded by a Member State from its accounts due to an ongoing assessment of that expenditure's legality and regularity, any or all of that expenditure subsequently found to be legal and regular may be included in an application for interim payment relating to subsequent accounting years. 3. The Commission shall, in order to lay down uniform conditions for the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts setting out the model for the accounts referred to in this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for economic, social and territorial cohesion set out in Article 91(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 , the amount of resources for the specific allocation for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI') set out in Article 92(5) of that Regulation and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI of that Regulation to reflect the increase of the resources of the YEI, in line with the adopted budget for 2019. More specifically, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116,7 million in current prices, bringing the overall amount for 2019 up to EUR 350 million. In addition, in view of past experience in the context of the increase of the resources of the specific allocation for the YEI, which triggered extensive amendments to programmes to provide amounts from the European Social Fund ('ESF') to match the support from the YEI specific allocation, the EU co-legislators asked the Commission to propose facilitating measures to ensure the swift programming of the additional YEI resources in 2019 in order not to hamper the overall implementation progress of the 2014-2020 operational programmes. Therefore, the proposal introduces relevant provisions to address this request.
Revised version (Article 137 Preparation of the accounts):
1. (a) the total amount of eligible expenditure entered into the accounting systems of the certifying authority which has been included in payment applications submitted to the Commission in accordance with Article 131 and Article 135(2) by 31 July following the end of the accounting year, the total amount of the corresponding public expenditure incurred in implementing operations, and the total amount of corresponding payments made to beneficiaries under Article 132(1); (b) the amounts withdrawn and recovered during the accounting year, the amounts to be recovered as at the end of the accounting year, the recoveries effected pursuant to Article 71, and the irrecoverable amounts; the amounts of programme contributions paid to financial instruments under Article 41(1) and advances of State aid under Article 131(4); (d) for each priority, a reconciliation between the expenditure stated pursuant to point (a) and the expenditure declared in respect of the same accounting year in payment applications, accompanied by an explanation of any differences. 2. Where expenditure previously included in an application for interim payment for the accounting year is excluded by a Member State from its accounts due to an ongoing assessment of that expenditure's legality and regularity, any or all of that expenditure subsequently found to be legal and regular may be included in an application for interim payment relating to subsequent accounting years. 3. The Commission shall, in order to lay down uniform conditions for the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts setting out the model for the accounts referred to in this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3).
Article 138 Submission of information
For each year from 2016 until and including 2025, Member States shall submit, by the deadline set out in Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation, the documents referred to in that Article namely: (a) the accounts, referred to in Article 137(1) of this Regulation, for the preceding accounting year; (b) the management declaration and the annual summary referred to in point (e) of the first subparagraph of Article 125(4) of this Regulation, for the preceding accounting year; (c) the audit opinion and the control report referred to in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 127(5) of this Regulation, for the preceding accounting year.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 138 Submission of information):
For each year from 2016 until and including 2025, Member States shall submit, by the deadline set out in Article 63(5), and the second subparagraph of Article 63(7), of the Financial Regulation , the documents referred to in that Article namely: (a) the accounts, referred to in Article 137(1) of this Regulation, for the preceding accounting year; (b) the management declaration and the annual summary referred to in point (e) of the first subparagraph of Article 125(4) of this Regulation, for the preceding accounting year; (c) the audit opinion and the control report referred to in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 127(5) of this Regulation, for the preceding accounting year.
Article 139 Examination and acceptance of accounts
1. The Commission shall carry out an examination of the documents submitted by the Member State under Article 138. Upon request by the Commission, the Member State shall provide all necessary additional information to enable the Commission to determine whether the accounts are complete, accurate and true, by the deadline set out in Article 84. 2. The Commission shall accept the accounts where it is able to conclude that the accounts are complete, accurate and true. The Commission shall reach such a conclusion where the audit authority has provided an unqualified audit opinion regarding the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts unless the Commission has specific evidence that the audit opinion on the accounts is unreliable. 3. The Commission shall inform the Member State by the deadline set out in Article 84 as to whether it is able to accept the accounts. 4. If, for reasons attributable to Member State, the Commission is unable to accept the accounts by the deadline set out in Article 84, the Commission shall notify the Member States specifying the reasons in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article and the actions which are required to be undertaken and the time period for their completion. At the end of the time period for the completion of those actions the Commission shall inform the Member State as to whether it is able to accept the accounts. 5. Issues related to legality and regularity of the underlying transactions concerning expenditure entered in the accounts shall not be taken into account for the purposes of acceptance of the accounts by the Commission. The procedure for examination and acceptance of the accounts shall not interrupt the treatment of applications for interim payments and shall not lead to suspension of payments, without prejudice to Articles 83 and 142. 6. On the basis of the accepted accounts, the Commission shall calculate the amount chargeable to the Funds and to the EMFF for the accounting year and the consequent adjustments in relation to the payments to the Member State. The Commission shall take into account: (a) the amounts in the accounts referred to in point (a) of Article 137(1) and to which the co-financing rate for each priority is to be applied; (b) the total amount of payments made by the Commission during that accounting year, consisting of: (i) the amount of interim payments paid by the Commission in accordance with Article 130(1) and Article 24; and (ii) the amount of the annual pre-financing paid under Article 134(2). 