Brussels, 04/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - The EU Council of Ministers adopted without debate, on Thursday 3 June in Luxembourg, a regulation facilitating access to EU structural funds further to an agreement reached at first reading with the European Parliament. Czech, Maltese, Polish, Slovakian and British delegations abstained. The new regulation aims to ensure the liquidity of member sates worst hit by the crisis, improve the absorption of funds for certain operational programmes, and simplify the rules for management of structural funds, a Council press release points out, giving details on:
(1) Liquidity guarantee. In order to overcome treasury problems, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Romania will be granted additional advance payments for an amount totalling €775 million, by increasing the advance payments from the European Social Fund (ESF) by 4% and from the Cohesion Fund by 2%, as follows (in millions of euros):
ESF additional advance (4%): Estonia 15.7, Latvia 22, Lithuania 41.1, Hungary 145.2, Romania 147.4. Total: €371.3 million.
Cohesion Fund additional advance (2%): Estonia 23, Latvia 30.8, Lithuania 46.1, Hungary 172.8, Romania 131. Total €403.8 million.
Total advance: Estonia 38.7, Latvia 52.8, Lithuania 87.2, Hungary 318, Romania 278.4. Total: €775.2 million.
The Council points out that these five member states benefited, in 2009, from medium-term financial support in line with Council (EC) Regulation No332/2002 and/or registered a fall in their GDP of more than 10% in real terms compared to 2008.
(2) Simplification of decommitment rules. By way of derogation, the deadlines for automatic decommitment will not apply to the commitment appropriations of 2007. One sixth of the amount of the annual commitments for 2007 will be added to the budget appropriations for each of the years between 2008 and 2013. This will prevent member states from losing a total of some €220 million: €125 million for Spain, €56 million for Italy, €20 million for territorial cooperation between several member states, €9 million for the United Kingdom, €6 million for Germany and €4 million for the Netherlands.
Under the N+2 decommitment rule, commitment appropriations foreseen for 2007 are the subject of automatic decommitment if funds are not used by the end of 2009. Thus rule applies to the 15 EU member states prior to 1 May 2004, except Portugal and Greece, the Council adds.
(3) Simplification of the rules for structural funds in order to facilitate the management of EU funding. As the Council explains, this above all includes the introduction of uniform thresholds for the definition of major projects and the creation of the possibility that a single major project be co-funded by more than one programme. The latter amendment is of particular relevance for projects of nation-wide scope of EU importance, which cover several regions, and which in the absence of this possibility would have to be artificially separated in multiple projects. (G.B./transl.jl)