Transcript Regional Policy

Additionality of Structural Funds
(CPR Article 86, Annex III)
Additionality principle in 2007-2013
• Contributions from the Structural Funds shall not replace
public or equivalent structural expenditure by a Member
State.
• Article 15 of Regulation (EC) 1083/2006
• Level of public or equivalent structural expenditure to be
maintained in 2007-13 by the Member State is set down in
the National Strategic Reference Framework.
• Three stages of verification: ex-ante, mid-term (2011), expost (2016)
• Verification only in the Convergence Objective (including
phasing-out)
What is the problem?
• Results are not fully reliable and comparable across
Member States.
• Ad-hoc verification requires significant resources both in
Member States and the Commission.
• No automatic provision to adjust commitments made on
additionality to fluctuations of the economic cycle.
• System is not aligned with the macroeconomic governance
cycle of the EU.
What are the proposed changes for 2014-20?
• Use the information submitted by Member States in their
Stability and Convergence Programmes (SCPs) for the
verification of additionality.
• SCPs contain information on the main macroeconomic
indicators and their prospects as well as on the main
indicators related to public expenditure.
• Main indicator of public investment in SCPs will be used to
verify additionality: Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF),
mainly for ERDF/CF
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Article 86 and Annex III of CPR
Main advantages
• GFCF which covers capital investments in all functions
of government will be used as a proxy for expenditure
eligible under the Structural Funds .
• Direct link between additionality and the Stability and
Growth Pact
• Possible trade-off between additionality and public
deficit will be tackled in a transparent and public
framework.
• Simple and comparable verification system compared
to 2007-13
Where will the new approach be
implemented?
• In Member States where 70% or more of the
population lives in less developed and transition
regions, additionality will be verified at national
level.
• Where this share is between 15% and 70%,
additionality will be verified at national and regional
level.
• Additionality will not be verified in Member States
where the share is below 15%.
Who will be covered?
BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE
EL ES FR IT
CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI
SK FI
SE UK HR
2007-2013
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2014-2020
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• Additionality will be verified in 20 countries in 2014-20.
• No verification in DK, IE, CY, LU, NL, AT, FI, SE.
• Changes: Austria (no verification in 2014-2020) and
Croatia (verification in 2014-2020 only)
Which information will have to be
provided?
BE BG CZ DE EE
EL
ES
FR IT
LV
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HU MT PL
PT
RO SI
SK UK HR
National
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Regional
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• All MS where additionality applies will provide information
at national level.
• Eight MS (BE, DE, EL, ES, FR, IT, SI, UK) will have to
provide information at regional level as well.
How will the new approach work in practice?
• Three stages of verification:
• Ex-ante: negotiation of the Partnership Agreement
• Mid-term: 2018
• Ex-post: 2022
• Level of public expenditure (GFCF) to be maintained in
2014-20 will be agreed between Commission and Member
State. Reference to average level of public expenditure in
2007-13.
• Macroeconomic conditions, exceptional circumstances and
significant changes in the national allocations from the
Structural Funds will be taken into account.
How will the new approach work in practice?
• 8 MS will also have to submit information on the level of
public expenditure at regional level to verify that this
expenditure is actually targeting the less developed and
transition regions.
• Following the mid-term verification, the level of public
expenditure can be revised if the economic situation of the
Member State has significantly changed.
• Ex-post verification: Additionality principle is respected if
the annual average of public expenditure in 2014-20 is
equal or higher than the one set out in the Partnership
Agreement.
Financial correction
• Commission can decide to carry out a financial correction
following the ex-post verification if the difference between
the reference level of public expenditure in the Partnership
Agreement and the level achieved is more than 3%.
• The financial correction shall not exceed 5% of the Funds
allocation to the Member State concerned for the less
developed and transition regions for the full programming
period.
Non-transferability of
resources
(CPR Article 85)
Non-transferability of resources
• As a general rule the allocation to each category of region within
an MS is non-transferable
• As a derogation from this general rule and in duly justified
circumstances linked to the implementation of concrete thematic
objectives, the COM may accept a transfer up to 2% of the total
appropriation for a category of regions to other categories of
regions
• This transfer will be based on the proposal of the MS at the initial
submission of the Partnership Agreement
• No transfers between categories of region later during the
programming period
• The transferred funds are subject to the rules applicable to the
category of region for the benefit of which the funding is used.