7. After the calculation carried out under paragraph 6, the Commission shall clear the respective annual pre-financing and pay any additional amount due within 30 days of the acceptance of the accounts. Where there is an amount recoverable from the Member State, it shall be subject to a recovery order issued by the Commission which shall be executed, where possible, by offsetting against amounts due to the Member State under subsequent payments to the same operational programme. Such recovery shall not constitute a financial correction and shall not reduce support from the Funds to the operational programme. The amount recovered shall constitute assigned revenue in accordance with Article 177(3) of the Financial Regulation. 8. Where, after applying the procedure set out in paragraph 4, the Commission is unable to accept the accounts, the Commission shall determine, on the basis of the available information and in accordance with paragraph 6, the amount chargeable to the Funds for the accounting year, and shall inform the Member State. Where the Member State notifies the Commission of its agreement within two months of the transmission by the Commission of the information, paragraph 7 shall apply. In the absence of such agreement, the Commission shall adopt a decision, by means of implementing acts, setting out the amount chargeable to the Funds for the accounting year. Such decision shall not constitute a financial correction and shall not reduce support from the Funds to the operational programme. On the basis of the decision, the Commission shall apply the adjustments to the payments to the Member State in accordance with paragraph 7. 9. The acceptance of the accounts by the Commission, or a decision by the Commission under paragraph 8 of this Article, shall be without prejudice to the application of corrections under Articles 144 and 145. 10. Member States may replace irregular amounts which are detected after the submission of the accounts by making the corresponding adjustments in the accounts for the accounting year in which the irregularity is detected, without prejudice to Articles 144 and 145.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 139 Examination and acceptance of accounts):
1. The Commission shall carry out an examination of the documents submitted by the Member State under Article 138. Upon request by the Commission, the Member State shall provide all necessary additional information to enable the Commission to determine whether the accounts are complete, accurate and true, by the deadline set out in Article 84. 2. The Commission shall accept the accounts where it is able to conclude that the accounts are complete, accurate and true. The Commission shall reach such a conclusion where the audit authority has provided an unqualified audit opinion regarding the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts unless the Commission has specific evidence that the audit opinion on the accounts is unreliable. 3. The Commission shall inform the Member State by the deadline set out in Article 84 as to whether it is able to accept the accounts. 4. If, for reasons attributable to Member State, the Commission is unable to accept the accounts by the deadline set out in Article 84, the Commission shall notify the Member States specifying the reasons in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article and the actions which are required to be undertaken and the time period for their completion. At the end of the time period for the completion of those actions the Commission shall inform the Member State as to whether it is able to accept the accounts. 5. Issues related to legality and regularity of the underlying transactions concerning expenditure entered in the accounts shall not be taken into account for the purposes of acceptance of the accounts by the Commission. The procedure for examination and acceptance of the accounts shall not interrupt the treatment of applications for interim payments and shall not lead to suspension of payments, without prejudice to Articles 83 and 142. 6. On the basis of the accepted accounts, the Commission shall calculate the amount chargeable to the Funds and to the EMFF for the accounting year and the consequent adjustments in relation to the payments to the Member State. The Commission shall take into account: (a) the amounts in the accounts referred to in point (a) of Article 137(1) and to which the co-financing rate for each priority is to be applied; (b) the total amount of payments made by the Commission during that accounting year, consisting of: (i) the amount of interim payments paid by the Commission in accordance with Article 130(1) and Article 24; and (ii) the amount of the annual pre-financing paid under Article 134(2). (b) the total amount of payments made by the Commission during that accounting year, consisting of: (i) the amount of interim payments paid by the Commission in accordance with Article 130(1) and Article 24; and (ii) the amount of the annual pre-financing paid under Article 134(2). 7. After the calculation carried out under paragraph 6, the Commission shall clear the respective annual pre-financing and pay any additional amount due within 30 days of the acceptance of the accounts. Where there is an amount recoverable from the Member State, it shall be subject to a recovery order issued by the Commission which shall be executed, where possible, by offsetting against amounts due to the Member State under subsequent payments to the same operational programme. Such recovery shall not constitute a financial correction and shall not reduce support from the Funds and the EMFF to the operational programme. e amount recovered shall constitute assigned revenue in accordance with Article 177(3) of the Financial Regulation. 8. Where, after applying the procedure set out in paragraph 4, the Commission is unable to accept the accounts, the Commission shall determine, on the basis of the available information and in accordance with paragraph 6, the amount chargeable to the Funds and the EMFF for the accounting year, and shall inform the Member State. Where the Member State notifies the Commission of its agreement within two months of the transmission by the Commission of the information, paragraph 7 shall apply. In the absence of such agreement, the Commission shall adopt a decision, by means of implementing acts, setting out the amount chargeable to the Funds and the EMFF for the accounting year. Such decision shall not constitute a financial correction and shall not reduce support from the Funds and the EMFF to the operational programme . On the basis of the decision, the Commission shall apply the adjustments to the payments to the Member State in accordance with paragraph 7. 9. The acceptance of the accounts by the Commission, or a decision by the Commission under paragraph 8 of this Article, shall be without prejudice to the application of corrections under Articles 144 and 145. 10. Member States may replace irregular amounts which are detected after the submission of the accounts by making the corresponding adjustments in the accounts for the accounting year in which the irregularity is detected, without prejudice to Articles 144 and 145.
