Brussels, 16/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission approved the bodies set up, in their respective countries, by the Czech and Slovak governments in view of managing pre-accession aid that the EU has reserved in favour of candidate countries to help them modernise their agricultural sector and promote rural development in view of EU membership. This go-ahead by the Commission means, in practice, that implementation of the Sapard programme (with 22.4 million euro a year for the Czech Republic and 18.6 million euro a year for Slovakia) may now begin in the two countries, and that the first payments (49% at most of the annual amount) may be released without delay.
In Slovakia, the following sectors will be able to benefit from this initial Sapard aid: - investments in agricultural enterprises; - improvement of processing and marketing of agricultural and fish products; - diversification activities in rural areas (except for investments into infrastructure, forestry and land consolidation).
In the Czech Republic, the first Sapard payments will benefit the following actions: - investments in agricultural holdings; - improving the processing and marketing of agricultural and fisheries products; - improving the structures for quality control of foodstuffs and for consumer protection; - land improvement and reparcelling; - renovation and development of villages and rural infrastructures; - development and diversification of economic activities providing for multiple activities and alternative income; - technical assistance.
Commissioner Franz Fischler said he was heartened to note that Slovakia and the Czech Republic could finally "reap the financial benefit from the considerable efforts they have made in preparing for the implementation of these innovative programmes. This money will help Slovakia and the Czech Republic tackle priority problems in the field of agriculture and rural development. Sapard also gives Slovakia and the Czech Republic an opportunity to gain valuable experience for the future management of EU agricultural funds"
At this stage, other than the Czech Republic and Slovakia, only five other candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Ceecs) have received the Commission's go-ahead to begin implementing the Sapard programme: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovenia. The other candidates (Poland, Hungary, Romania) are still in the process of perfecting their procedural and management structures, in view of benefiting, they too, of initial payments of Sapard funds.