ESF Committee - Plenary Session 30 May 2007

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities DG ESF071129/2 v.2 ESF Coordination ESF Committee - Plenary Session 30 May 2007 Minutes Chair: Lenia Samuel, Deputy DG DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities European Commission Note: meeting documents and audio recordings are on the ESF CIRCA website The Chair opened the second plenary meeting of the European Social Fund Committee in ADOPTION OF DRAFT AGENDA (ESF070530/1) The draft agenda (ESF070530/1) was adopted without change. 2. ADOPTION OF DRAFT MINUTES The draft minutes of meeting of 23 March 2007 (ESF070530/2) were adopted without change. 3. ESF COMMITTEE TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP: DEBRIEFING The ESF Committee Technical Working Group (TWG) had met on May and 29 May. The ESF TWG meeting on May in Prague had dealt with the detailed presentation of the ESF Implementing Regulation (see presentations on CIRCA website). This presentation had been very much welcomed by participants and the possibility to provide similar presentations in the Member States would be explored. Financial engineering, in particular micro credit, had also been examined on May for which exchange of experiences would be welcome. The TWG meeting on 29 May had dealt with several points including the preparation of the ESF Committee meeting on 30 May. Main issues discussed had included the possibility to declare indirect costs on a flat rate basis in the case of ESF grants, developments in the COCOF on eligible expenditure, and the application of the N+2 rule ( ). The TWG had also been informed on Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2)

2 communication developments (new ESF website, 50th anniversary of ESF celebration day and collection of ESF projects). 4. AD HOC GROUP ON ESF SUPPORT FOR SOCIAL PARTNERS: DEBRIEFING The Commission reported on the second and third meetings of the Ad Hoc Group on ESF support for social partners on 27 April and 29 May These meetings of the Ad Hoc Group had allowed for very useful discussions. At the meeting on 27 April, the discussions had focused on the European understanding of social dialogue and on the analysis of the results of the Commission survey on national governments plans regarding the implementation of Article 5 3 of ESF Regulation. Finnish representatives from government and social partners had reported on their experience regarding the involvement of social partners in the ESF. At the meeting on 29 May, the Commission has answered questions related to the eligibility of actions for ESF support under Article 5 3. Representatives from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Portugal and Slovakia (governments and social partners) had reported on their plans to implement ESF support for social partners. These exchanges had been assessed as very positive and useful by participants. A fourth and last meeting of the Ad Hoc Group had been planned for 28 November 2007 to pursue the exchange of information on national plans to implement Article 5 3 of the ESF Regulation. Employers and trade unions representatives reiterated their support for the activities of the Ad Hoc Group on ESF support for social partners which they regarded as a very positive exercise. At the request of Business Europe the Commission agreed to revise the Social Partners as ESF beneficiaries fiche with a view to a formal endorsement at the next meeting of the ESF Committee. At the request of ETUC the Commission agreed to keep ESF support to social partners as a standing point on future agendas of the Committee and to provide in early 2008 an analysis of ESF OPs with regard to support for social partners. 5. RECENT ESF-RELATED DEVELOPMENTS AT COMMISSION LEVEL 4th Cohesion Report The Chair informed the Committee of the adoption by the Commission of the 4 th Report on Economic and Social Cohesion (Article 159 of the Treaty). The Cohesion Report, which is submitted every three years, reviews the progress made towards economic and social cohesion as well as the contribution of cohesion policy and other policies to it. The 4 th Cohesion Report proposes questions for a wide debate on the future of cohesion policy. These questions address the socio-economic and institutional context in which cohesion policy will operate, as well as the changes needed to make the policy to operate effectively in this new context. The Chair announced also the Cohesion Forum due to take place on 27 and 28 September

