Activites

• 1995/09/23 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 1995/2236
  • OJ L 228 23.09.1995, p. 0001
• #1867
• 1995/09/18 Council Meeting
• 1995/09/18 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1995/09/18 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1995/09/08 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0428
• 1995/07/12 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0335/1995 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the recommendation for second reading by Mr SISO CRUELLAS. The European Parliament considered it unacceptable for the Council to introduce financial provisions for the 1995-1999 period, given that such decisions should be taken by the budgetary authority (mainly the European Parliament). Consequently, the article referring to the sum of 2,345 million ecus for this period has been deleted. Apart from the financial aspects, Parliament adopted several amendments to: - allow Community funding in excess of the 10% ceiling in the case of small-scale projects and/or projects involving minor investment (up to a maximum ceiling of 30%); - take account of the environmental impact of projects; - develop partnership between the public and private sectors; - safeguard both the financial and the economic and social return on projects, including their impact on employment; - take account of the cross-border nature of projects and their ability to fill in gaps in the network; - ensure that projects are compatible with Community policies (transport, energy, telecommunications, environment, competition, public procurement); - strengthen provisions relating to coordination, management and financial control.�

• 1995/06/27 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1995/06/12 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0145/1995
• 1995/04/05 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #1839
• 1995/03/31 Council Meeting
  • 05980/1995 summary

    The Council common position incorporates many of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament and included in the Commission's amended proposal, the most important being: - the reference to priority for links between island, landlocked and peripheral regions and central regions in the Community; - the fact that projects funded by regional and local authorities are eligible on the same terms as projects funded by the Member States; - the eligibility of projects funded by companies running public services (agencies) or public interest services; - the need to strengthen the involvement of private capital in funding trans-European networks; - the extended cover provided by loan guarantee fees to financial institutions other than the European Investment Fund; - the idea of involving the EIB in evaluating and monitoring projects; - the coordination between the Structural Funds, the Cohesion Fund and the EIB; - the inclusion of environmental impact in the project selection criteria; - the definition of "study" as including preparatory, feasibility and evaluation studies as other technical support measures; - the stronger provisions on coordination, management and financial control; - the introduction of a transitional clause to allow certain projects to be funded in the absence of the guidelines referred to in Article 129C. The application of this clause is limited solely to specific projects of common interest which come under the guidelines pending before the Council and the European Parliament and which warrant immediate financial intervention by the Community�

• #1835
• 1995/03/20 Council Meeting
• 1995/03/16 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0032 summary

    1) CONTENT: 1. This regulation defines conditions and procedures for granting Community aid to projects of common interest in the field of trans-European transport, energy and telecommunications infrastructure networks. It has no effect on the specific rules set out in the proposal for a Council decision on trans-European telematics networks between administrations (IDA). 2. Eligibility criteria: * projects of common interest funded by the Member States and identified under the guidelines referred to in Article 129 C of the Treaty; * projects funded by bodies similar, from an administrative or legal point of view, to public bodies; * other infrastructure projects which will help to achieve the objectives of Article 129 B of the Treaty, where the Council has not yet laid down the aforementioned guidelines. The concept of "project" includes technically and financially independent project stages which form a separate entity designed to fulfil an economic and technical purpose. 3. Type(s) of Community aid: * cofinancing of feasibility studies (this requires substantial involvement of public authorities), preparatory and evaluation studies and other technical support measures (if necessary up to 100% of the total cost, if undertaken at the Commission's initiative); * contribution towards loan guarantee fees (full or partial); * interest rate subsidies (maximum of 10% of the total cost of the investment in equivalent net subsidy); * cofinancing for investment projects (exceptional). 4. The budgetary authority will decide on the sum in appropriations for each financial year and each field. 5. Common project selection criteria: priority will be granted when awarding Community aid on the basis of the extent to which projects help to: * implement the trans-European networks; * harmonise technical standards; * ensure the interconnection and interoperability of national networks; * improve access to networks; * integrate the various networks; * ensure the reliability and safety of the networks. Other common project selection criteria concern their contribution to the proper working of the internal market, cohesion policy and environmental protection and their potential economic viability. 6. Selection criteria relating more specifically to transport. Community financial aid will be granted to projects evaluated on the basis of the extent to which they help implement the multimodal and transnational dimensions of the networks and develop smooth, environmentally-friendly traffic at European level. 7. Applications for aid must be submitted to the Commission by the Member State concerned or by the body concerned, with the agreement of the Member State. The regulation specifies the information to be included in every application for the purpose of assessment and identification (e.g. name of body responsible, type of intervention planned, description of project in question etc.). 8. Financial arrangements: eligible expenditure and means of payment. 9. Financial control will be exercised by the Member States, although the Commission may send in officials or agents to control projects financed in situ, without prejudice to national controls. The Commission may reduce, suspend or withdraw aid in the event of irregularity or if one of conditions in the decision to grant aid is not met. 10. Cooperation on systematic evaluation of state of progress of projects: every two years, the Commission will present a report on the activities carried out under this regulation. 11. In the transport sector, the Commission will be assisted in implementing this regulation by the transport infrastructure committee set up under Council decision 78/174/EEC (management committee). 2) OBJECTIVE: to lay down general rules for granting Community financial aid to transport, telecommunications and energy infrastructure projects identified under Council guidelines on trans-European networks. Source: European Commission - Info92 08/95�

• 1994/11/30 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
  • T4-0167/1994 summary

    The European Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to 31 amendments. These amendments seek mainly to: - strengthen the contribution of private capital and the involvement of the regional authorities, - extend Community aid, - strengthen financial control, - establish selection criteria for projects which should be funded and rules for the payment of expenditure, - ensure that the committees applying the regulation are advisory, not management committees. The Commission did not accept amendments 15, 22, 30, 31 or 32.�

• 1994/11/15 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0076/1994
• 1994/04/18 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1994/03/02 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1994)0062 summary

    The proposal for a regulation sought to lay down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid to infrastructure projects in the fields of transport, telecommunications and energy, as identified under the Council guidelines for trans-European Networks. The proposal defined the different forms of aid, the rules of financial participation and the common and specific criteria for project selection and described the procedures for identifying, assessing and monitoring the applications for aid. The proposal laid down common provisions for the three sectors (transport, telecommunications and energy) together with a specific procedure for the implementation of the regulation (Management Committee), the only difference being in the project selection criteria. The regulation did not cover guidelines relating to trans-European data-communications networks between administrations (IDA). As regards forms of aid, the Commission made it possible for investment projects to be cofinanced under exceptional circumstances in which the other types of intervention available (feasibility studies, guarantees and interest rate subsidies) would be inappropriate. The rules on financial participation laid down a maximum amount of interest rate subsidy of 10 % of the total cost of the investment in equivalent net subsidy, which represented a subsidy of 2 to 3 points. As far as guarantees were concerned, Community aid would cover all or part of the fees for guarantees for loans granted by the European Investment Fund or other similar financial organizations. With a view to facilitating the implementation of the projects, the Commission would be able to organize round-table meetings of all the representatives and officials from the public and private financial sectors involved in the execution of the proposed projects. �

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1994)0062
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0076/1994
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0167/1994
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0032
• Council position published: 05980/1995
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0145/1995
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0335/1995
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0428
• : Regulation 1995/2236
• : OJ L 228 23.09.1995, p. 0001

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)