The European Commission has reportedly arbitrated for a reinforcement of the contribution of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund plus (ESF+) to the action of the Just Transition Fund (JTF), to achieve a financial effort on common objectives of up to €50 billion, according to a provisional version of the updated regulation consulted by EUROPE.
However, the amount of new money provided to finance the JTF, which would amount to €7.5 billion (as opposed to €5 billion in an earlier version of the Regulation – see EUROPE 12400/8), remains more or less the same.
Thus, where the European Commission envisaged that a project financed by the JTF should be “supplemented by at least an equal amount of resources” from the ERDF and the ESF+, it now suggests in Article 6 of the Regulation that “the total of the ERDF and ESF+ resources transferred to the JTF priority shall be at least equal to one and a half times the amount of support from the JTF [...] but shall not exceed three times that amount”. Thus, the Commission hopes for a financial capacity that would go beyond €30 billion and could “potentially” go up to €50 billion with the help of InvestEU, where, in an earlier version, it envisaged a financial effort ranging from €10-15 billion.
However, this approach, if confirmed, would displease some observers within the Brussels bubble, who might see it as a “sleight of hand” by the Commission, in the sense that the sums announced, although much larger than the €12 billion envisaged by the former Budget Commissioner, Günther Oettinger (see EUROPE 12345/8), are in fact no more and no less than the direct consequence of a reorientation of ERDF and ESF+ funding.
In addition, it should be noted that the Regulation now seems to apply to all Member States, whereas the fund, in its previous version, at least until December, was intended for 10 Member States. As a result, the scope of the Fund’s work would expand, and its financial impact at the local level would diminish.
Another potential source of concern is governance, which remains rather vague in the regulations. According to the sustainable investment plan (see other news), it will be up to the Member States to determine the eligible territories. For the time being, the role of local and regional authorities appears to be unclear.
A strange thing caught the eye of one of our sources: the budget line in which the Fund is included in the future multiannual financial framework. While the 8th Structural and Investment Fund should be included in the portion dedicated to cohesion and values, it is found in the budget line dedicated to natural resources and the environment, leaving some doubt as to the real nature of the Fund.
The Just Transition Fund will be presented in Strasbourg by the European Commission on Tuesday 14 January, on the sidelines of the plenary session. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)