Agenda 2000: financing of the common agricutural policy

Several proposed amendments tabled by the Parliament's Rapporteur, Mr. Jan Mulder (NL, ELDR) were approved and the matter was then referred back to committee pursuant to Rule 60 (2). The main gist of the amendments is as follows : - the European Parliament as discharge authority should be informed immediately of any clearance decision and of any decision to exclude expenditure from Community financing and should be informed on a regular basis of any conformity checks planned, in progress or concluded; - new Article 1 (2)(ba) to be used to finance direct aid which is intended as income support and which is paid in accordance with Community rules in the context of the common organisation of the agricultural markets; - financing by the 'Guarantee' section of the fund should not hamper the management and implementation of measures previously not financed by the 'Guarantee' section; - all rural development measures, as well as all other expenditure financed under the 'Guarantee' section of the Fund which are not connected to the common market organisations, should be non-compulsory; - steps must be taken to ensure that measures connected with environmental programmes are financed compulsorily by the Member States; - the possible incorporation of the co-financing principle into 'Guarantee' section expenditure only makes sense if it is done in the context of a reform of the CAP which makes the latter more equitable and ensures that it contributes to a greater extent to the social and economic cohesion of the rural areas of Europe; - enabling the access of Objective 2 regions as well as Objective 1 regions to measures accompanying the restructuring of the fishing fleets; - in addition to measures intended to provide information on the CAP, that there should be certain assessment and monitoring activities for measures financed under the Guarantee section; - the introduction of measures to improve the quality of agricultural products, to promote the production and marketing of traditional regional products, to promote decentralised regional processing and marketing organisation and to promote the processing of quality products by means of knock-on financing; - introduction of measures to stimulate the production of agricultural products for non-food purposes; - support payments shall be paid out in full to the beneficiaries. The payments shall be made in principle at the time laid down in the relevant regulation. Notwithstanding the deadline set, all payments must have been made to the beneficiaries by 31 October of the year in question; - the Council, acting by qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, following consultation of the EP, shall adopt the procedure for financing the measures referred to in Article 2 paragraphs 1 and 2, and lay down general rules for the application of Articles 8 and 9; - any monies from the Guarantee Section remaining unspent under this heading at the end of the financial year shall be transferred to a special reserve, with the funds being available in future years; - detailed rules for the application of Article 3 shall beadopted in accordance with Article 43 of the EC Treaty, rather than Article 13 in the Commission's proposal; - powers and responsibilities of regional governments should be taken into account by Member States, where appropriate, with respect to accredited payment agencies; - the Commission should make available to the Member States the financial resources which the designated services and bodies need in order to be able to make the payments referred to in Article 2 in accordance with Community rules and national laws. Member States shall ensure that the financial resources in question are used without delay and exclusively for their intended purpose; - in the case of rural development programmes, resources shall, during the first year of the application of this Regulation, be distributed amongst either the Member States or the European regions at the request of the Member States/European regions themselves; - in order to ascertain the legality of the payment of expenditure by the payment bodies, the Commission shall also take into account the provisions in force in each Member State concerning state payments.