1. ELIGIBILITY SEMINAR Brussels 4 October 2004
The European Social Fund
ELIGIBILITY SEMINAR
Brussels
4 October 2004 1

2. The European Social Fund
Rule N° 11 (4):
Expenditure by public administrations relating to the execution of operations – outside TA 1

3. Rule N° 11 (4) The ESF shall (Art. 2 ESF Regulation):
The European Social Fund
Rule N° 11 (4)
The ESF shall (Art. 2 ESF Regulation):
support and complement activities of the Member States directed towards developing the labour market and human resources,
and
in particular in the context of their multiannual national action plans for employment 1

4. The European Social Fund
Rule N° 11 (4)
Rule 11.4 specifies that certain costs might be eligible, provided that they does not arise from the statutory responsibilities of the public authority or authority's day-to-day management, monitoring and control tasks. 1

5. GEOGRAPHICAL ELIGIBILITY
The European Social Fund
GEOGRAPHICAL
ELIGIBILITY 1

6. Geographical eligibility
The European Social Fund
Geographical eligibility
ESF Regulation requires that ESF mainly finances:
assistance to persons in the context of eligible operations
but also:
assistance to structures which help increase the effectiveness of operations providing assistance to persons 1

7. Geographical eligibility
The European Social Fund
Geographical eligibility
Commission Regulation 448/ Rule Nr 12 on eligibility of operations depending on the location, lays down the general rule: operations co financed by the Structural Funds shall be located in the region to which the assistance relates 1

8. Geographical eligibility
The European Social Fund
Geographical eligibility
The ESF and the concept of location of operations: eligibility on the basis of:
residence / working place of trainees (assistance to persons)
location of structure (assistance to structures)
exceptions foreseen in Rule 12, 2 1

9. EQUIPMENT EXPENDITURES
The European Social Fund
EQUIPMENT EXPENDITURES 1

10. human capital, skills and qualifications
The European Social Fund
Principles
The mission of the ESF (Art. 146 Treaty and ESF Regulation):
investment in people
human capital, skills and qualifications 1

11. Principles Therefore:
The European Social Fund
Principles
Therefore:
investment in equipment only where necessary and justified to achieve ESF mission 1

12. sound and effective financial management
The European Social Fund
Principles
Obligation to ensure
sound and effective financial management
„best value for money” 1

13. Consistency with programme:
The European Social Fund
Principles
Consistency with programme:
cfr. overall strategy, aim and objective of programme, priority or measure;
Eligible in one MS, not necessarily in another 1

14. Principles If necessary and justified, cfr. Regulation 448/2004:
The European Social Fund
Principles
If necessary and justified, cfr. Regulation 448/2004:
primarily depreciation costs
Leasing, renting, purchase: which is best alternative in terms of value for money? 1

15. The European Social Fund
Principles
Which kind of equipment is ESF eligible? cfr. letter DG EMPL – DG REGIO (August 2000):
Excluded: construction and large scale facilities (ERDF)
Possible: investment expenditure if eligible under Art. 3 ESF Reg. and in compliance with Art. 4 ESF Reg. and with other rules (eg state aid rules) 1

16. Principles Letter DG EMPL – DG REGIO: The European Social Fund
Examples:
furniture, office equipment, tools;
Connection to networks for transmitting information and PCs in vocational training and employment assistance centres; but mobile infrastructure, networks and mainframe computers excluded
Small machine tools used for teaching purposes. 1

17. Application How to justify? The European Social Fund
Direct and clear link between equipment and programme, priority or measure, scheme or project;
Need to verify best value for money
Estimated cost of equipment compared to other costs and to overall costs of project
Number of foreseen activities, participants, duration of project, etc. justify purchase? 1

18. STATE AID AND EMPLOYMENT
The European Social Fund
STATE AID AND EMPLOYMENT 1

19. State Aid and Employment
The European Social Fund
State Aid and Employment
ESF finances employment aids related to:
job creation,
job maintenance,
recruitment of disadvantaged and disabled workers. 1

20. State Aid and Employment
The European Social Fund
State Aid and Employment
Several possibilities for ESF support:
ESF support to notified aid schemes
ESF support to exempted aid schemes (basis: Commission Regulation No 2204/2002)
ESF support under the de minimis rule and individual aids (basis: Commission Regulation No 69/2001)
ESF support to general measures to promote employment 1

