Second expert group meeting on Draft fiche on delegated act on the European code of conduct on partnership (ECCP) Cohesion Policy

Revised version of the ECCP Following the first meeting of the expert group on the European code of conduct on partnership in January, you have received the second version of the fiche. We will present the revised fiche and provide some feedback to the questions and comments you have raised.

General issues raised by a number of Member States The nature of the delegated act and its purpose The organisation of partnership for the on-going preparation Contribution to/ participation in the decision- making process vs. taking the final decision

Main changes based on the comments received (I) The following changes have been made to the fiche: a clearer distinction between the requirements of the regulations and recommendations clarification that recommendations and best practices are not legally binding for Member States titles of sections have been aligned with Article 5.3 4

5 Main changes based on the comments received (II) best practices have been added specific references to/provisions for territorial cooperation programmes have been added further clarification that rules will fully respect the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and that Member States have the flexibility to pursue main objectives and principles in different ways with regard to their respective institutional and legal framework

Some comments have not resulted in changes to the text, example: (I) Several Member States experts were concerned about the obligation to involve all partners at all stages. Article 5.2 of the CPR stipulates that partners shall be involved at all stages, i.e. in the preparation of Partnership Agreement and progress report and preparation and implementation of programmes, incl. participation in monitoring committees. The fiche does recommend to use the same partners as this is a good practice for coherence and “continuity”, if this is feasible according to the institutional set-up of the Member States (part 4). 6

The question of the conflict of interest was raised by some Member States and the Commission has been asked for additional guidance on this topic. The question is whether the fiche should go into this level of detail. At present the fiche refers to obligations to be laid down by Member States and managing authorities who should provide appropriate information and training on this. 7 Some comments have not resulted in changes to the text, example: (II)

Some Member States experts commented that the level of detail of the fiche is too high and that it addresses all stages from programming to evaluation. However, the fiche is not going beyond the Regulations and it is as detailed as possible, as required by the political agreement, in order to give all stakeholders the best overview possible of what will be covered by the delegated act. There have also been requests for further definitions and precisions. These will be addressed during the expert group meeting as the fiche needs to focus on what the delegated act on the ECCP will cover. 8 Some comments have not resulted in changes to the text, example: (III)

Thank you! Written comments can be sent for the final version by 12 July to: REGIO-DELEGATED-AND-IMPLEMENTING- 9