COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific provisions for the European territorial cooperation goal (Interreg) supported by the European Regional Development Fund and external financing instruments
Date: 2021-06-01
Institutions: Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, European Regional Development Fund, European neighbourhood policy, European territorial cooperation, cross-border cooperation, overseas countries and territories, regional aid, regional cooperation, regional development, third country

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.6.2021  COM(2021) 289 final 2018/0199 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific provisions for the European territorial cooperation goal (Interreg) supported by the European Regional Development Fund and external financing instruments   
 
 
2018/0199 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council on specific provisions for the European territorial cooperation goal 
(Interreg) supported by the European Regional Development Fund and external 
financing instruments 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2018) 374 final – 2018/0199/(COD)): 

29 May 2018 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

19 September 2018 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

26 March 2019 

Date of the trilogue (agreement on the final text) 

2 December 2020 

Date of adoption of the Council first reading position: 

27 May 2021 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The proposal for a Regulation on Interreg aims at setting up specific provisions governing the 
European  territorial  cooperation,  specifying  and  completing  the  provisions  entailed  in 
Regulation  (EU)  2021/…  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  laying  down 
common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund 
Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and 
Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration 
Fund,  the  Internal  Security  Fund  and  the  Instrument  for  Financial  Support  for  Border 
Management and Visa Policy – (CPR), which govern the delivery and implementation system 
of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). 

Its main focus is on key implementation and cooperation issues, notably: 

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the  definition  and  geographical  coverage  of  the  various  cooperation  strands  (cross-
border, transnational, interregional and outermost regions); 

the definition of specific rules on thematic concentration; 

the set up of Interreg-specific objectives and scope; 

adaptations of the CPR rules on programming, programme authorities, management 
and control and financial management; and 

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 

the integration of EU external financing instruments. 

The  provisional  agreement  respects  the  architecture  of  Interreg,  split  into  four  strands, 
including a new strand dedicated to  the cooperation of the EU’s Outermost  Regions.  It  also 
confirms the overall financial allocation and balance between strands, enabling the instrument 
to  reach its objectives.  It also  includes several  simplification provisions, consistent with  the 
Commission  proposal,  on small project funds  (Article 25), technical  assistance  (Article 27), 
the  use  of  simplified  cost  options  (Article  53  CPR)  or  audit  and  verification  mechanisms 
(Chapter VI). 

The two main modifications agreed by the co-legislators relate to  the maritime cooperation, 
reinstalled  under  cross-border  cooperation  and  the  relaxation  of  thematic  concentration 
requirements for Interreg-specific objectives. They do not undermine, however, the capacity 
of  stakeholders  to  pursue  maritime  cooperation  in  a  streamlined  manner,  neither  to  support 
priority capacity building actions under the “better cooperation governance”. 

The  concept  of  interregional  innovation  investments  is  retained  but  is  transferred  to  the 
European Regional Development Fund/Cohesion Fund (ERDF/CF) regulation, with a reduced 
allocation.  

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  Council’s  position  fully  reflects  the  agreement  reached  in  the  trilogues.  The  most 
important changes introduced compared to the Commission’s proposal include: 

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A  revised  architecture,  maintaining  cross-border  maritime  cooperation  under  the 
strand A (cross border); 

The  reintroduction  of  the  “Urbact”  and  “Interreg  Europe”  programmes  under  the 
interregional cooperation strand; 

The  confirmation  of  thematic  concentration,  under  Article  15(1),  on  three  policy 
objectives,  including  policy  objective  2  (Greener  and  low  carbon  Europe),  with  an 
additional  obligation  to  include  policy  objective  4  (A  more  social  Europe)  for 
internal  land  borders.  Thematic  concentration  requirements  on  Interreg-specific 
objectives “better cooperation governance” and “safer and more secure Europe” have 
been  on  the  other  hand  revised,  becoming  optional,  under  respective  20%  and  5% 
ceilings of the programme allocations. For transnational  cooperation, the alignment 
with  the  priorities  of  macro-regional  and  sea  basin  strategies  has  been  adjusted  to 
80%; 

The  introduction  of  an  obligation  to  support  projects  of  limited  financial  volume, 
including through small project funds, in order to foster support to people-to-people 
actions and small projects; 

The  shift  of  the  Interregional  Innovation  Investments  to  the  ERDF/CF  regulation, 
with  a  reduced  allocation,  while  preserving  and  clarifying  the  objectives  and 
mechanisms proposed by the Commission; 

The  adjustment  of  the  pre-financing  and  co-financing  rates,  slightly  increased, 
pursuant to the CPR. Pre-financing and co-financing rates, together with the rate of 
support under technical assistance have also been specified for external programmes 
including  support  from  the  Instrument  for  Pre-accession  Assistance  (IPA),  the 
Neighbourhood,  Development  and  International  Cooperation  Instrument  (NDICI) 
and  the Overseas Association Decision (OAD); 

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The confirmation of the financial resources, including a reinforcement of strands A 
and D as detailed above, with the subsequent allocation split: 

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EUR 5 813 million for cross-border cooperation 

EUR 1 466 million for transnational cooperation 

EUR 490 million for interregional cooperation 

EUR 281 million for outermost regions. 

Overall,  while  the  Commission  was  not  able  to  convince  the  Council  with  regard  to  its 
proposal  on  binding  thematic  concentration  for  Interreg-specific  objectives  and  on  the 
streamlining  of  maritime  cooperation  throughout  transnational  cooperation,  the  structure  of 
the  proposal  and  its  main  implementation  mechanisms  are  respected.  In  particular,  the 
agreement  enables  the  continuation  of  the  PEACE  PLUS  programme  to  support  peace  and 
reconciliation between the border counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland, confirms the new 
strand  on  the  Outermost  Regions  and  the  integration  of  cooperation  at  the  external  borders, 
with tailored provisions. 

The  adopted  modifications  therefore  preserve  overall  the  architecture  of  the  Commission 
proposal,  its  resources  and  its  ability  to  achieve  the  cooperation  objectives  pursued  by  the 
instrument. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  supports  the  results  of  the  inter-institutional  negotiations  and  therefore 
accepts the position taken by the Council. 

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