Agenda 2000: trans-European networks, rules for granting Community financial aid

The Council common position accepts, fully or in principle, 6 of the 12 amendments proposed by the European Parliament and incorporated by the Commission into its amended proposal. The amendments accepted by the Council relate, notably, to: - requiring that the application for support include a detailed breakdown of the sources of finance (regional, local and private); - detailing the scope of the Community to use part of the TEN budget for risk-capital participation; - specifying that, if part of the TEN-budget is used for risk-capital participation, there needs to be a substantial private sector investment following the Community's participation; - requiring the applicant for Community support to supply the Commission with any other relevant additional information which the Commission requires, such as financial support from other sources and cost/benefit analyses; - requiring the Commission, once a year, to submit a report to the European Parliament on the substance and implementation of the current multi-annual programme; - introducing a revision clause which stipulates that the Commission must present a detailed report. The Council did not accept the amendment including a reference amount of EUR 5,500 million for the period 2000-2006. The Council introduced such an article but with a symbolic reference amount of EUR 1 and a declaration in the minutes stating that the financial figure will be included before the final adoption of the regulation. It should be noted that the Council introduced several new provisions concerning the possibility for the Commission to use part of the TEN budget to engage in risk-capital funding. The Council also introduced several new provisions concerning multi-annual programming. �