MTR - Legislative changes affecting the ESI Funds

Transcription

1 MTR - Legislative changes affecting the ESI Funds Meeting of the HLG on Monitoring Simplification for beneficiaries, 28/09/2016 Marc Lemaître Director-General Directorate General Regional and Urban Policy

2 Revision of Financial Regulation incl. "Omnibus" Regulation Adopted as part of MTR package on 14 September 2016 Focus of proposed changes for ESI Funds: Reducing administrative burden for beneficiaries Improving synergies with other EU instruments Streamlining financial instruments Increasing flexibility for investments in Member States Proposals take account of first recommendations and issues raised by HLG on simplification

3 E-governance report 2 HLG-related recommendations related to primary legislation in the period: clarifying the articulation between the capacity to archive electronic documents (Article 140 of Regulation No 1303/2013) and the opportunity for auditors to ask for original documents so there is no doubt; promoting the "once only" principle that documents provided once by the beneficiaries should be kept in digital form in order not to have to be produced at each step of the project Art. 140 amendment proposed in omnibus " where documents are kept [in electronic form] no originals are required"

4 Financial instruments report (1) Issues raised during the HLG discussions reflected in the omnibus: "the Commission should ensure that certain privileges which seemed to be offered to the EIB ( ) in terms of entrustment of implementation tasks [ ] should also be offered to Member States or national banks or other public institutions when managing ESI Funds". Public procurement/'eib-type' treatment: new possibility of direct award to publicly-owned banks or financial institutions which meet specific criteria (including: they operate under public policy mandate to carry out economic development activities which contribute to the objectives of ESIF)

5 Financial instruments report (2) Issues raised during the HLG discussions reflected in the omnibus: "[ ] to review and consider concrete issues related to financial instruments including [ ] the impact of the clause on repaying in case of irregularity." Article 40(5a): clarification of possibility for replacement of individual irregular expenditure in FIs

6 Financial instruments report (3) Issues raised during HLG discussions reflected in the omnibus: Harmonisation of rules between ESIF and other EU funding: 2 options for ESIF + EFSI (combination of rules/efsi rules): dedicated Article setting up specific rules for ESIF in the case of combination of ESIF financial instruments with EFSI (new Art. 38(1)(c) and Art. 39a) new FR Article 125: MSs may use ESIF to enhance EFSI risk-bearing capacity, EFSI rules apply, no mention of MS/geographic moving provisions to Title IV CPR in order to be applicable to all ESI Funds (Art. 40)

7 Financial instruments report (4) Other changes in the omnibus: Extension of SME initiative over the whole eligibility period (possibility for MS to use an ex-ante assessment carried out at national or regional level, possibility to use a separate priority axis for the SMEI rather than a separate programme) Enabling financing of negative interest form resources paid back into the FI if such occur despite an active treasury management (Art. 44) Correction of redundant duplication in reporting obligations (Art. 46)

8 Report on access of SMEs to funding (1) Recommendation addressed in the omnibus: Promoting good practice examples such as single calls for proposals for SMEs that bring together different funding streams and would allow SMEs to apply for an overall investment covering different activities. Facilitated through: Provisions allowing expenditure to be reimbursed from different ESI Funds and Union instruments on a pro rata basis in accordance with the document setting out the conditions of support, Art. 65 (11) CPR.

9 Report on access of SMEs to funding (2) Recommendations not included: Make the implementation of the Small Business Act mandatory at national and regional level under ESI Funds -> there is already an ax ante conditionality in TO3, at this stage too late to add such a requirement extending the exemption in Article 61(8) CPR (revenuegenerating projects) to all projects subject to State Aid rules, and introducing more exceptions to the ESI Fund regulations for SMEs and other relevant stakeholders -> SMEs are already covered by the exemption in almost all cases, as State aid intensity limits are in place; some SMEs might benefit from new 1) flat rates provided by MS e.g. in ICT Art aa 2) increased (from to ) exemption in Art i

10 Other changes: flexibility Migration and asylum highlighted as horizontal priority for all ESIF, Art. 9 (second subparagraph) CPR; dedicated investment priority for the support of the reception and social and economic integration of migrants and refugees, Art. 5 (9) ERDF Regulation Streamlining of procedures for the amendment of the partnership agreement through an annual alignment exercise, Art. 16 (4a) CPR Removal of the reference to "small scale" in relation to the possibility of financing cultural and sustainable tourism infrastructure (Art. 3 ERDF Regulation)

11 Other changes net revenue generating operations Additional possibility to determine potential net revenue of an operation based on a flat rate established by the Member State, Art. 61(3) CPR Additional possibility to decrease co-financing rate in order to address revenue generation available throughout the programming period, Art. 61(5) CPR Exemption from need to deduct net revenue for operations with total eligible cost below EUR , Art. 65(8) CPR

12 Other changes Major projects: making it possible to declare expenditure when application is sent to the independent experts (independent quality review) which will encourage use of the option - Art. 102 (6)(a) CPR Inclusion of natural persons as beneficiaries of cohesion policy support; Deletion of requirement of endorsement by European Council for macro-regional strategies; Art. 2 CPR Clarification of rules for community-led local development and ITIs, and in particular on the status of intermediate body; Art. 34, 36 CPR Additional possibilities for the implementation of operations covering different programme areas; Art. 70 CPR

13 Other changes Increasing flexibility for the use of the ESI Funds for technical assistance and clarifications on the calculations of ceilings established; Art. 59, 119 CPR Clarification that programme authorities of ETC programmes may be part of the same public authority, provided that the principle of separation of functions is respected; Art. 123 CPR Clarifications concerning obligations on information and communication of beneficiaries.

14 Thank you!