Activites

• 1998/12/29 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 1998/2824
  • OJ L 351 29.12.1998, p. 0013
• #2153
• 1998/12/21 Council Meeting
• 1998/12/21 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1998/12/21 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1998/12/03 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0702/1998 summary

    Parliament adopted without debate the recommendation for second reading by Lord Tomlinson (PSE, UK) which proposes approval of the common position of the Council as the latter had taken into account almost all of the priorities put forward by Parliament at first reading. As the amendments on comitology were not included by the Council, the report's approval of the common position included a statement in plenary safeguarding Parliament's position on this subject. Lastly, Parliament repeated the request to the Commission to submit before 31 December 1999 a new single consolidated legislative text for the continuation of this programme from the year 2000 onwards. �

• 1998/11/24 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0436/1998
• 1998/11/19 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2123
• 1998/10/13 Council Meeting
  • 11565/1/1998 summary

    In its common position on cooperation with the Occupied Territories the Council has kept to the compromise agreed in plenary on 16 October 1998. The Council thus accepted that Regulation 1734/94/EC on cooperation with the Palestinians should be amended in order to authorise support for the recurrent costs of the Palestinian public administration and interest rate subsidies. However it does not accept extension of the cooperation period as suggested by Parliament, given that it is now covered by the proposal SYN98220 which specifically extends financial and technical cooperation with the Occupied Territories from 1999 to 2003. The Council also introduced a new amendment stating that the financing decisions on interest rate subsidies are to be adopted according to the procedure under Regulation 1488/96/EC (MEDA programme). �

• 1998/09/16 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0470/1998 summary

    The European Parliament finally adopted the report by Mr John TOMLINSON (PSE, UK) on financial and technical cooperation with Occupied Territories. The matter had been referred to committee at an earlier session (June 1998) following the Commission's announcement that the amendments proposed by Parliament were unacceptable as they stood. The report was finally adopted on 16 September 1998 subject to the presentation of a compromise amendment stipulating that Council Regulation (EC) No 1734/94 should be amended in order to authorise support for the recurrent costs of the Palestinian public administration and interest rate subsidies and extend the period of cooperation. Parliament's legislative resolution also stipulates that (in accordance with Article 138 B, para. 2 of the Treaty on European Union) the Commission must submit a new legislative text by 31 December 1999, consolidating the proposals adopted to date on this matter and covering the period commencing in the year 2000 (amendment 11 corresponding to this request in the previous report was therefore deleted). For the rest, the other amendments retained were as follows: - the programme to be continued beyond 1998 (from 1994 to 2000), provided that the financial perspective after the year 1999 takes account of this and the budgetary authority decides the amount of the financial framework in the annual budgetary procedure; - the priority intervention sectors in the Regulation were defined in greater detail (infrastructures, production, rural and urban development, education, health, environment, services, foreign trade, development of institutions and promotion of human rights) in order to improve the employment situation and combat poverty; - the method of implementing the Regulation and the comitology were clarified and the need for regular information for the budgetary authority was stressed; - the term "Occupied Territories" was amended: the purpose of this cooperation is to help the "West Bank and the Gaza Strip" and to help consolidate the peace process.�

• 1998/09/01 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0300/1998
• 1998/06/18 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0363/1998
• 1998/06/17 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    At the request of the rapporteur, Mr John TOMLINSON (PSE, UK), Parliament referred back to the Committee on Budgets the report on amending the Regulation on the EU’s financial and technical cooperation with the Occupied Territories. The rapporteur had called for the vote on this report to be adjourned after the European Commission had confirmed that all the amendments tabled would be rejected for legal and institutional reasons. The Commission considered that the spirit of the amendments tabled was acceptable but not for the moment. It therefore suggested incorporating these in the new regulation which would be presented in the autumn on this same issue. The amendments referred back to committee were as follows: - more precise definition of the priority intervention sectors in the regulation (the measures to be implemented should involve the infrastructures, production, urban and rural development, education, health, environment, services, foreign trade, strengthening of the institutions and promotion of human rights), particularly stressing the contribution that these projects should make to the peace process, - clarifications on the implementing methods and on comitology, particularly insisting on regular information of the budgetary authority, - continuation of the programme beyond 1998 (from 1994 to 2000), provided that this was provided for by the financial perspectives after 1999 and that the budgetary authority fixed the amount of the budget within the annual budgetary procedure, - presentation of a consolidated proposal aimed at continuing the programme beyond 2000, - new name for the territories concerned: this would mean helping ‘the West Bank and Gaza Strip’ and not the ‘Occupied Territories’.

• 1998/04/30 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0180/1998
• 1998/01/28 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1997/12/03 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1997)0552 summary

    OBJECTIVE: to amend Regulation No 1734/94/EC on financial and technical cooperation with the Occupied Territories, with a view to including as eligible expenses recurrent costs (administrative expenses) of the Palestinian public institutions and administration and to extend to all eligible projects the 3% interest rate subsidies on loans currently granted by the EIB to environmental projects alone. CONTENT: Regulation No 1734/94/EC established a programme for five years (1994-1998) for financial and technical cooperation with the Occupied Territories (see procedure SYN94002). The main programmes eligible for the programme relate to infrastructures, production, rural and urban development, education, the environment and services. The Community does not presently provide financing for the administrative or recurrent expenditure of the institutions in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The smooth running of the Palestinian administration is essential for the development of the region. That is why the Commission includes the provision of this type of aid for the Palestinian administration in its proposal. In addition to this amendment, the Commission hopes to grant, from the Community's budget, interest rate subsidies of 3% for the loans granted by the EIB on own resources, for all types of projects funded under Regulation No 1734/94/EC and not only environmental projects, as the initial regulation stipulated. The procedures governing the allocation of interest rate subsidies will be established under Regulation No 148/96/EC (MEDA Regulation: see procedure CNS95127) that is to say, consultation of the MED Committee. �

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1997)0552
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0180/1998
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0363/1998
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0300/1998
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0470/1998
• Council position published: 11565/1/1998
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0436/1998
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0702/1998
• : Regulation 1998/2824
• : OJ L 351 29.12.1998, p. 0013

History

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