The European Commission has published a package of regulations on the European funds for 2014-2020. According to the new plan, the Commission could suspend the flow of European funds into states that do not respect the fiscal rules or are continuously breaching the conditions of the Stability and Growth Pact. The package amounting to 336 billion euro includes other new proposals in addition.
In order to improve effectiveness, the European Commission proposes unification of rules for all five funds - the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). Along with this simplification, three new categories of regions should be formed:
- less developed regions (with GDP per capita below 75 % of the EU average)
- transition regions (with GDP per capita GDP between 75 % and 90 % of the EU average)
- more developed regions (with GDP per capita GDP above 90 % of the EU average)
| Propsal on EU Cohesion Policy 2014 - 2020 | (billion EUR) |
|---|---|
| Less developed regions | 162,6 |
| Transition regions | 38,9 |
| More developed regions | 53,1 |
| European Territorial Cooperation | 11,7 |
| Cohesion Fund | 68,7 |
| Outermost regions and sparsely populated areas | 0,926 |
| Connecting Europe Facility | 40,0*) |
| European Social Fund | 84,0**) |
Source: European Commission, *)additional budget 10 billion eurofrom Choesion Fund; **) within the above allocation to less, transition and more developed regions
With this categorization, the European Funds will become available to the more developed Member States rather than just the poorest ones. While an overwhelming majority of resources should still flow into lagging countries and regions, transitional regions will be able to draw on the funds to invest in innovation, improvement of energy efficiency, social cohesion and competitiveness.
The European Commission believes the future cohesion policy should be tied more tightly with the EU Europe 2020 strategy, focusing on just a few priorities. While the more developed regions will be able to use the European Funds to support innovation, SME development, energy efficiency and renewables, the less developed regions can also invest in other areas (employment, education, combating poverty). However, at least half of the resources will have to go into the same group of priorities as in the more developed regions.
Commission`s current proposal is raising doubts in the Czech Republic
In the case of the less developed regions (i.e. regions with per capita GDP below 75 % of the EU average, which are all regions of the Czech Republic except Prague), at least 50 % of the total ERDF allocation should be invested in three priorities (research, development and innovation; SME competitiveness support; switch to a low-carbon economy). In addition, 6 % should go into the switch to a low-carbon economy alone. As for Prague, which falls into in the category of more developed regions (with GDP per capita above 90 % of the EU average), even 80 % of all ERDF resources should go into the three above-mentioned priorities and 20% should go into low-carbon economy.
The crucial question is how much resources will be allocated to the Czech Republic from the 2014-2020 cohesion policy at all. As it is nearing the European Union average, it is clear that it will be less than today. We would not be surprised to see an allocation lower by 20-30 %.