3 Consultation of Block Exemption Rules The Chair reminded the Committee of her letter concerning the consultation launched by the Commission on new draft rules concerning the exemption of subsidies from the notification obligation laid down in EC Treaty State Aid rules. The new Block Exemption Regulation proposes to simplify and consolidate into one text five existing block exemptions, including the one concerning employment aid, training aid and regional aid. Subsidies fulfilling the conditions laid down in the new Regulation would be exempted from prior notification to the Commission. The Chair invited ESF Committee members to submit comments on the EUROPA website by 3 June She announced the intention of the Commission to adopt the final version of the Block Exemption Regulation before the summer of NATIONAL STRATEGIC REFERENCE FRAMEWORKS AND ESF OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES State of progress of NSRFs and OPs adoption The Chair updated the Committee on the state of progress of NSRFs and OPs. good progress had been made: 10 NSRFs had been adopted while additional NSRFs were expected to be adopted soon. the Commission expected to receive in total 344 OPs, of which 117 ESF OPs. 109 ESF OP had been submitted to the Commission with one (Denmark) adopted. the global allocation to ESF would amount to over 75 billion, with about 70% of it in convergence regions. 8 Member States had submitted multi-objective ESF programmes (16 ESF programmes in total) representing some 40% of the global ESF envelope. The distribution of funds over the objectives had raised problems with the Commission as Article 22 of the General Regulation did not allow using convergence budget for regional competitiveness regions, and vice versa. ESF fund allocation was as follows: improving human capital (approx. 33% of ESF), improving access to employment (approx. 30%), adaptability of workers and firms (approx 18%) and social inclusion (approx. 10%). The Chair remarked that the share of social inclusion was much higher in regional competitiveness and employment regions than in the convergence regions while institutional capacity expenditure took up approx. 4% of ESF in the convergence regions. The Chair reminded the Committee that as negotiations on operational programmes were still ongoing and not all programmes had been received, the above data were very provisional but gave a fair idea of the future of the ESF. 3

4 Presentations by Member States of their NSRF and OPs Pernille von Lillienskjöld, Senior Adviser at the National Agency for Enterprise & Construction in Denmark, and Ulrike Rebhandl, Federal Ministry for Economy and Labour in Austria, presented their respective NSRF and OP. Both presentations were well received and attracted significant interest. Comments related in particular to the mainstreaming of EQUAL through ESF support for transnational and interregional measures, to the meaning of growth drivers (innovation, entrepreneurship, new technologies and human resources development) on which public and private beneficiaries are expected to focus and the timing of the launch of regional projects in Denmark. 7. RAISING THE VISIBILITY OF THE ESF Katre Merimäe, communication manager, Ministry of Social Affairs, presented ESF communication activities in Estonia, in particular how communication tools are used to make ESF visible and understandable in Estonia. Valerie Robinson, communication manager, Information Office of the National Development Plan (NDP) and of the EU Community Support Framework (CSF), presented ESF communication activities in Ireland. Both presentations were well received and their quality was appreciated. 8. THEMATIC EVALUATIONS OF ESF SUPPORT ( ) The Commission presented two evaluations of the ESF support to the Management of Economic Change and Restructuring and to capacity building, whose objective is to take stock and to draw lessons from the different experiences in the programming period in order to provide guidance during the programming. The Commission announced the publication of both evaluations in due course. ESF support to restructuring management The Commission presented the objectives of the thematic evaluation of ESF support to the management of economic change and restructuring, i.e. to map ESF support for adaptability and for the mitigation of the negative consequences of restructuring, to describe the ESF added value and how to ensure effectiveness of ESF support. Comments (DK, DE) related to the potential added value of the recommendations of the evaluation, in particular with regards to the simplification of procedures. In response to a UK question, the Commission confirmed that the results of this study would be taken into account in operating the EGF (European Globalisation Fund). ESF support to administrative capacity building The Commission presented the thematic evaluation of the ESF support to administrative capacity building which covered the analysis of ESF interventions and those from other international donors (World Bank, Phare) as well as of literature on institutional capacity. 4

5 The evaluation had identified as main success factors of institutional capacity interventions, the involvement of stakeholders, the support from the political level, flexibility in implementation, the reinforcement of existing structures and follow-up activities. 9. INSTRUMENT FOR PRE-ACCESSION ASSISTANCE (IPA) See PowerPoint on ESF Committee CIRCA website The Chair reminded the Committee that Regulation 1085/2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) mainly concerns Turkey and the Balkans countries which will be assisted in their progressive alignment with the standards and policies of the European Union with a view to membership. The Commission presented the main principles of the IPA Regulation which involves 5 components: Transition Assistance and Institution Building, Cross- Border Cooperation, Regional Development, Rural Development and Human Resources Development. The latter shall support the candidate countries (Croatia, Turkey and FYROM) in policy development as well as preparation for the implementation of the European Social Fund. The ESF Committee agreed to be consulted on the Human Resources Development Operational Programmes for the Candidate Countries (Croatia, Turkey, FYROM), prior to their adoption by the Commission through the same procedure as for the ESF Operational Programmes. 10. OTHER BUSINESS The Chair confirmed that the next meeting of the ESF Committee would be on 29 November 2007 in Brussels. The Chair thanked Florence Cambier who had assisted the ESF Committee for 6 years in a very efficient manner. On behalf of the whole Committee, she wished her good luck in her new job. The Chair closed the meeting by thanking the Committee members for their constructive participation and the interpreters. 5