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).
A European Network for Rural Development for the networking of national networks, organisations and administrations active in the field of rural development at Community level shall be put in place in accordance with Article 66(1).
The aims of the Network shall be to:
collect, analyse and disseminate information on Community rural development measures;
collect, disseminate and consolidate at Community level good rural development practice;
provide information on developments in the Community’s rural areas and in third countries;
organise meetings and seminars at Community level for those actively involved in rural development;
set up and run expert networks with a view to facilitating an exchange of expertise and supporting implementation and evaluation of the rural development policy;
support the national networks and transnational cooperation initiatives.
1.Each Member State shall establish a national rural network, which groups the organisations and administrations involved in rural development.
2.The amount referred to in Article 66(3) first subparagraph shall be used:
(a)for the structures needed to run the network;
(b)for an action plan containing at least the identification and analysis of good transferable practices and the provision of information about them, network management, the organisation of exchanges of experience and know-how, the preparation of training programmes for local action groups in the process of formation and technical assistance for inter-territorial and transnational cooperation.