2014 as regards increased pre-financing from REACT-EU resources - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2022)145 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 and Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 as regards increased pre-financing from REACT-EU ...
document	COM(2022)145
date	March 23, 2022

(1) The recent military aggression of Russia against Ukraine and the ongoing armed conflict has fundamentally changed the security situation in Europe. As a result of the aggression, the European Union, and its eastern regions in particular, is facing a substantial inflow of persons. This poses an additional challenge for public budgets at a time when Member States’ economies are still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and risks undermining the preparation of a green, digital and resilient recovery of the economy.

(2) Member States are already able to finance a broad range of investments to address migratory challenges under their operational programmes with support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), including from the additional resources made available as Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU), to provide assistance for fostering crisis repair in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its social consequences and for preparing a green, digital and resilient recovery of the economy.

(3) Furthermore, the Commission proposed in its Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) initiative of 8 March 2022 a number of targeted amendments to Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ³ , and Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴ in order to make it easier for Member States to use their remaining ERDF, ESF and FEAD allocations under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework, as well as REACT-EU resources, to address the migratory challenges as effectively and as rapidly as possible.

(4) Notwithstanding the flexibilities offered by the CARE proposal, Member States continue to face substantial pressures on public budgets from challenges deriving from the very high numbers of arrivals of those fleeing Ukraine. These pressures risk undermining their capacity to move towards a resilient recovery of the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to assist Member States in addressing the challenges created, support from the ERDF, ESF and FEAD should therefore be mobilised quickly by increasing the rate of initial pre-financing paid from REACT-EU resources for all Member States. At the same time, some Member States have been confronted with significant arrivals of persons from Ukraine, requiring the provision of immediate support. These Member States should accordingly benefit from a significantly higher increase of the rate of initial pre-financing to offset the immediate budgetary costs and support their efforts in preparing the recovery of their economies.

(5) In order to monitor the use made of this additional pre-financing, the final reports on the implementation of ERDF and ESF programmes receiving additional pre-financing should report on the use made of the additional amounts received to address the migratory challenges faced as a result of the military aggression by the Russian Federation and how it contributed to the recovery of the economy.

(6) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to assist Member States in addressing the challenges created by the exceptionally high arrivals of people fleeing the war against Ukraine and support their move towards a resilient recovery of the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States alone and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve those objectives.

(7) Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 and Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(8) Given the need to provide rapid relief to public budgets with a view to preserving Member States’ capacity to sustain the economic recovery process and enable additional payments to operational programmes without delay, it is necessary that this Regulation enters into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(9) In view of the urgency to provide rapid relief to public budgets with a view to preserving their capacity to support the recovery of economies from the COVID-19 pandemic and to enable additional payments to operational programmes without delay, it is considered necessary to use the exception to the eight-week period referred to in Article 4 of Protocol No 1 on the role of national Parliaments in the European Union, annexed to the Treaty on European Union, to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community.