In future, these instruments will provide the basic legislative acts for Community expenditures in support of external cooperation programmes including thematic programmes and will replace the existing thematic regulations.

With regard to Community funding, the Commission proposed two major spending programmes for the period 2007 to 2013, namely the Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological development and Demonstration (RTD) activities[5] and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme[6].

This spending level should be reached rapidly, with the possibility to progressively increase it further, if appropriate, to bring the combined EU (Community, national and intergovernmental) security research investment level close to that of the U.S.

However, EC spending on social infrastructure is planned to rise, dormant programmes have been re-directed, and spending better focused on those priorities established by the PfA.

These common rules on eligible expenditure apply to the following forms of assistance from the Funds: operational programmes (OPs), single programming documents (SPDs), Community Initiative programmes (CIPs), technical assistance and innovative actions.

(5) Whereas the responsibility for checking the Fund's Guarantee Section expenditure lies, in the first place, with the Member States, which designate the authorities and bodies empowered to effect expenditure; whereas the Member States must carry out this task fully and effectively; whereas the Commission, being responsible for implementing the Community budget, must verify the conditions under which payments and checks have been made; whereas the Commission can only finance expenditure where those conditions offer all necessary guarantees regarding compliance with Community rules; whereas, in a decentralised system of management of ...[+++] Community expenditure, it is essential that the Commission, as the institution responsible for funding, its entitled and enabled to carry out all checks on the management of expenditure it considers necessary and that there should be full and effective transparency and mutual assistance between the Member States and the Commission;