The European Parliament and the Council of the EU met on Thursday 29 October to discuss the regulation on European territorial cooperation (better known as Interreg - see EUROPE 12387/11), without reaching agreement, but having made significant progress.
The co-legislators have therefore agreed on pre-financing: 14% over seven years. Until 2023, the pre-financing rate will be 1%, then 3% from 2023 onwards. This is how the EU Council has won its case against the European Parliament. Its argument would be that over the course of the early years, the projects will not yet have been completed and therefore would not necessarily require large sums of money. The same applies to the clearance process, which will be carried out on an annual basis until 2023, and then after the clearance takes place at the end of the project, the amounts committed will be higher, again according to the EU Council's arguments.
There is still the question of co-financing: the European Parliament would like 85% (to take into account the impact of Covid-19) whereas the EU Council would like 80%. Negotiations are moving towards this latter option.
There is still the question of Interregional innovation investments: the EU Council prefers to put this provision in the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), unlike Parliament.
The date of the next meeting was not yet known at time of going to press. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)