The urban dimension in the legislative proposals for the future cohesion policy Zsolt Szokolai DG REGIO C.2 Urban development, territorial cohesion
EC proposal for 2014-2020 Alignment of cohesion policy with Europe 2020 Reinforced strategic and integrated programming Thematic concentration Urban dimension Increased role for financial engineering Background Reinforced partnership: increased role for cities in the drafting, implementation and monitoring of the programmes
Reinforced strategic and integrated programming Partnership Contract to set out integrated approach to territorial development: Mechanism at national and regional level to ensure coordination between the CSF Funds The arrrangements to ensure an integrated approach to the use of CSF Funds for urban and territorial development Implementation arrangements for Sustainable urban development and Community-led local development Operational programmes shall set out detailed allocations for investment priorities and integrated strategies in OP List of cities where integrated actions for sustainable development implemented with detailed allocations for integrated urban strategies Identification of the areas (territorial categories) where community-led loval development implemented
ERDF ESF CF Thematic concentration: Thematic objectives 1. Strengthening research, technological development and innovation 2. Enhancing access to, and use and quality of, information and communication technologies 3. Enhancing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, the agricultural sector (for the EAFRD) and the fisheries and aquaculture sector (for the EMFF) 4. Supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors 5. Promoting climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management 6. Protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency 7. Promoting sustainable transport and removing bottlenecks in key network infrastructures 8. Promoting employment and supporting labour mobility 9. Promoting social inclusion and combating poverty 10. Investing in education, skills and lifelong learning 11. Enhancing institutional capacity and an efficient public administration
Thematic concentration Thematic objectives broken down by investment priorities OP: priority axes shall concern one Fund, shall correspond to one thematic objectives and comprise one or more investment priorities Multi-fund OP: ERDF, ESF, CF Specific urban investment priorities: Promoting low-carbon strategies for urban areas Actions to improve the urban environment, including regeneration of brownfield sites and reduction of air pollution Promoting sustainable urban mobility Support for physical and economic regeneration of deprived urban communities
The urban dimension Reinforced role of cities to contribute to Europe 2020: align urban actions to thematic objectives Integrated approach: ERDF supports sustainable urban development through strategies setting out integrated actions corresponding to thematic objectives New instruments to facilitate the implementation of integrated strategies Integrated Territorial Investments Community-led local development Urban development platform Urban innovative actions Networking programme under ETC interregional cooperation
Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) Art 99 CPR Sustainable urban development requires actions where financial contributions come from different thematic objectives and priorities To make this happen, funding OPs need to dedicate specific contributions to such integrated urban actions Every Member State should dedicate at least 5% of the ERDF resources to such integrated urban actions and delegate the management and implementation to the cities (Art 7 ERDF)
Thematic dimension Concentration on priorities of Europe 2020 Smart growth Research & Innovation IT SME Sustainable growth Low-carbon Resource-efficient Risk-prevention Transport Inclusive growth Employment Social inclusion Education Territorial dimension Integrated strategies and actions Cities and towns Deprived urban neighbourhoods Functional urban areas, metropolitan regions Rural areas Governance mechanism I T I
Integrated sustainable urban development Regional ERDF OP National/sectoral ERDF OP Total allocation for ITI at least 5% of Member State s ERDF, delegated to cities I ESF OP T I City 3 City 1 City 2 City 3 City 25 City CF OP + additional ESF and CF, if appropriate
Community-led local development Approach to engage local communities in building place-based bottom-up strategies (Art 28-31 CPR)
One area one community one strategy Focused on specific sub-regional territories Through integrated and multi-sectoral area-based local development strategies. MAs to approve LDS for funding by 2015 Community-led, by local action groups composed of representatives of public and private local socio-economic interests, carrying out: capacity building actions for local actors Draw up project selection criteria, assess and select operations for financing Monitor and evaluation Support from several funds to one strategy is possible but optional for MS. Where several EU instruments are used, management costs can be covered from the lead Fund Support: preparation, implementation, networking, running costs (25%)
Urban development platform (Art 8 ERDF) Set up by the Commission to foster the dialogue and exchange about urban policy at EU level Laboratory for the new instruments Not a funding instrument Selection of cities Cities implementing integrated urban development strategy through ITI with delegation Cities carrying out Innovative urban actions
