The European Commission announced on Tuesday 8 March a series of legislative and non-legislative proposals under the CARE (Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe) initiative to help local and regional authorities cope with the wave of refugees caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Today’s proposals will make it easier and faster to mobilise Cohesion funds to help people fleeing the war in Ukraine, as well as to support Member States and frontline regions welcoming them”, said Commissioner for Cohesion Policy and Reforms Elisa Ferreira, stressing the extension of the 100% co-financing rate.
These provisions aim to help local and regional authorities to build reception and shelter centres for refugees, to provide them with support in finding employment or simply to provide emergency material assistance (food or other).
The announcement of these measures was made at the informal meeting on Cohesion in Rouen last week (see EUROPE 12901/16) and then detailed by Commissioner Ferreira at the Summit of Cities and Regions in Marseille (see EUROPE 1203/5).
Thus, on the legislative side, the Commission proposes to amend the rules of the Common Provisions Regulation between the Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) to allow for a reallocation of unspent funds to respond to an emergency situation.
Change of rules 2014-2020
The institution is introducing four changes. The first extends the 100% co-financing rate under CRII and CRII+, as announced by the Commissioner to MEPs several weeks ago (see EUROPE 12888/22).
The second legislative change introduces new flexibilities to allow Member States to use the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) to respond to the refugee crisis.
The third aims to make all actions to host refugees eligible from 24 February, the date of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, “reporting” and programme changes will be simplified.
No new money on the table, but available more quickly
The proposal therefore only concerns Cohesion policy and FEAD programmes for the period 2014-2020 and does not change the budgetary commitments, the Commission insists. The proposals aim to accelerate the implementation of the programmes.
This should lead to a concentration of payment appropriations in 2022 and 2023, offset by a reduction in payment needs in the following years. In other words, what will be paid this year will not be paid in the following years, for the simple reason that there is no extra money.
According to the European Commission, the budgetary impact of the application of the 100% co-financing rate for the 2021-2022 accounting year is expected to meet an estimated payment need of nine billion euros until 2022 and one billion euros until 2023.
However, in order to respect the payment ceilings for the years 2022 and 2023, the Commission proposes to cap the total additional payments in relation to the 100% co-financing rate at five billion euros in 2022 and one billion euros in 2023.
The additional amounts will only be paid after all payment claims for the 2021-2022 accounting year have been received, the institution says. Where appropriate, additional payments resulting from the application of the 100% co-financing rate will be made ensuring equal treatment of all programmes concerned.
Payments which cannot be made because of the application of these caps must be paid by the Commission as soon as possible, subject to the availability of funds.
The Commission will “carefully” monitor the impact of the proposed amendment on payment appropriations in 2022 and 2023, taking into account the evolution of the overall situation.
No possibility of transfer between regions or programmes
In addition, the European Commission is calling for the remaining envelope of the REACT-EU initiative for 2022 to be used, which was originally designed to help local and regional authorities deal with the consequences of the pandemic. An envelope of approximately €10 billion remains for 2022.
To view the proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/ng (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)