Legal provisions of COM(2011)484 - Amendment of Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 on the European Fisheries Fund, as regards certain provisions relating to financial management for certain Member States experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability

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dossier COM(2011)484 - Amendment of Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 on the European Fisheries Fund, as regards certain provisions relating to ...
document COM(2011)484 EN
date April 19, 2012

Contents

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 is hereby amended as follows:

(1)Articles 76 and 77 are replaced by the following:

‘Article 76

Rules for calculating interim payments

1. Interim payments shall be calculated by applying — to the public contribution declared in the statement of expenditure certified by the certifying authority under each priority axis and under each convergence/non-convergence objective — the co-financing rate established under the current financing plan for that priority axis and that objective.

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, in response to a specific and properly grounded request by the Member State, an interim payment shall be calculated as the amount of Union assistance paid or due to be paid to the beneficiaries in respect of the priority axis and of the objective. This amount must be specified by the Member State in the statement of expenditure.

3. By way of derogation from Article 53(3), at the request of a Member State, interim payments shall be increased by an amount corresponding to 10 percentage points above the co-financing rate applicable to each priority axis, up to a maximum of 100 %, to be applied to the amount of eligible public expenditure newly declared in each certified statement of expenditure submitted during the period in which a Member State fulfils one of the following conditions:

(a)financial assistance is made available to it under Council Regulation (EU) No 407/2010 of 11 May 2010 establishing a European financial stabilisation mechanism (11), or is made available to it by other euro area Member States before the entry into force of that Regulation;

(b)medium-term financial assistance is made available to it in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 332/2002 of 18 February 2002 establishing a facility providing medium-term financial assistance for Member States’ balances of payments (12);

(c)financial assistance is made available to it in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism signed on 2 February 2012.

4. For the purpose of calculating interim payments after the Member State ceases to benefit from the Union financial assistance referred to in paragraph 3, the Commission shall not take into account the increased amounts paid in accordance with that paragraph.

However, those amounts shall be taken into account for the purpose of Article 79(1).

5. The increased interim payments resulting from the application of paragraph 3 shall be made available within the shortest period of time to the managing authority and shall only be used for making payments in connection with the implementation of the operational programme.

6. In the context of the annual reporting in accordance with Article 67(1), the Member States shall provide the Commission with appropriate information on the use of the derogation referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, showing how the increase in the amounts of support has contributed to the promotion of competitiveness, growth and jobs in the Member State concerned. This information shall be taken into account by the Commission in the preparation of the annual reporting provided for by Article 68(1).

Article 77 - Rules for calculating payments of the balance

1. Payments of the balance shall be limited to whichever of the following two amounts is smaller:

(a)the amount calculated by applying to the public contribution declared in the final statement of expenditure, certified by the certifying authority under each priority axis and under each convergence/non-convergence objective, the co-financing rate established under the current financing plan for that priority axis and that objective;

(b)the amount of Union assistance paid or due to be paid to the beneficiaries in respect of each priority axis and for each objective. This amount must be specified by the Member State in the final statement of expenditure certified by the certifying authority in respect of each priority axis and for each objective.

2. By way of derogation from Article 53(3), at the request of a Member State, payments of the final balance shall be increased by an amount corresponding to 10 percentage points above the co-financing rate applicable to each priority axis, up to a maximum of 100 %, to be applied to the amount of eligible public expenditure newly declared in each certified statement of expenditure submitted during the period in which a Member State fulfils one of the conditions laid down in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 76(3).

3. For the purpose of calculating the payment of the final balance after the Member State ceases to benefit from the Union financial assistance referred to in Article 76(3), the Commission shall not take into account the increased amounts paid in accordance with that paragraph.

(2)the following Article is inserted:

‘Article 77a

Limit to the Union contribution through interim payments and payments of the balance

1. Notwithstanding Article 76(3) and Article 77(2), the Union contribution through interim payments and payments of the final balance shall not be higher than the public contribution and the maximum amount of assistance from the EFF for each priority axis and objective as laid down in the decision of the Commission approving the operational programme.

2. The derogation referred to in Article 76(3) and Article 77(2) shall be granted by the Commission upon the written request of a Member State fulfilling one of the conditions laid down in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 76(3). That request shall be submitted by 17 July 2012 or within two months from the date on which a Member State fulfils one of the conditions laid down in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 76(3).

3. In its request submitted to the Commission, the Member State shall justify the necessity of the derogation referred to in Article 76(3) and Article 77(2) by providing information necessary to establish:

(a)by means of data on its macroeconomic and fiscal situation, that resources for the national counterpart are not available;

(b)that an increase of payments referred to in Article 76(3) and Article 77(2) is necessary to safeguard the continued implementation of operational programmes;

(c)that problems persist even if the maximum ceilings applicable to co-financing rates of Article 53(3) are used;

(d)that it fulfils one of the conditions referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 76(3) as justified by reference to a Council Decision or other legal act, as well as the actual date from which the financial assistance was made available to the Member State.

The Commission shall verify whether the information submitted justifies granting a derogation. The Commission shall raise any objection as to that information within 30 days from the date of submission of the request. If the Commission decides to object to the Member State’s request, it shall, by means of implementing acts, adopt a decision to this effect and shall state reasons.

If the Commission does not raise an objection to the Member State’s request, that request shall be deemed to be justified.

4. The Member State’s request shall also detail the intended use of the derogation provided for in Article 76(3) and Article 77(2), and shall give information about complementary measures envisaged in order to concentrate the funds on competitiveness, growth and employment, including, where appropriate, a modification of operational programmes.

5. The derogation provided for in Article 76(3) and Article 77(2) shall not apply to statements of expenditure submitted after 31 December 2013.’.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

However, it shall apply retroactively to the following Member States:

(a)in the cases of Ireland, Greece and Portugal, with effect from the date when the financial assistance was made available to those Member States pursuant to Article 76(3);

(b)in the cases of Hungary, Latvia and Romania, with effect from 1 January 2010.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.