On Tuesday 29 May, the European Commission presented the future regulation for the casting of the European Social Fund + (ESF+). One of the major development includes the fact that the Commission is strengthening the link between the post-2020 European Social Fund + and the country specific recommendations, whilst allowing a significant margin of flexibility in the negotiations.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the Commissioner for the euro and Social Dialogue provided more detail and explained that “What we are putting forward is a horizontal approach which concerns all European structural and investment funds, so ESF+ is also included”. He also explained that the country specific recommendations would be the starting point for future programming and added that if needs be, if a member state did not have enough resources in keeping with the recommendations, the Commission “can propose” a reallocation of programme and “in extreme cases”, a suspension.
As EUROPE emphasised earlier in the month, the European Commission withdrew its project to allocate 65% of the European Social Fund (see EUROPE 12016) to the country specific recommendations and replaced it with a more vague mention and reference to “an appropriate amount” (see EUROPE 12022) (art.7 focusing on thematic concentration).
In reply to EUROPE, the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen stated that “On the one hand we want to strengthen the link and on the other hand we need some flexibility – you cannot earmark every single euro that is going to be spent, you need some flexibility”.
This strengthening of the link between the ESF+ and to the European Semester is not appreciated by the regions. One source explained that the challenges identified in the context of the European Semester do not take into account regional disparities. On the contrary, the country specific recommendations have the opposite effect. According to this source “this is an unprecedented attempt at centralisation”.
It should be pointed out that the member states will be able to request a reprogramming during the midterm review included in the regulation containing common provisions presented on 29 May (see EUROPE 12029), in 2024, for 2026 and 2027.
Earmarking resources
The ESF+ is also earmarking some of the resources from the fund to precise areas: therefore, 25% of resources will go to strengthening social inclusion in keeping with the European pillar of social rights, and 10% for “Young people(aged 15-29) not in employment, education or training” (NEETs) in member states where this rate is particularly high. This ceiling has been increased at 15% for the outermost regions. Member states will also have to earmark at least 2% of the ESF+ to projects for tackling material deprivation.
Territorial cooperation
Although the European Commission withdrew implementation of a single member state programme, which caused certain regions a lot of concern at one point, the mention of territorial cohesion is not contained in the regulation if it is not in the recitals. Article 8 on partnerships only mentions civil society and social partners.
Some experts believe that confirms the European Commission’s trend to gradually separate the European Social Fund from Cohesion Policy. The Commission did not present the European Social Fund + or the proposals for the next Cohesion Policy on the same day either, one source indicated.
One European official explained that the European Social Fund would still be based on the three categories of regions (see other article) and multi-governance.
Five funds
The Commission hesitated between several different options before ultimately choosing a merger of five funds: the European Social Fund, the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), EU Program for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) and the European Health Programme.
European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is the subject of a separate regulation due to its very specific objectives and highly political dimension, as well as its budgetary flexibility, explained the Commission.
The latter has extended the regulation's scope to cover all restructuring related to globalisation in keeping with the European pillar of social rights. The eligibility criteria have been set out in article 5 and reduce the number of displaced workers from 500-250.
To consult the regulations: https://bit.ly/2H2lhTm . (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)