Article 140 Availability of documents
1. Without prejudice to the rules governing State aid, the managing authority shall ensure that all supporting documents regarding expenditure supported by the Funds on operations for which the total eligible expenditure is less than EUR 1 000 000, are made available to the Commission and the European Court of Auditors upon request for a period of three years from 31 December following the submission of the accounts in which the expenditure of the operation is included. In the case of operations other than those referred to in the first subparagraph, all supporting documents shall be made available for a two year period from 31 December following the submission of the accounts in which the final expenditure of the completed operation is included. A managing authority may decide to apply to operations for which the total eligible expenditure is less than EUR 1 000 000 the rule referred to in the second subparagraph. The time period referred to in the first subparagraph shall be interrupted either in the case of legal proceedings or by a duly justified request of the Commission. 2. The managing authority shall inform beneficiaries of the start date of the period referred to in paragraph 1. 3. The documents shall be kept either in the form of the originals, or certified true copies of the originals, or on commonly accepted data carriers including electronic versions of original documents or documents existing in electronic version only. 4. The documents shall be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data were collected or for which they are further processed. 5. The procedure for certification of conformity of documents held on commonly accepted data carriers with the original document shall be laid down by the national authorities and shall ensure that the versions held comply with national legal requirements and can be relied on for audit purposes. 6. Where documents exist in electronic form only, the computer systems used shall meet accepted security standards that ensure that the documents held comply with national legal requirements and can be relied on for audit purposes.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 140 Availability of documents):
1. Without prejudice to the rules governing State aid, the managing authority shall ensure that all supporting documents regarding expenditure supported by the Funds and the EMFF on operations for which the total eligible expenditure is less than EUR 1 000 000 , are made available to the Commission and the European Court of Auditors upon request for a period of three years from 31 December following the submission of the accounts in which the expenditure of the operation is included. In the case of operations other than those referred to in the first subparagraph, all supporting documents shall be made available for a two year period from 31 December following the submission of the accounts in which the final expenditure of the completed operation is included. A managing authority may decide to apply to operations for which the total eligible expenditure is less than EUR 1 000 000 the rule referred to in the second subparagraph. The time period referred to in the first or second subparagraph shall be interrupted either in the case of legal proceedings or by a duly justified request of the Commission. 2. The managing authority shall inform beneficiaries of the start date of the period referred to in paragraph 1. 3. The documents shall be kept either in the form of the originals, or certified true copies of the originals, or on commonly accepted data carriers including electronic versions of original documents or documents existing in electronic version only. Where documents are kept on commonly accepted data carriers in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 5, no originals shall be required. 4. The documents shall be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data were collected or for which they are further processed. 5. The procedure for certification of conformity of documents held on commonly accepted data carriers with the original document shall be laid down by the national authorities and shall ensure that the versions held comply with national legal requirements and can be relied on for audit purposes. 6. Where documents exist in electronic form only, the computer systems used shall meet accepted security standards that ensure that the documents held comply with national legal requirements and can be relied on for audit purposes.
Article 141 Submission of closure documents and payment of the final balance
1. In addition to the documents referred to in Article 138, for the final accounting year from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, Member States shall submit a final implementation report for the operational programme or the last annual implementation report for the operational programme supported by the EMFF. 2. The final balance shall be paid no later than three months after the date of acceptance of accounts of the final accounting year or one month after the date of acceptance of the final implementation report, whichever date is later.
Article 142 Suspension of payments
1. All or part of the interim payments at the level of priorities or operational programmes may be suspended by the Commission if one or more of the following conditions are met: (a) there is a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of the management and control system of the operational programme, which has put at risk the Union contribution to the operational programme and for which corrective measures have not been taken; (b) expenditure in a statement of expenditure is linked to an irregularity having serious financial consequences which has not been corrected; (c) the Member State has failed to take the necessary action to remedy the situation giving rise to an interruption under Article 83; (d) there is a serious deficiency in the quality and reliability of the monitoring system or of the data on common and specific indicators; (e) there is a failure to complete actions to fulfil an ex ante conditionality subject to the conditions set out in Article 19; (f) there is evidence resulting from the performance review for a priority that there has been a serious failure in achieving that priority's milestones relating to financial and output indicators and key implementation steps set out in the performance framework subject to the conditions set out in Article 22. The Fund-specific rules for the EMFF may lay down specific bases for suspension of payments linked to non-compliance with rules applicable under the Common Fisheries Policy, which shall be proportionate, having regard to the nature, gravity, duration and recurrence of the non-compliance. 2. The Commission may decide, by means of implementing acts, to suspend all or part of interim payments, after having given the Member State the opportunity to present its observations. 3. The Commission shall end suspension of all or part of interim payments where the Member State has taken the necessary measures to enable the suspension to be lifted.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 142 Suspension of payments):
1. All or part of the interim payments at the level of priorities or operational programmes may be suspended by the Commission if one or more of the following conditions are met: (a) there is a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of the management and control system of the operational programme, which has put at risk the Union contribution to the operational programme and for which corrective measures have not been taken; (b) expenditure in a payment application is linked to an irregularity having serious financial consequences which has not been corrected; (c) the Member State has failed to take the necessary action to remedy the situation giving rise to an interruption under Article 83; (d) there is a serious deficiency in the quality and reliability of the monitoring system or of the data on common and specific indicators; (e) there is a failure to complete actions to fulfil an ex ante conditionality subject to the conditions set out in Article 19; (f) there is evidence resulting from the performance review for a priority that there has been a serious failure in achieving that priority's milestones relating to financial and output indicators and key implementation steps set out in the performance framework subject to the conditions set out in Article 22. The Fund-specific rules for the EMFF may lay down specific bases for suspension of payments linked to non-compliance with rules applicable under the Common Fisheries Policy, which shall be proportionate, having regard to the nature, gravity, duration and recurrence of the non-compliance. 2. The Commission may decide, by means of implementing acts, to suspend all or part of interim payments, after having given the Member State the opportunity to present its observations. 3. The Commission shall end suspension of all or part of interim payments where the Member State has taken the necessary measures to enable the suspension to be lifted.
Article 143 Financial corrections by Member States
1. The Member States shall in the first instance be responsible for investigating irregularities and for making the financial corrections required and pursuing recoveries. In the case of a systemic irregularity, the Member State shall extend its investigation to cover all operations potentially affected. 2. Member States shall make the financial corrections required in connection with individual or systemic irregularities detected in operations or operational programmes. Financial corrections shall consist of cancelling all or part of the public contribution to an operation or operational programme. The Member States shall take into account the nature and gravity of the irregularities and the financial loss to the Funds or the EMFF and shall apply a proportionate correction. Financial corrections shall be recorded in the accounts by the managing authority for the accounting year in which the cancellation is decided. 3. The contribution from the Funds or the EMFF cancelled in accordance with paragraph 2 may be reused by the Member State within the operational programme concerned, subject to paragraph 4. 4. The contribution cancelled in accordance with paragraph 2 may not be reused for any operation that was the subject of the correction or, where a financial correction is made for a systemic irregularity, for any operation affected by the systemic irregularity. 5. The Fund-specific rules for the EMFF may lay down specific bases for financial corrections by the Member States linked to non-compliance with rules applicable under the Common Fisheries Policy, which shall be proportionate, having regard to the nature, gravity, duration and recurrence of the non-compliance.
Article 144 Criteria for financial corrections
1. The Commission shall make financial corrections, by means of implementing acts, by cancelling all or part of the Union contribution to an operational programme in accordance with Article 85, where, after carrying out the necessary examination, it concludes that: (a) there is a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of the management and control system of the operational programme which has put at risk the Union contribution already paid to the operational programme; (b) the Member State has not complied with its obligations under Article 143 prior to the opening of the correction procedure under this paragraph; (c) expenditure contained in a payment application is irregular and has not been corrected by the Member State prior to the opening of the correction procedure under this paragraph. The Commission shall base its financial corrections on individual cases of identified irregularity and shall take account of whether an irregularity is systemic. Where it is not possible to quantify precisely the amount of irregular expenditure charged to the Funds or the EMFF, the Commission shall apply a flat rate or extrapolated financial correction. 2. The Commission shall, when deciding on a correction under paragraph 1, respect the principle of proportionality by taking account of the nature and gravity of the irregularity and the extent and financial implications of the deficiencies in management and control systems found in the operational programme. 3. Where the Commission bases its position on reports of auditors other than those of its own services, it shall draw its own conclusions regarding the financial consequences after examining the measures taken by the Member State concerned under Article 143(2), the notifications sent under Article 122(2), and any replies from the Member State. 4. In accordance with Article 22(7), where the Commission, based on the examination of the final implementation report of the operational programme for the Funds or the last annual implementation report for the EMFF, establishes a serious failure to achieve the targets set out in the performance framework, it may apply financial corrections in respect of the priorities concerned, by means of implementing acts. 5. When a Member State does not comply with its obligations under Article 95, the Commission may, in relation to the degree of non-compliance with those obligations, make a financial correction by cancelling all or part of the Structural Funds contribution to the Member State concerned. 6. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 149, laying down detailed rules concerning the criteria for determining serious deficiencies in the effective functioning of management and control systems, including the main types of such deficiencies, the criteria for establishing the level of financial correction to be applied and the criteria for applying flat rates or extrapolated financial corrections. 7. The Fund-specific rules for the EMFF may lay down specific bases for financial corrections by the Commission linked to non-compliance with rules applicable under the Common Fisheries Policy which shall be proportionate having regard to the nature, gravity, duration and recurrence of the non-compliance.
