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The aim of SAPARD (Special Accession Programme for Agriculture & Rural Development) is to help the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe deal with the problems of the structural adjustment in their agricultural sectors and rural areas, as well as in the implementation of the acquis communautaire concerning the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and related legislation. It is designed to address priorities identified in the Accession Partnerships.
SAPARD was established by Council Regulation 1268/1999 in June 1999. It only finances agricultural and rural development measures.
SAPARD objectives are:
- to establish a framework of EU aid for sustainable agriculture and sustainable rural development for the 10 Central and East European applicant countries during the pre-accession period;
- to solve problems of long-term adjustment of the agricultural sector and of rural areas;
- to help implement the acquis communautaire (the EU legislation) with regard to the Common Agricultural policy and related policies.
Until 2003 the overall annual budget for the 10 countries of Central and Eastern Europe was € 560 million.
The amount of direct subsidy to each of the countries has been determined on the basis of objective criteria such as: rural population, agricultural area, Gross Domestic Product in purchasing parity, and the specific territorial situation.
The amount that will be granted for a project may represent up to 50% of the approved eligible costs (of which 75% are covered by EU and 25% by the Bulgarian national budget).
Once approved for SAPARD financing, the projects have to be first financed by the beneficiaries, and then the SAPARD programme will reimburse the eligible costs.
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