21. State Aid and Employment
The European Social Fund
State Aid and Employment
Employment aids must be compatible with the common market and comply with the state aid rules as laid down in Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty 1

22. The European Social Fund
ESF AND EDUCATION 1

23. ESF and education Art. 2, 1, (c) ESF Regulation:
The European Social Fund
ESF and education
Art. 2, 1, (c) ESF Regulation:
ESF promotes and improves training, education, counselling as part of LLL policy 1

24. ESF and education The European Social Fund
Art. 3, 1, (a) ESF Regulation: assistance to persons in the field of education and vocational training
Art. 3, 2, (a), (ii) ESF Regulation: assistance to structures and systems: development and improvement of training, education and skills acquisition
Ex: training of teachers, curricula, avoiding early school leaving 1

25. ESF and education Education and scholarships: The European Social Fund
Scholarships: an example of assistance to persons, therefore eligible;
Different kinds of scholarships possible (eg. for disadvantaged groups facing barriers in accessing education, financing individual scholarships (MA and PhD students), etc.) 1

26. ESF and education Education and scholarships: The European Social Fund
Financing scholarships: eg. monthly fixed lump sum (practice: higher education), co-financing special courses incl. costs of the students’ participation (practice: lower education) 1

27. ESF AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
The European Social Fund
ESF AND
SOCIAL INCLUSION 1

28. ESF and social inclusion
The European Social Fund
ESF and social inclusion
Art. 2, 1, (b) ESF Regulation:
ESF promotes „equal opportunities for all in accessing the labour market, with particular emphasis on those exposed to social exclusion” 1

29. ESF and social inclusion
The European Social Fund
ESF and social inclusion
The disadvantaged groups identified in the programmes have broad needs,
but
ESF can only tackle the barriers to the integration into the labour market. 1

30. ESF and social inclusion
The European Social Fund
ESF and social inclusion
Therefore, ESF support for:
actions linked to labour market integration and
falling under comprehensive strategy fighting social exclusion and pomoting access to labour market 1

31. ESF and social inclusion
The European Social Fund
ESF and social inclusion
Principles:
Sound and effective financial management
Consistency with programme: cfr. overall strategy, aim and objective of programme, priority or measure; 1

32. ACCOMPANYING MEASURES
The European Social Fund
ACCOMPANYING MEASURES 1

33. Accompanying Measures
The European Social Fund
Accompanying Measures
The mission of the ESF (Art. 146 Treaty and ESF Regulation):
investment in people
human capital, skills and qualifications 1

34. Accompanying Measures
The European Social Fund
Accompanying Measures
To fulfill its’ mission, the ESF can finance accompanying measures;
Therefore, accompanying measures instrumental to assistance to persons, intended to facilitate the access of beneficiaries to „main activities” and to increase their effectiveness. 1

35. Accompanying Measures
The European Social Fund
Accompanying Measures
Art. 3, 2, (b) ESF Regulation:
Assistance in the provision of services to beneficiaries (care services, facilities for dependents)
Promoting socio-educational development to facilitate the pathway approach to labour market integration
Awareness-raising, information and publicity 1

36. REVENUE GENERATING ACTIVITIES
The European Social Fund
REVENUE GENERATING ACTIVITIES
Rule N° 2 1

37. The European Social Fund
Definition
"Receipts" cover revenue received by an operation during the period of its co-financing or up to the closure of the assistance 1

38. Examples sales rentals services enrolment/fees
The European Social Fund
Examples
sales
rentals
services
enrolment/fees
other equivalent receipts 1

39. Exceptions The European Social Fund
receipts generated through the economic lifetime of the co-financed investments and subject to specific provisions of Art 29(4) of the General Regulation;
receipts generated within the framework of financial engineering measures referred to in Rules 8, 9, and 10
contributions from the private sector to the co-financing of operations which appear alongside public contributions in the financing tables of the relevant assistance. 1

40. The European Social Fund
Treatment
Receipts reduce costs incurred by the financing sources (SSFF, national public and private) 1

41. DIALOGUE WITH DESK OFFICERS
The European Social Fund
DIALOGUE WITH
DESK OFFICERS 1