1.All or part of the interim payments at the level of priority axes or programmes may be suspended by the Commission where:
(a)there is a serious deficiency in the management and control system of the programme which affects the reliability of the procedure for certification of payments and for which corrective measures have not been taken; or
(b)expenditure in a certified statement of expenditure is linked to a serious irregularity which has not been corrected; or
(c)there is a serious breach by participating countries of their obligations under Article 114.
2.The Commission may decide to suspend all or part of interim payments after having given the participating countries the opportunity to present their observations within a period of two months.
3.The Commission shall end suspension of all or part of interim payments when the participating countries have taken the necessary measures to enable the suspension to be lifted. Where the required measures have not been taken by the participating countries, the Commission may adopt the decision to cancel all or part of the Community contribution to the cross-border programme, in accordance with Article 138.