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

2. 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

3. 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%

4. 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

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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. European Territorial Cooperation
Territorial cooperation - 3 strands: cross-border, transnational, interregional cooperation
Innovations for the period :
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)

20. 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