1.In accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, the EAFRD may use up to 0,25 % of its annual allocation to finance the preparatory, monitoring, administrative support, evaluation and control measures, at the Commission’s initiative and/or on its behalf. These actions shall be carried out in accordance with Article 53(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities(1) and any other provisions of that Regulation and of its implementing provisions applicable to this form of execution of the budget.
2.At the initiative of the Member States, for each rural development programme, the EAFRD may finance preparation, management, monitoring, evaluation, information and control activities of programme assistance.
Up to 4 % of the total amount for each programme may be devoted to these activities.
3.Within the limit set out in paragraph 2, an amount shall be reserved for establishing and operating the national rural network referred to in Article 68.
Member States with regional programmes may submit for approval a specific programme for the establishment and the operation of their national rural network.
Details concerning the establishment and the operation of the national rural network shall be fixed in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 90(2).