Cohesion Fund

The Commission, in amending this proposal for codifying Regulation 1164/04/EC on the Cohesion Fund, has taken full account of the purely formal or editorial changes proposed by the “Consultative Working Party of the Legal Services”. In addition, the amended proposal includes Corrigenda to Regulation 1264/1999/EC.

The amendments are as follows:

- The addition of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the Regulation thereby making them eligible for assistance from the Fund.

- For the purpose of applying the Regulation, GNP will mean GNI for the year at market prices as provided by the Commission’s ESA 95.

- From 1 January 2000, total resources available for commitments for Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland in the period 2000 to 2006 will be EUR 18 billion at 1999 prices.

- The total available for commitment for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia from the date of accession until 2006 will be EUR 7 5905 billion at 1999 prices. The annual commitment appropriations for that period will be EUR 2 6168 billion  for 2004; EUR 2 1517 billion for 2005; and EUR 2 8220 billion for 2006.

- For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, the Funds expenditure will only be deemed eligible after 1 January 2004 – provided that all requirements of the Regulation have been fulfilled.

- The introduction of special provisions for a new Member States who has benefited from IPSA have been included in the Regulation. For example, public procurement matters, which have been the subject of an invitation to tender on the date of accession will be implemented in accordance with rules laid down in that invitation to tender. The provisions of Article 165 of the Financial Regulation (1605/2002) applicable to the general budget of the European Communities, however will not apply.

- Changes to the indicative allocation among the beneficiary Member States of the total resources of the Cohesion Fund have been made in Annex I. They now read:

- Greece: 16% to 18% of the total;

- Spain 61% to 63.5% of the total;

- Ireland 2% to 6% of the total;

- Portugal 16% to 18% of the total

- For the new Member States, the total resources of the Cohesion Fund will be allocated according to the following schema:

- Czech Republic: 9.76 to 12.28% of the total;

- Estonia: 2.88% to 4.39% of the total;

- Cyprus: 0.43% to 0.84% of the total;

- Latvia: 5.07% to 7.08% of the total;

- Lithuania: 6.15% to 8.17% of the total;

- Hungary: 11.58% to 14.61% of the total

- Malta: 0.16% to 0.36% of the total;

- Poland: 45.65% to 52.72% of the total;

- Slovenia: 1.72% to 2.73% of the total;

- Slovakia: 5.71% to 7.72% of the total.