Regulation 2009/473 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 144/3

The European Council, at its meeting on 11 and 12 December 2008, approved a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable Member States' economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. The EERP is based on an effort equivalent in total to around 1,5 % of European Union GDP, a figure amounting to around EUR 200 billion.

Of the above amount, EUR 1 020 million should be made available to all Member States via the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) with a view to developing broadband Internet in rural areas and to strengthening the operations related to the priorities laid down in points (a) to (f) of Article 16a(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 (2) (hereinafter new challenges).

Several amendments of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 are necessary to establish the legal framework to allow Member States to use the amount of EUR 1 020 million, in continuity with the amendments introduced by Council Regulation (EC) No 74/2009 (3) which enables Member States to use amounts resulting from increased compulsory modulation and unused funds generated under Article 136 of Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 of 19 January 2009 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers (4) on operations related to the new challenges.

In view of the particular weight in the general budget of the European Communities of the resource referred to in Article 2(1)(c) of Council Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom of 7 June 2007 on the system of the European Communities' own resources (5), it is appropriate to continue to provide, exceptionally, for the Council, acting by qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, to adopt the necessary decision concerning the amount of Community support for rural development for the period from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013, its annual breakdown and the minimum amount to be concentrated in regions eligible under the Convergence Objective.

Given the additional resources to be made available as Community support for rural development under the EERP, it is necessary for Member States to revise their national strategy plan (NSP). Since all Member States will receive additional funds from 2009, they should all be required to revise their NSP by 15 July 2009.

The Conclusions of the European Council of 12 December 2008 record the European Council's support for the EERP, in particular, to develop broadband Internet, including in areas that are poorly served. Because rural areas often suffer from insufficient Internet access, support for broadband infrastructures in rural areas should be strengthened with the support of EAFRD. Given the importance of this priority, Member States, in accordance with their needs, should provide in their programmes for operations related to this priority by the end of 2009. A list of types of operations related to broadband infrastructures should be established in order to allow Member States to identify the relevant operations in the context of the legal framework for rural development.

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