Agenda 2000: trans-European networks, rules for granting Community financial aid
1998/0101(COD)
The Commission accepts, in full or in principle, those 18 of the European Parliament's 27 amendments which :
- stress the importance of increased aid to the applicant countries and the need for coordination with PHARE and ISPA and provide for higher levels of funding for projects involving links with third countries;
- require the support applications to detail financial sources of finance;
- take account of the affects at regional, national and European level of an eligible project;
- reinforce and detail the scope for the Community to use part of the TEN-budget for risk-capital participation to encourage public-private partnerships;
- relate to publicising the Community contribution;
- specify that only in exceptional cases may Community participation exceed 50%;
- provide that, as a general rule, the duration of subsidies of loan interest shall not exceed 7 years;
- provide for the submission of certain economic analyses and other relevant additional information to the Commission;
- aim to ensure applications' consistency with regional development plans;
- make provisions for evaluation of projects including the environmental impact and possible side-effects;
- require an annual report to be made by the Commission to the European Parliament;
- include a reference amount of 5.500 million ECU for the implementation of the regulation from 2000 to 2006.
The Commission rejects those amendments which:
- require coordination of TEN infrastructure with the other main Community financial instruments;
- specify breakdown of funds by modes or otherwise place restrictions on the way the budget is to be used;
- propose including a new committee procedure in the regulation;
- propose that the Council shall examine whether the regulation may be extended beyond 2006;
- propose that the Commission shall draw up an environmental impact statement on each major Community-financed project;
- develop the same idea on private financing as in the Commission's proposal;
- impose a systematic evaluation of individual projects by both Member States and the Commission.