Support for pre-accession measures for agriculture and rural development in the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the pre-accession period

PURPOSE : to present a proposal which aims to amend Regulation 1268/1999/EC on Community support for pre-accession measures for agriculture and rural development in the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the pre-accession period. CONTENT : in mid August 2002 considerable damage was caused inter alia in various candidate countries by floods. The Czech Republic and Slovakia in particular were badly affected. The Community needs to be able to respond appropriately to such exceptional natural disasters whenever they occur in candidate countries through various instruments including the pre-accession SAPARD instrument set up under Council Regulation 1268/1999/EC. The scope of the SAPARD instrument does not however have any specific provisions relating to actions taken in the wake of natural disasters. However, the Commission considers that actions to help to restore rural areas following exceptional natural disasters can be considered as falling within the scope of SAPARD and that consequently specific provisions should be made for such an action within Regulation 1268/1999/EC. In view of the Commission, the appropriate action is to increase the ceiling on public aid from 50% to 75%, and the Community contribution from 75% to 85% of public aid, for relevant projects in areas affected by exceptional natural disasters.