Culture Community programmes: participation of the Czech republic in Raphaël

OBJECTIVE: within the framework of the pre-accession strategy, to open up the Community's Raphael programme to the Czech Republic for the period 1998 to 2000. COMMUNITY MEASURE: Council Decision 98/656/EC adopting the conditions and procedures for the participation of the Czech Republic in the Community programme in the field of culture. SUBSTANCE: Decision 2/98 by the EC-Czech Republic Association Council lays down the conditions and procedures for the Czech Republic's participation in the Community programme in the field of cultural heritage. In particular, the Czech Republic: - shall participate in all actions of the programme under the same conditions as the Member States; - shall apply the same terms and conditions for the submission, assessment and selection of applications as those applying to the Member States; - shall include in all transnational measures and projects proposed a minimum number of partners from the Member States; - shall pay a contribution to the budget of the Community to cover its participation in the programme. This will cover the financial aid provided to Czech participants under the Raphael programme and the additional administrative costs imputable to the management of the programme by the Commission. It will cover the country's contribution for 1998, 1999 and 2000 and will be paid annually. To some extent, the Community will contribute to these contributions by deducting the necessary amounts from the annual financial allocation to PHARE/Czech Republic. However, PHARE would not cover the administrative costs imputable to the management of the programme by the Commission, which are to be met in their entirety from the Czech Republic's national budget. In total, this financial contribution amounts to ECU 499 323 for the three years concerned (of which ECU 240 000 comes under PHARE). The Czech Republic will be involved in monitoring its participation in the Raphael cultural programme in order to prepare for the Community decision-making process with a view to accession (particularly by attending coordination meetings before meetings of the programme's management committee and by being informed of the results of these meetings). ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1 December 1998. The Czech Republic's participation is valid for the duration of the programme (i.e. until 31 December 2000). �