Strasbourg, 14/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 March, the European Commission unveiled its Common Strategic Framework (CSF) for the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020, setting out useful information for beneficiaries and details of discussions in the talks on the draft legislation to update the cohesion policy. The CSF sets out how partnership contracts will operate under the cohesion policy and how various sources of EU funding can be combined for a single project.
From 2014 onwards, the CSF will be the sole reference document for five funds, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Fund for Maritime and Fisheries Matters, replacing the current strategic guidelines for each fund for 2007-2013.
There is a common desire in the CSF to focus on EU 2020 strategy priorities, but the CSF gives a clearer idea about the contract partnerships by listing five key areas to be taken into account when drawing up the contracts, which will be signed by project leaders, the European Commission and the member states. The contracts must decide the potential and national/regional/local characteristics of the potential project and set out the challenges to be tackled (bottlenecks, lack of innovation, absence of measures to boost jobs and growth, for example). The agreement should state the targets to be achieved and indicators to this end and should cover industry-specific targets and objectives for particular areas and border zones, along with setting out general improvements in coordination among the various local, regional and/or national authorities involved. The contracts must also set out details of funding sources. The regions want to have greater recognition in the contract partnerships, but the CSF does not specify details. In 2014, the CSF will serve to ensure that programmes are able to receive money from more than one EU fund and to ensure that funding is not duplicated and there is no increase in red tape. The Council of Ministers and European Parliament now need to voice their opinions on the draft CSF, which will come into force three months after the legislation updating the Cohesion Fund is decided upon. (MD/transl.fl)