Brussels, 23/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - Member states had presented 27 partnership contracts to the European Commission on 22 April, the cut-off date for submitting proposals for European structural fund investment strategies. Luxembourg was the only country not to have respected the timeframe and has requested a derogation. Its partnership contract, however, is expected to be drawn up very shortly. The Commission will now have three months to examine each of the proposals and outline the observations it has made to the member states. Negotiations will continue until the adoption and signing of the final agreements, which will link the Commission and national governments in the management of structural funds. Negotiations are already ongoing with the countries that provided their draft agreements earlier. The first signings for these agreements are already expected to take place this May and the last agreements to be signed are expected to occur this autumn at the latest. EU cohesion policy funded programmes will then be able to begin. (MD)