On the occasion of the announcement, on Thursday 28 May, of a series of measures under the cohesion policy, the European Commission presented several amendments to the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR) as well as concerning several structural and investment funds, in order to take account of the impact of Covid-19 on European economies and regions.
"The changes introduced in the Common Provisions Regulation (aim) in order to introduce some of the lessons of the crisis", said the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, who indicated that the post-2020 cohesion policy will have a increased remit to support the health, tourism and culture sectors.
The proposed amendments to the CPR proposal are limited and targeted and do not aim to change the architecture, but make limited adjustments without requiring a new impact assessment, explains the European Commission in the text of the Regulation.
These proposals are complemented by a parallel proposal to amend the proposal for a Regulation on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF), with a view to strengthening health systems and supporting culture and tourism.
It is also accompanied by a proposal to amend the proposal for a Regulation on the European Social Fund plus (ESF+) to boost youth employment, combat child poverty and put more emphasis on supporting the labour force needed for the green and digital transition.
In addition, Member States will in fact have additional flexibility, compared to the current programming period, to transfer resources between funds at any time during the programming period, explains the European Commission.
The proposal also introduces additional flexibility to allow the phasing of small operations in order to give Member States more time to complete unfinished operations under the 2014-2020 programmes.
Building on the experience of the two Coronavirus Response Investment Initiatives (CRII and CRII+) (see EUROPE 12460/3), the Commission also proposes to introduce a fully-fledged crisis response mechanism for future crises, to allow temporary measures to be put in place as soon as possible and to make the best use of the funds available. "This mechanism can be promptly invoked should further shocks strike the Union in the coming years", the institution explains. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens and Damien Genicot)