Urban innovative actions (Art 9 ERDF) Objective: to foster new and innovative solutions in relation to sustainable urban development (not limited to the thematic concentration set out in Art 4 ERDF). support experimentation and non-technological innovation; encourage innovation in programme design and governance Beneficiaries: Public authority representing a city (regardless of the size of the city), as well as groups of cities or metropolitan authorities Selection: through calls for proposals The programmes would be managed by the Commission through a managing body identified in the proposal for a UIA programme 0.2% of the total ERDF (est. EUR 400 million, based on the Commission's MFF proposal). Co-financing rate: 85%
Cities and urban areas benefiting from cohesion policy investments and instruments Integrated and sectoral investments in urban areas ITIs delegated to cities (min. 5% of ERDF of Member States) Urban development platform Cities selected for platform Innovative urban actions (0.2% of ERDF at EU level)
CP financial instruments 2014-2020 Background (Art 32-40 CPR): Increased importance of financial instruments in implementing EU budget resources in future Scope: Clearer and better rules and outsets Harmonised with Council FinancialRegulation No 1605/2002 Common provisions cover all five Funds Widening the scope of investments: Expansion to all thematic objectives & priorities Financial instruments may be supported by several Funds Better combination of financial instruments and other forms support (grants) EU Technical Assistance platform for financial instruments
CP financial instruments 2014-2020: Coverage Definition of financial instruments: Union measures of financial support provided from the budget on a complementary basis in order to address, when necessary and duly justified, one or more specific policy objectives. Such instruments may take the form of loans, including loans with interest rate rebates, guarantees, equity or quasiequity, equity/debt investments or participations, facilitated where appropriate by the Union through risk-sharing instruments, possibly combined with grants. (Financial Regulation, Article 130 of the Presidency compromise of April 2011) MS/MA to conduct ex-ante assessment prior to financial instruments rationale/additionality against existing market gaps and demand/supply, potential private sector involvement target final recipients, products and indicators
CP financial instruments: Implementation options I. Support to financial instruments set up at Union level and managed directly/indirectly by COM in line with FR (Art 33 (1)(a) CPR): OP contribution to be ring-fenced within EU-level instrument for investments in regions and actions covered by OP II. Support to financial instruments set up at national or regional level, managed by or under the MA under shared management rules (Art 33 (1)(b) CPR): a. Standardised instruments ( off-the-shelf ) standardised terms and conditions and minimal requirements will be laid down by COM (by Implementing Act); ready-to-use (Art 33(3)(a) CPR) b. Already existing or newly created instruments, tailored to specific conditions and needs (Art 33(3)(b) CPR)
I. Under shared-management (Art 33(4) CPR) the beneficiary is the body implementing the FIs. Managing Authorities may: I. Invest in the capital of existing or newly created legal entities I. Entrust implementations tasks to I. EIB, II. II. CP financial instruments: Beneficiaries International FIs in which a MS is a shareholder or financial institutions acting in public interest / under control of public authority III. A body governed by public or private law selected in accordance with EU and national rules Undertake implementation tasks directly for in the case of FIs consisting solely of loans and guarantees (MA = beneficiary)
CP financial instruments: Co-financing Contribution to EU-level instruments under Art 33(1)(a): Up to 100% of the paid support may be reimbursed to MA; separate priority axis to be foreseen Phased contributions required to national/regional instruments under shared management (Art 33(1)(b)): Reimbursement of MA in line with co-financing rate of relevant priority axis Additional incentive: EU co-financing rate to increase by 10% if an entire priority axis is implemented through financial instruments (Art 110(5) of proposed CSF Regulation). Final recipients may also receive grant or other assistance from a programme or from anouther instruments
Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities A toolkit for cities (incl 4 tools) Helps to develop a sustainable urban strategy or project with an integrated approach Helps to check the integrated approach of an urban strategy or project and visualises results Helps to improve the city s policies and actions for deprived neighbourhoods Helps to monitor the progress over time including 33 recommended key indicators (e.g. EU 2020) and a spreadsheet to build own monitoring systems
Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities Better results making urban strategies and projects more sustainable fostering integrated thinking and actions raising awareness about potential synergies warning about possible gaps and conflicts assessing progress over time building capacity in urban management finding useful examples and illustrations from other cities exchanging with peer-cities and learning from each other
Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities European platform - Available from May 2012 No obligation for cities, no precondition for funding No fees for cities, no financial support but e-learning, exchanging and capacity building No evaluation or judgement of cities but critical self-assessment, help decision-making No standardisation of urban development adaptable to national context and local situation RFSC demo version http://rfsc-demo.tomos.fr Login = demo Password = demo
Thank you very much for your attention! Zsolt.SZOKOLAI@ec.europa.eu http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/themes/urban/index_en.htm