Article 145 Procedure
1. Before taking a decision on a financial correction, the Commission shall launch the procedure by informing the Member State of the provisional conclusions of its examination and requesting the Member State to submit its comments within two months. 2. Where the Commission proposes a financial correction on the basis of extrapolation or a flat rate, the Member State shall be given the opportunity to demonstrate, through an examination of the documentation concerned, that the actual extent of irregularity is less than the Commission's assessment. In agreement with the Commission, the Member State may limit the scope of this examination to an appropriate proportion or sample of the documentation concerned. Except in duly justified cases, the time allowed for that examination shall not exceed a further period of two months after the two-month period referred to in paragraph 1. 3. The Commission shall take account of any evidence provided by the Member State within the time limits set out in paragraphs 1 and 2. 4. Where the Member State does not accept the provisional conclusions of the Commission, the Member State shall be invited to a hearing by the Commission, in order to ensure that all relevant information and observations are available as a basis for conclusions by the Commission on the application of the financial correction. 5. In the event of an agreement, and without prejudice to paragraph 6 of this Article, the Member State may reuse the Funds concerned in accordance with Article 143(3). 6. In order to apply financial corrections the Commission shall take a decision, by means of implementing acts, within six months of the date of the hearing, or of the date of receipt of additional information where the Member State agrees to submit such additional information following the hearing. The Commission shall take account of all information and observations submitted during the course of the procedure. If no hearing takes place, the six month period shall begin to run two months after the date of the letter of invitation to the hearing sent by the Commission. 7. Where the Commission in carrying out its responsibilities under Article 75, or the European Court of Auditors, detects irregularities demonstrating a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of the management and control systems, the resulting financial correction shall reduce support from the Funds to the operational programme. The first subparagraph shall not apply in the case of a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of a management and control system which, prior to the date of detection by the Commission or the European Court of Auditors: (a) had been identified in the management declaration, annual control report or the audit opinion submitted to the Commission in accordance with Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation, or in other audit reports of the audit authority submitted to the Commission and appropriate measures taken; or (b) had been the subject of appropriate remedial measures by the Member State. The assessment of serious deficiencies in the effective functioning of management and control systems shall be based on the applicable law when the relevant management declarations, annual control reports and audit opinions were submitted. When deciding on a financial correction the Commission shall: (a) respect the principle of proportionality by taking account of the nature and gravity of the serious deficiency in the effective functioning of a management and control system and its financial implications for the budget of the Union; (b) for the purpose of applying a flat rate or extrapolated correction, exclude irregular expenditure previously detected by the Member State which has been the subject of an adjustment in the accounts in accordance with Article 139(10), and expenditure subject to an ongoing assessment of its legality and regularity under Article 137(2); (c) take into account flat rate or extrapolated corrections applied to the expenditure by the Member State for other serious deficiencies detected by the Member State when determining the residual risk for the budget of the Union. 8. The Fund-specific rules for the EMFF may lay down additional rules of procedure for financial corrections referred to in Article 144(7).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for economic, social and territorial cohesion set out in Article 91(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 , the amount of resources for the specific allocation for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI') set out in Article 92(5) of that Regulation and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI of that Regulation to reflect the increase of the resources of the YEI, in line with the adopted budget for 2019. More specifically, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116,7 million in current prices, bringing the overall amount for 2019 up to EUR 350 million. In addition, in view of past experience in the context of the increase of the resources of the specific allocation for the YEI, which triggered extensive amendments to programmes to provide amounts from the European Social Fund ('ESF') to match the support from the YEI specific allocation, the EU co-legislators asked the Commission to propose facilitating measures to ensure the swift programming of the additional YEI resources in 2019 in order not to hamper the overall implementation progress of the 2014-2020 operational programmes. Therefore, the proposal introduces relevant provisions to address this request.
Revised version (Article 145 Procedure):
1. Before taking a decision on a financial correction, the Commission shall launch the procedure by informing the Member State of the provisional conclusions of its examination and requesting the Member State to submit its comments within two months. 2. Where the Commission proposes a financial correction on the basis of extrapolation or a flat rate, the Member State shall be given the opportunity to demonstrate, through an examination of the documentation concerned, that the actual extent of irregularity is less than the Commission's assessment. In agreement with the Commission, the Member State may limit the scope of this examination to an appropriate proportion or sample of the documentation concerned. Except in duly justified cases, the time allowed for that examination shall not exceed a further period of two months after the two-month period referred to in paragraph 1. 3. The Commission shall take account of any evidence provided by the Member State within the time limits set out in paragraphs 1 and 2. 4. Where the Member State does not accept the provisional conclusions of the Commission, the Member State shall be invited to a hearing by the Commission, in order to ensure that all relevant information and observations are available as a basis for conclusions by the Commission on the application of the financial correction. 5. In the event of an agreement, and without prejudice to paragraph 7 of this Article, the Member State may reuse the Funds concerned or the EMFF in accordance with Article 143(3). 6. In order to apply financial corrections the Commission shall take a decision, by means of implementing acts, within six months of the date of the hearing, or of the date of receipt of additional information where the Member State agrees to submit such additional information following the hearing. The Commission shall take account of all information and observations submitted during the course of the procedure. If no hearing takes place, the six month period shall begin to run two months after the date of the letter of invitation to the hearing sent by the Commission. 7. Where the Commission in carrying out its responsibilities under Article 75, or the European Court of Auditors, detects irregularities demonstrating a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of the management and control systems, the resulting financial correction shall reduce support from the Funds or the EMFF to the operational programme. The first subparagraph shall not apply in the case of a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of a management and control system which, prior to the date of detection by the Commission or the European Court of Auditors: (b) had been the subject of appropriate remedial measures by the Member State. The assessment of serious deficiencies in the effective functioning of management and control systems shall be based on the applicable law when the relevant management declarations, annual control reports and audit opinions were submitted. When deciding on a financial correction the Commission shall: (a) respect the principle of proportionality by taking account of the nature and gravity of the serious deficiency in the effective functioning of a management and control system and its financial implications for the budget of the Union; for the purpose of applying a flat rate or extrapolated correction, exclude irregular expenditure previously detected by the Member State which has been the subject of an adjustment in the accounts in accordance with Article 139(10), and expenditure subject to an ongoing assessment of its legality and regularity under Article 137(2); (c) take into account flat rate or extrapolated corrections applied to the expenditure by the Member State for other serious deficiencies detected by the Member State when determining the residual risk for the budget of the Union. 8. The Fund-specific rules for the EMFF may lay down additional rules of procedure for financial corrections referred to in Article 144(7).
