Council Regulation (EC) No 473/2009
of 25 May 2009
amending Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 36 and 37 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas:
The European Council, at its meeting on 11 and 12 December 2008, approved a European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), which envisages the initiation of priority action to enable Member States' economies to adjust more rapidly to current challenges. The EERP is based on an effort equivalent in total to around 1,5 % of European Union GDP, a figure amounting to around EUR 200 billion.
Given the additional resources to be made available as Community support for rural development under the EERP, it is necessary for Member States to revise their national strategy plan (NSP). Since all Member States will receive additional funds from 2009, they should all be required to revise their NSP by 15 July 2009.
The Conclusions of the European Council of 12 December 2008 record the European Council's support for the EERP, in particular, to develop broadband Internet, including in areas that are poorly served. Because rural areas often suffer from insufficient Internet access, support for broadband infrastructures in rural areas should be strengthened with the support of EAFRD. Given the importance of this priority, Member States, in accordance with their needs, should provide in their programmes for operations related to this priority by the end of 2009. A list of types of operations related to broadband infrastructures should be established in order to allow Member States to identify the relevant operations in the context of the legal framework for rural development.
As the additional funds from the EERP will be made available to all Member States in 2009 and 2010, all Member States should provide in their rural development programmes for types of operations related to the new challenges already as from 2009.
The obligation to submit revised rural development programmes by 15 July 2009 should, therefore, apply to all Member States.
Given the additional, specific and binding use of financial resources resulting from the application of compulsory modulation under Regulation (EC) No 73/2009, of the amounts generated under Article 136 of that Regulation and of the amounts to be made available as Community support for rural development under the EERP, the established balance between objectives of support for rural development should not be affected by those financial resources.
Rural areas often lack broadband infrastructure both small and large scale. The latter may be crucial for serving less accessible rural areas. In order to ensure the most effective use of available resources and to allow a substantive development of the broadband Internet in rural areas, the pertinent operations should be considered eligible without limitation in the size of the related infrastructure. Therefore, the existing limitation in size for infrastructure in basic services for economy and rural population should not apply to the operations related to broadband infrastructures.
In order to achieve the specific policy objectives of strengthening the operations related to the new challenges and developing broadband Internet infrastructures, it is necessary to provide that the financial resources to be made available as Community support for rural development under the EERP have to be used for certain specific purposes and to combine this obligation with the existing obligation for the amounts resulting from the compulsory modulation and the amounts generated under Article 136 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009.
Given the importance of the broadband operations at Community level, the increase of the EAFRD contribution foreseen in Regulation (EC) No 74/2009 should also apply to such types of operations in order to facilitate their implementation.
In order to help Member States which are particularly affected by the economic crisis and which have difficulties in providing national financial resources to use the available EAFRD funds, higher co-financing rates should be exceptionally allowed in 2009.
As the measures provided for in the proposed amendments do not prejudice the legitimate expectations of economic operators and should cover 2009, this Regulation should apply from 1 January 2009.
Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 should therefore be amended accordingly.
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: