Future of Cohesion Policy Lewis Dijkstra Deputy Head of the Analysis Unit Directorate-General for Regional Policy European Commission

Why reform? The context of the EU Cohesion Policy reform Economic, Social and Territorial Challenges – Specific policy reform needs Europe 2020 Strategy Challenges – Cohesion Policy key element for a successful strategy Budgetary Challenges - The Multi annual Financial Framework (MFF) – budgetary figures and governing principles Responding to challenges: Reforming Cohesion Policy 2014-2020

Three categories of regions Geographical coverage of support: A new architecture of Cohesion Policy Three categories of regions Less developed regions: GDP per head < 75% EU Transition regions :GDP per head > 75% and < 90%) More developed regions: GDP per head > 90% Cohesion Fund for Member States with GNI per capita <90%

Budget for Cohesion Policy post 2013   billion EUR (2011 prices) Cohesion Fund* 68.7 Less developed regions 162.6 Transition regions 39.0 More developed regions 53.1 Territorial Cooperation 11.7 Extra allocation for outermost and northern regions 0.9 TOTAL 336.0 Connecting Europe facility for transport, energy and ICT 40.0 376.0 * Cohesion Fund will ring fence 10 billion EUR for the new Connecting Europe Facility

Focus on the less developed regions and Member States will increase Share of budget 2007-2013 2014-2020 - EU15 49% 43% - EU12 51% 57% Aid intensity (EUR/cap/year) 65 52 249 264

Reinforcing the role of the European Social Fund (ESF) Minimum ESF shares established for each category of regions: 25% less developed regions 40% transition regions 52% more developed regions Minimum share of ESF in cohesion budget: 25% as compared to 22% in 2007-2013

Connecting Europe Facility EUR 40 billion will be allocated to the Connecting Europe Facility In addition, EUR 10 billion of Cohesion Fund will be ring-fenced for investments into the core transport corridors under the Facility The Facility will be centrally managed by an executive agency

Increasing the absorption of cohesion funding Strengthen funding absorption: Fix at 2.5% of GNI the capping rates for cohesion allocations Allow for a temporary increase in the EU co-financing rate by 5-10 percentage points when a Member State receives financial assistance from the EU in accordance with Article 136 or 143 TFEU Include conditions in the partnership contracts regarding improvement of administrative capacity

Europe 2020 Strategy Cohesion Policy: key role to achieve EU 2020 goals Future Cohesion Policy must be aligned with Europe 2020 Funding will remain concentrated in less developed regions Europe 2020 Strategy – a new strategy for Europe Smart growth Growth for all Sustainable growth EU Member States have set national 2020 targets

Reinforcing the Strategic Programming Thematic Menu Common Strategic Framework - covers cohesion, rural development and fisheries policies and coordination with other EU instruments Partnership Contract – contains thematic objectives, investment priorities, conditionalities, performance framework

The Thematic Menu – part 1 Strengthening research, technological development and innovation Enhancing accessibility to and use and quality of information and communication technologies (ICT) Enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs Supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors Promoting climate change adaptation and risk prevention Protecting the environment and promoting the sustainable use of resources

The Thematic Menu – part 2 Promoting sustainable transport and removing bottlenecks in key network infrastructures Promoting employment and labour mobility Promoting social inclusion and combating poverty Investing in skills, education and lifelong learning by developing education infrastructure to support youth employment, educational opportunities and higher and vocational education Strengthening institutional capacity and promoting efficient public administration and public services

Increasing the Thematic Concentration of Resources Member States and regions will be required to concentrate resources on a limited number of thematic objectives linked to the Europe 2020 strategy Transition and more developed regions will have to focus their allocation primarily on Energy efficiency Renewable energy SME competitiveness and innovation Less developed regions can allocate funding to a wider range of objectives reflecting their broader development needs 20 % of total

Reinforcing Performance and Focusing on Results: Conditionalities Ex-ante conditionality Ex-post conditionality (performance) Macro-fiscal conditionality – linked to the new economic governance 14

A Stronger Focus on Results: Monitoring Lighter annual reporting on implementation, stronger strategic reports OUTPUTS Obligatory common output indicators with quantified targets Customised indicators where necessary Annual reporting RESULTS Policy decision at national/regional level on intended change for each specific objective Result (outcome) indicator for each specific objective reflecting the intended change, with baseline situation Regular monitoring of evolution of result indicator

A Stronger Focus on Results: Evaluation Change in Result Indicator = effect of intervention + effect of other factors Ex-ante evaluation: Justification for selected thematic objectives contributing to EU2020 & consistency of indicators, targets & financial allocations Basis for later evaluation of impact Evaluation during the programming period – the Evaluation Plan: More evaluation of the effects of interventions (impact) Implementation evaluations when necessary Synthesis evaluation towards the end of programming period Ex-post evaluation by the Commission

Simplification: Reducing the administrative burden The integrated programme approach Member States will have the possibility to prepare and implement multifund programmes combining ERDF, ESF and the Cohesion Fund Introduction of Joint Action Plans Extends the current system of simplified costs Creates significant savings in the management and control costs Introduction of the integrated approach to community-led local development facilitates integrated investment by small communities on harmonised basis

Simplifying and Streamlining the Policy Delivery System Harmonisation of rules on eligibility and durability of different EU funding instruments Eligibility of overheads and personnel costs Consistency and compliance with other EU policies and legislation Elaboration of the use of simplified costs A move towards E-cohesion Proposal: by the end of 2014 enable all beneficiaries to submit information electronically (once) Aim: reduce administrative burden for beneficiaries and lower costs for national and regional administrations

European Territorial Cooperation Territorial cooperation - 3 strands: cross-border, transnational, interregional cooperation Innovations for the period 2014-2020: Separate regulation for European Territorial Cooperation Simplification, reduction of the administrative burden both for programme and project managers and reduction of control layers and duplication of controls (MA = CA)

Reform in a nutshell Concentrating funding on a smaller number of priorities Increasing the use of conditionalities Focusing on results Monitoring and evaluating progress towards agreed objectives Simplifying the delivery system