To present a project for financing with the fund, an application for assistance with the requisites specified in article 10 of Regulation 1164/1994 must be filed, with a prior assessment attached to the proposal from the States which will allow the countries to justify the selection of the projects and explain the impact they will have on the environment.
The Commission will check whether all the conditions for approving financing from the Cohesion Fund are complied with. To do so, it takes into account the criteria indicated in art. 10.5 of the Regulations:
- the mid-term social and economic advantages of the project, demonstrated with an analysis of costs and benefits or cost-efficiency;
- participation in the project to achieve the Community objectives for the environment or the Trans-European Networks of Transport;
- the observance of the priorities established by the Member State;
- the compatibility of the project with the other policies of the Community and, consequently, with the actions undertaken by the Community Structural Funds.
Applications must be processed by the Government responsible for implementing the project through the Cohesion Fund Management Unit, under the Directorate General of European Funds of the Ministry of Economy and the Inland Revenue.
This unit coordinates everything to do with the management of the Fund, including the establishment of the portfolio of projects to be presented for financing from the Fund endowment each year and the filing of applications with the Regional Directorate General for the European Commission.
Click here to download the file with the assistance application form:
- Request for assistance for a project, from the Cohesion Fund.
- Request for assistance for a group of projects from the Cohesion Fund.
The application forms include 4 Appendices: Appendix I, with environmental documents, Appendix II, with the tendering procedure, Appendix III, with economic and financial analyses, and Appendix IV, Manual of specific information on Environmental and Transport projects. To complete Appendix III, please see the following note on how to do so: Archivo formato pdf methodological note , the European Commission document: Archivo formato pdf Guide to cost-benefit analysis of investment projects. (Guide to cost-benefit analysis.) and the note dated 14/04/03 from the European Commission: "Simplification, transparency and coherence in the assessment of large-scale public infrastructure projects: Application of four basic rules".
The European Commission takes decisions on approving Fund assistance for projects and notifies its decisions to the Member State (C.f. Art. 10.6 Regulation 1164/1994). In Spain's case, it notifies them through the Directorate General of European Funds (General Bureau of Hedge and Cohesion Funds) under the Ministry of Economy and the Inland Revenue.