Article 146 Obligations of Member States
A financial correction by the Commission shall not prejudice the Member State's obligation to pursue recoveries under Article 143(2) of this Regulation and to recover State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU and under Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 ( 39 ) .
Article 147 Repayment
1. Any repayment due to be made to the budget of the Union shall be effected before the due date indicated in the order for recovery drawn up in accordance with Article 73 of the Financial Regulation. The due date shall be the last day of the second month following the issuing of the order. 2. Any delay in effecting repayment shall give rise to interest on account of late payment, starting on the due date and ending on the date of actual payment. The rate of such interest shall be one-and-a-half percentage points above the rate applied by the European Central Bank in its main refinancing operations on the first working day of the month in which the due date falls.
Article 148 Proportional control of operational programmes
1. Operations for which the total eligible expenditure does not exceed EUR 200 000 for the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund, EUR 150 000 for the ESF or EUR 100 000 for the EMFF shall not be subject to more than one audit by either the audit authority or the Commission prior to the submission of the accounts for the accounting year in which the operation is completed. Other operations shall not be subject to more than one audit per accounting year by either the audit authority or the Commission prior to the submission of the accounts for the accounting year in which the operation is completed. Operations shall not be subject to an audit by the Commission or the audit authority in any year if there has already been an audit in that year by the European Court of Auditors, provided that the results of the audit work performed by the European Court of Auditors for such operations can be used by the audit authority or the Commission for the purpose of fulfilling their respective tasks. 2. For operational programmes for which the most recent audit opinion indicates that there are no significant deficiencies, the Commission may agree with the audit authority in the subsequent meeting referred to in Article 128(3) that the level of audit work required may be reduced so that it is proportionate to the risk established. In such cases, the Commission shall not carry out its own on-the-spot audits unless there is evidence suggesting deficiencies in the management and control system affecting expenditure declared to the Commission in an accounting year for which the accounts have been accepted by the Commission. 3. For operational programmes for which the Commission concludes that the opinion of the audit authority is reliable, it may agree with the audit authority to limit the Commission's own on-the-spot audits to audit the work of the audit authority unless there is evidence of deficiencies in the work of the audit authority for an accounting year for which the accounts have been accepted by the Commission. 4. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the audit authority and the Commission may carry out audits of operations in the event that a risk assessment or an audit by the European Court of Auditors establishes a specific risk of irregularity or fraud, in the case of evidence of serious deficiencies in the effective functioning of the management and control system of the operational programme concerned, and, during the period referred to in Article 140(1). The Commission may, for the purpose of assessing the work of an audit authority, review the audit trail of the audit authority or take part in the on-the-spot audits of the audit authority and, where, in accordance with internationally accepted audit standards, it is necessary for the purpose of obtaining assurance as to the effective functioning of the audit authority, the Commission may carry out audits of operations.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 148 Proportional control of operational programmes):
1. Operations for which the total eligible expenditure does not exceed EUR 400 000 for the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund, EUR 300 000 for the ESF or EUR 200 000 for the EMFF shall not be subject to more than one audit by either the audit authority or the Commission prior to the submission of the accounts for the accounting year in which the operation is completed. Other operations shall not be subject to more than one audit per accounting year by either the audit authority or the Commission prior to the submission of the accounts for the accounting year in which the operation is completed. Operations shall not be subject to an audit by the Commission or the audit authority in any year if there has already been an audit in that year by the European Court of Auditors, provided that the results of the audit work performed by the European Court of Auditors for such operations can be used by the audit authority or the Commission for the purpose of fulfilling their respective tasks. By derogation from the first subparagraph, operations for which the total eligible expenditure is between EUR 200 000 and EUR 400 000 for the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund, between EUR 150 000 and EUR 300 000 for the ESF and between EUR 100 000 and EUR 200 000 for the EMFF may be subject to more than one audit, if the audit authority concludes, based on its professional judgment, that it is not possible to issue or draw up an audit opinion on the basis of statistical or non-statistical sampling methods referred to in Article 127(1) without carrying out more than one audit of the respective operation. 2. For operational programmes for which the most recent audit opinion indicates that there are no significant deficiencies, the Commission may agree with the audit authority in the subsequent meeting referred to in Article 128(3) that the level of audit work required may be reduced so that it is proportionate to the risk established. In such cases, the Commission shall not carry out its own on-the-spot audits unless there is evidence suggesting deficiencies in the management and control system affecting expenditure declared to the Commission in an accounting year for which the accounts have been accepted by the Commission. 3. For operational programmes for which the Commission concludes that the opinion of the audit authority is reliable, it may agree with the audit authority to limit the Commission's own on-the-spot audits to audit the work of the audit authority unless there is evidence of deficiencies in the work of the audit authority for an accounting year for which the accounts have been accepted by the Commission. 4. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the audit authority and the Commission may carry out audits of operations in the event that a risk assessment or an audit by the European Court of Auditors establishes a specific risk of irregularity or fraud, in the case of evidence of serious deficiencies in the effective functioning of the management and control system of the operational programme concerned, and, during the period referred to in Article 140(1). The Commission may, for the purpose of assessing the work of an audit authority, review the audit trail of the audit authority or take part in the on-the-spot audits of the audit authority and, where, in accordance with internationally accepted audit standards, it is necessary for the purpose of obtaining assurance as to the effective functioning of the audit authority, the Commission may carry out audits of operations.
Article 149 Exercise of the delegation
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. 2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 5(3), the second paragraph of Article 12, the fourth subparagraph of Article 22(7), Article 37(13), the third subparagraph of Article 38(4), Article 40(4), Article 41(3), the second subparagraph of Article 42(1), Article 42(6), the second, third, fourth and seventh subparagraphs of Article 61 (3),Articles 63(4) and 64(4), the second subparagraph of Article 68(1), the fourth paragraph of Article 101, the fifth subparagraph of Article 122(2), the first subparagraph of Article 125(8), Article 125(9), Article 127(7) and (8) and Article 144(6) shall be conferred on the Commission from.21 December 2013 until 31 December 2020. 3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 5(3), the second paragraph of Article 12, the fourth subparagraph of Article 22(7), Article 37(13), the third subparagraph of Article 38(4), Article 40(4), Article 41(3), the second subparagraph of Article 42(1), Article 42(6), the second, third, fourth and seventh subparagraphs of Article 61 (3),Articles 63(4) and 64(4), the second subparagraph of Article 68(1), the fourth paragraph of Article 101, the fifth subparagraph of Article 122(2), the first subparagraph of Article 125(8), Article 125(9), Article 127(7) and (8) and Article 144(6) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. 4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. 5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 5(3), the second paragraph of Article 12, the fourth subparagraph of Article 22(7), Article 37(13), the third subparagraph of Article 38(4), Article 40(4), Article 41(3), the second subparagraph of Article 42(1), Article 42(6), the second, third, fourth and seventh subparagraphs of Article 61 (3),Articles 63(4) and 64(4), the second subparagraph of Article 68(1), the fourth paragraph of Article 101, the fifth subparagraph of Article 122(2), the first subparagraph of Article 125(8), Article 125(9), Article 127(7) and (8) and Article 144(6) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The objective of the proposal is to adapt the amounts of resources available for the Investment for growth and jobs goal and for the European territorial cooperation goal set out in Articles 91(1) and 92(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 1 and the annual breakdown of commitment appropriations reflected in Annex VI in order to reflect changes in the financial programming for the Youth Employment Initiative ('YEI'). More specifically, in line with the adopted budget for 2018, commitment appropriations for the specific allocation for the YEI should be increased by an amount of EUR 116.7 million, bringing the overall amount for 2018 up to EUR 350 million. The commitment appropriations for 2020 were adjusted to reflect the frontloading to 2018. In addition, it is necessary to correct some errors with regard to the amounts and percentages concerning the resources for the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal set out in point (2)(a) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2305, amending Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. 
Revised version (Article 149 Exercise of the delegation):
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. 2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 5(3), the second paragraph of Article 12, the fourth subparagraph of Article 22(7), Article 37(13), the third subparagraph of Article 38(4), Article 39a(7), Article 40(4), Article 41(3), the second subparagraph of Article 42(1), Article 42(6), the second, third, fourth and seventh subparagraphs of Article 61(3), Articles 63(4), 64(4) and 67(5a), the second paragraph of Article 68, the fourth paragraph of Article 101, the fifth subparagraph of Article 122(2), the first subparagraph of Article 125(8), Article 125(9), Article 127(7) and (8), and Article 144(6) shall be conferred on the Commission from 21 December 2013 until 31 December 2020. 3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 5(3), the second paragraph of Article 12, the fourth subparagraph of Article 22(7), Article 37(13), the third subparagraph of Article 38(4), Article 39a(7), Article 40(4), Article 41(3), the second subparagraph of Article 42(1), Article 42(6), the second, third, fourth and seventh subparagraphs of Article 61(3), Articles 63(4), 64(4) and 67(5a), the second paragraph of Article 68, the fourth paragraph of Article 101, the fifth subparagraph of Article 122(2), the first subparagraph of Article 125(8), Article 125(9), Article 127(7) and (8), and Article 144(6) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. 3a. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. 4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. 5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 5(3), the second paragraph of Article 12, the fourth subparagraph of Article 22(7), Article 37(13), the third subparagraph of Article 38(4), Articles 39a(7), 40(4) and 41(3), the second subparagraph of Article 42(1), Article 42(6), the second, third, fourth and seventh subparagraphs of Article 61(3),Articles 63(4), 64(4) and 67(5a), the second paragraph of Article 68, the fourth paragraph of Article 101, the fifth subparagraph of Article 122(2), the first subparagraph of Article 125(8), Article 125(9), Article 127(7) and (8), and Article 144(6) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and to the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.
Article 150 Committee Procedure
1. In the application of this Regulation, the ERDF Regulation, the ETC Regulation, the ESF Regulation and the CF Regulation, the Commission shall be assisted by a Coordination Committee for the European Structural and Investment Funds. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply. 3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply. Where the committee delivers no opinion, the Commission shall not adopt the draft implementing act in respect of the implementing powers referred to in the third paragraph of Article 8, the fifth subparagraph of Article 22(7), the second subparagraph of Article 38(3), Article 38(10), the second subparagraph of Article 39(4), Article 46(3), the second subparagraph of Article 96(2), Article 115(4) and the second subparagraph of Article 125(8), and the third subparagraph of Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Article 151 Review
The European Parliament and the Council shall review this Regulation by 31 December 2020 in accordance with Article 177 TFEU.
Article 152 Transitional provisions
1. This Regulation shall not affect either the continuation or modification, including the total or partial cancellation of assistance approved by the Commission on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 or any other legislation applying to that assistance on 31 December 2013. That Regulation or such other applicable legislation shall consequently continue to apply after 31 December 2013 to that assistance or the operations concerned until their closure. For the purposes of this paragraph assistance shall cover operational programmes and major projects. 2. Applications to receive assistance made or approved under Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 shall remain valid. 3. Where a Member State makes use of the option set out in Article 123(3), it may submit a request to the Commission for the managing authority to carry out the functions of the certifying authority by way of derogation from point (b) of Article 59(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 for the corresponding operational programmes implemented on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. The request shall be accompanied by an assessment made by the audit authority. Where the Commission is satisfied on the basis of information made available from the audit authority and from its own audits that the management and control systems of those operational programmes function effectively and that their functioning will not be prejudiced by the managing authority carrying out the functions of the certifying authority, it shall inform the Member State of its agreement within two months of the date of receipt of the request.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 152 Transitional provisions):
1. This Regulation shall not affect either the continuation or modification, including the total or partial cancellation of assistance approved by the Commission on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 or any other legislation applying to that assistance on 31 December 2013. That Regulation or such other applicable legislation shall consequently continue to apply after 31 December 2013 to that assistance or the operations concerned until their closure. For the purposes of this paragraph assistance shall cover operational programmes and major projects. 2. Applications to receive assistance made or approved under Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 shall remain valid. 3. Where a Member State makes use of the option set out in Article 123(3), it may submit a request to the Commission for the managing authority to carry out the functions of the certifying authority by way of derogation from point (b) of Article 59(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 for the corresponding operational programmes implemented on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. The request shall be accompanied by an assessment made by the audit authority. Where the Commission is satisfied on the basis of information made available from the audit authority and from its own audits that the management and control systems of those operational programmes function effectively and that their functioning will not be prejudiced by the managing authority carrying out the functions of the certifying authority, it shall inform the Member State of its agreement within two months of the date of receipt of the request. 4. By way of derogation from Article 79(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, the ceiling for the cumulative total amount of pre-financing and interim payments made shall be 100 % of the contribution from the Funds to operational programmes for the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives in Greece. 5. By way of derogation from Articles 53(2) and 77(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 and notwithstanding the Commission decisions fixing the maximum rate and the maximum amount of the contribution from the Funds for each Greek operational programme and for each priority axis, interim payments and payments of the final balance shall be calculated by applying a maximum co-financing rate of 100 % to the eligible expenditure indicated for Greek operational programmes for the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives under each priority axis in each statement of expenditure certified by the certifying authority. Article 77(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 shall not apply to operational programmes in Greece. 6. Greece shall establish a mechanism to ensure that the additional amounts made available as a result of the measures set out in paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article are used solely for payments to beneficiaries and operations for its operational programmes. Greece shall submit a report to the Commission on the implementation of paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article by the end of 2016 and shall further report in the final implementation report to be submitted pursuant to point (a) of Article 89(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006.
Article 153 Repeal
1. Without prejudice to the provisions laid down in Article 152, Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 is hereby repealed with effect from 1 January 2014. 2. References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex XIV.
Article 154 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . Articles 20 to 24, Article 29(3), point (a) of Article 38(1), Articles 58, 60, 76 to 92, 118, 120, 121 and Articles 129 to 147 shall apply with effect from 1 January 2014. The second sentence of the seventh subparagraph of Article 39(2) and the fifth paragraph of Article 76 shall apply with effect from the date on which the amendment to the Financial Regulation relating to the decommitment of appropriations has entered into force.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The financial crisis had led to persistently negative growth rates in Greece and to serious liquidity problems and a lack of public funds available for much needed investments to boost growth and job creation. Therefore, as an exceptional measure and given the unique situation this has created in Greece, the Commission in its Communication "A new start for Jobs and Growth in Greece" proposes three elements to ensure that the available EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), is effectively used for investments on the ground and reaches beneficiaries as rapidly as possible. In this context, the Commission proposes to increase the level of initial pre-financing of the funding available for the 2014-2020 period for cohesion policy programmes under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Goal and programmes supported by the EMFF to give an immediate boost to investment. In addition, in order to improve the effective use of available cohesion policy funding for the financing of operations under programmes adopted for the 2007-2013 period, it proposes to increase the maximum co-financing rates and to raise the ceiling for payments to programmes at the end of the programming period.
Revised version (Article 154 Entry into force):
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . Articles 20 to 24, Article 29(3), point (a) of Article 38(1), Articles 58, 60, 76 to 92, 118, 120, 121 and Articles 129 to 147 shall apply with effect from 1 January 2014. The second sentence of the seventh subparagraph of Article 39(2) and the fifth paragraph of Article 76 shall apply with effect from the date on which the amendment to the Financial Regulation relating to the decommitment of appropriations has entered into force. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.