Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)^f1, and in particular Article 69(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

Council Decision 2006/493/EC^f2 lays down the amount of Community support for rural development for the period from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013, its annual breakdown and the minimum amount to be concentrated in regions eligible under the Convergence Objective.

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 the 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 of around EUR 200 billion. Of that amount, EUR 1 020 million should be made available to all Member States via the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development with a view to developing broadband Internet in rural areas, and to strengthening the operations related to the priorities laid down in points (a) to (f) of Article 16a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005. According to the Declaration of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on the financing of projects in the field of energy and broadband Internet as well as the CAP Health Check in the framework of the European Economic Recovery Plan^f3, EUR 600 million should be available in 2009 while EUR 420 million should be secured through a compensation mechanism at the conciliation of the 2010 Community budgetary procedure and should be available in 2010.

Decision 2006/493/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: