Commission welcomes agreement on modernisation of cohesion policy

The European Commission welcomes the adoption of important updates to Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 by the European Parliament and the Council. These changes will allow EU Member States and regions to reallocate funds to new strategic priorities, thereby improving investments in competitiveness, defence, affordable and sustainable housing, water resilience and energy transition.

Member States and regions willing to invest in these new priorities will benefit from higher pre-financing rates of up to 20% to accelerate project start-up and implementation. In addition, these pre-financing rates will be further increased for programmes where at least 10% of the total value is reallocated to the new priorities.

Reprogrammed funds will also benefit from higher EU co-financing rates (10 percentage points above the applicable rates), thus reducing the necessary top-up from national budgets. Finally, even more favourable conditions are foreseen for EU regions bordering Russia and Belarus adversely affected by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President in charge of Cohesion and Reforms, said: “The adoption of the mid-term review proposal is an important step in modernising cohesion policy to respond to today’s challenges. It allows us to invest in our common European priorities: competitiveness, defence, affordable and sustainable housing, water resilience and energy transition. To achieve these common priorities we need strong regions, and the modernised cohesion policy provides the necessary tools to do so.

Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Skills, said: “The EU invests massively in its citizens to support them throughout their lives. This update of EU cohesion policy will continue to improve the way EU funds boost employment, education, social inclusion and so on. It allows Member States to invest in areas such as lifelong learning, getting people back into the labour market or supporting children in need. The specific changes in the mid-term review make cohesion policy more agile, responsive and effective, to respond to today’s realities and better equip Europe to safeguard its future prosperity”.

The changes were proposed in April by the Commission after consultation with Member States. As soon as they are published in the Official Journal of the European Commission, Member States and regions will be able to make use of the new flexibilities by submitting amendments to their cohesion programmes to the Commission.

More information: European Commission