Modulation of co-financing
rates
(CPR Article 111)
Modulation of co-financing rates
• Maximum co-financing rates established in Article
110
• Possibility ("may") for modulation provided in
Article 111
• Largely based on current provisions for the period 20072013 (Article 52 of Council Regulation 1083/2006)
• Provides a rationale for the modulation of co-financing
rates at a national and regional level
Common indicators
in Fund-specific regulations
(ERDF Article 6/Annex, ESF Article 5/ Annex,
CF Article 4/Annex, ETC article 15/Annex)
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Common indicators
• Objectives:
• To aggregate information across programmes
• To streamline the list of indicators currently used
• Should be complemented with programmespecific indicators, where appropriate
• Name of indicators: In annexes to Fund-specific
regulations
• Definitions: In draft guidance papers by DG
EMPL and REGIO
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Discussion with Member States
• Commission has presented to and discussed
with Member States draft indicators and
definitions in dedicated working groups and
evaluation partnership/network
• Commission can provide list of comments and
record of discussion
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Baselines and targets
for common indicators
• ERDF, CF, and ESF output indicators:
Baselines zero
• ESF result indicators with targets :
Baselines using latest available data
• ERDF, ESF and CF:
Cumulative target values for 2022
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Definitions for common indicators
Definitions in draft guidance papers
ERDF & CF
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/information/e
valuations/guidance_en.cfm#1
ESF
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=701&la
ngId=en
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Technical assistance
(CPR Articles 51-52 and 109, ETC Article 16)
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Technical assistance
Technical assistance:
• Does not fall under any of the thematic objectives set
out in Article 9 of CPR
• Is excluded from the calculations pertaining to thematic
concentration (revised Article 16)
• Technical assistance programmes are subject to
certain exceptions under Article 24 and the
Council has proposed specific content for
technical assistance priority axes under cohesion
policy (revised Article 87)
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Technical assistance at the initiative of
the Commission (Article 51)
• The scope of support remains similar to that in
the period 2007-2013
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Reinforced focus on preparation of operations
(incl. financial instruments, major projects, joint
actions plans e.g. JASPERS)
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Technical assistance of the Member State
(Article 52)
• Art 52 sets out actions that can be supported - Fund specific
rules may complement or restrict this list
• Clarification of issues raised in 2007- 2013. It is clearly allowed to
support:
• Reinforcement of the administrative capacity of beneficiaries
(e.g. training);
• Reduction of administrative burden incl. the development of
electronic data exchange systems (e-cohesion);
• Actions pertaining to programmes of preceding and
subsequent programming periods (e.g. activities related to the
closure of previous programmes, or preparations for the
following programming period).
• Support to applicants is also possible ("Preparation")
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Technical assistance of the Member State
(Article 109 CPR, Article 16 ETC)
• Investment in growth and Jobs
• Up to 4% of Funds allocated to programmes under each
category of region. Flexibility within a MS across programmes
in the same category of region.
• Each Fund can finance TA operations eligible under (=linked
to) other Funds – only 1 mono-fund priority axis or OP needed
for TA, even in case of multi-fund programmes
• At least 90% of the allocation from each Fund should be used
to support thematic objectives: allocation to TA limited to 10%
per Fund within a category of region
• ETC
• Up to 6% of the total ERDF allocation to an operational
programme, but not less than EUR 1 500 000.
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Information and Communication
2014-2020
(CPR Articles 105 – 107, Annex V)
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Information and Communication
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Continuation
Simplification
More Transparency
Clearer rules and responsibilities
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Continuation
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7 year Communication strategy
List of Operations
Programme launch event
Major annual information activity
Billboards & Plaques (>EUR 500,000)
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Simplification
• Information and communication rules now part
of main regulation, implementing act covers EU logos,
sample templates for billboards & plaques
• 7 year communication strategy with yearly
updates (no Commission approval, but
Monitoring Committee adoption)
• Easier use of Technical Assistance in case of
joint communication activities (e.g. national
ESF & ERDF/CF campaigns) (Art. 109)
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Increased transparency
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List of operations with clearer, more detailed
and more comparable information
Single website (or portal) for all EU Regional
policy programmes in a Member State
Better visibility: projects to acknowledge EU
funding on website; use of posters for all
projects
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Clarification of existing rules
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Better definition of communication
responsibilities of Managing Authority and
beneficiary
Communication officers network strengthened
and clearer role for national information officer
(Responsible for the co-ordination of communication
actions at national level in the Member State and the
single Regional policy website or portal)
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Corrigendum
• Examples of operations in two languages
• In Annex V, 2.1. 2.e) the word "also" is
missing:
• … giving examples of operations, by operational
programme, on the single website or on the
operational programme's website that is
accessible through the single website portal; the
examples should also be in a widely spoken
official language of the European Union other
than the official language or languages of the
Member State concerned;
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Thank you!
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