At the request of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the competent ministers will be invited to speak on future challenges in the programming of the funds for cohesion policy 2021-2027 and, in particular, the operational links between EU cohesion policy and the current European semester (see EUROPE 12272/13).
Thus, during the public debate, Romania hopes to have a return to the political level – as was done at the Employment and Social Affairs Council on the “socialisation” of the semester – on the recent territorialisation of the European semester budget process (see EUROPE 12271/15) and its articulation with cohesion policy.
It also expects that the delicate issue of macroeconomic conditions, a new feature introduced in the context of the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework, will be mentioned. This mechanism aims to make commitments and payments from the Structural and Investment Funds conditional on compliance with macroeconomic conditions. But it was not convincing in the eyes of some observers, as in the case of Portugal and Spain (see EUROPE 11669/2).
The new enabling conditions, in particular to accelerate social convergence (see EUROPE 12269/12), should also be on many lips.
In addition, during this EU Council, which should be fairly brief (around 3 hours), the Presidency will take stock of the negotiations on the various texts of cohesion policy that have been partially agreed under its mandate. These are four texts in the context of the future cohesion policy: Interreg, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund +, and the umbrella regulation laying down common provisions between the Structural and Investment Funds.
On the latter text, the Presidency succeeded in having the seven negotiating blocks adopted, in particular Block 2 on conditions for eligibility and performance framework.
To consult the state of play of the negotiations on the legislative package for cohesion policy 2021-2027: https://bit.ly/2X3BBjA.
To consult the Presidency document on the future challenges of cohesion policy: https://bit.ly/2N4Mvkm (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)