Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) and amending Directive 2003/87/EC, Regulations (EU) 2021/1058, (EU) 2021/1056, (EU) 2021/1057, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) 2021/1060, (EU) 2021/523, (EU) 2021/695, (EU) 2021/697 and (EU) 2021/241
Date: 2023-06-20
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, EU investment, biotechnology, clean technology, competitiveness, digital transformation, green economy, industrial development, investment promotion

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 20.6.2023  COM(2023) 335 final 2023/0199 (COD)  Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) and amending Directive 2003/87/EC, Regulations (EU) 2021/1058, (EU) 2021/1056, (EU) 2021/1057, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) 2021/1060, (EU) 2021/523, (EU) 2021/695, (EU) 2021/697 and (EU) 2021/241  
 
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

• 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

Reasons for and objectives of the proposal 

The  EU’s  long-term  commitment  to  a  green  and  digital  transition  and  the  impact  on 
industry in the EU. 

The EU is an attractive destination for sustainable investments. The European Single Market 
has over the last 30 years delivered very significant economic benefits, delivering to the EU a 
GDP that is up to 9% higher in the long run, than would have been the case without the Single 
Market.1 The European business  model is  based  on openness  and the EU offers a business-
friendly  environment.  The  European  social  model  provides  high  quality  and  inclusive 
education  and  training,  well-functioning  social  protection  systems,  as  well  as  public  health 
and environmental protection. Together with fair competition and an unparalleled regulatory 
framework geared towards the twin digital and green transitions and resilience, this is helping 
to provide the necessary predictability for investors.   

Strengthening  the  competitiveness  and  resilience  in  strategic  sectors  and  reducing  the 
dependencies  of  the  European  economy  through  the  green  and  digital  transformations  has 
been  the  EU  compass  over  the  last  years.  With  NextGenerationEU,2  the  EU’s  flagship 
economic  recovery  programme,  the  EU  has  closed  the  gap  with  pre-pandemic  output  levels 
already in the summer of 2021. The funds directed to the twin green and digital transition are 
making  our  economy  more  competitive.  The  unprecedented  efforts  by  Member  States  to 
implement crucial reforms increase the EU’s resilience.   

The  EU  industry  has  proven  its  inbuilt  resilience  but  is  being  challenged.  High  inflation, 
labour  and  skills  shortages,  demographic  change,  post-COVID  supply  chains  disruptions, 
rising  interest  rates,  and  spikes  in  energy  costs  and  input  prices  are  weighing  on  the 
competitiveness  of  the  EU  industry.    This  is  paired  with  strong,  but  not  always  fair, 
competition  on  the  fragmented  global  market.  The  uptake  and  scaling  up  of  certain  critical 
and emerging technologies in strategic sectors within the Union will be essential to seize the 
opportunities  and meet the objectives of the  green and digital  transitions  to  reduce  strategic 
dependencies and to facilitate cross-border investments across the Single Market. Therefore, 
immediate  action  is  required  to  support  the  development  or  manufacturing  in  the  Union,  or 
safeguarding  and  strengthening  their  value  chains,  of  critical  technologies  in  the  following 
fields: deep and digital technologies, clean technologies, and biotechnologies. The Union also 
needs to address labour and skills shortages in those strategic sectors.    

The  EU  has  already  put  forward  several  initiatives  to  support  its  industry.  The  Green  Deal 
Industrial Plan3 seeks to enhance the competitiveness of Europe's net-zero industry, secure the 
volumes needed for critical raw materials and support the fast transition to climate neutrality. 
It  provides  a  more  supportive  environment  for  the  scaling  up  of  the  EU's  manufacturing 
capacity  in  clean-tech.  The  plan  is  based  on  four  pillars:  a  predictable  and  simplified 
regulatory  environment,  speeding  up  access  to  finance,  enhancing  skills,  and  open  trade  for 
resilient supply chains. With the European Innovation Agenda,4 the EU has sought to position 
Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups. One of its main 
objectives is to improve access to finance for European start-ups and scale-ups, for example, 

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Communication on The Single Market at 30, COM(2023) 162 final.  
https://next-generation-eu.europa.eu/index_en  
Communication on A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age, COM(2023) 62 final.  
Communication on A New European Innovation Agenda, COM(2022) 332 final.  

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by mobilising untapped sources of private capital and simplifying listing rules. Moreover, the 
Commission has in March 2023 adopted a new Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework 
for State aid.5 Member States have more flexibility to design and implement support measures 
in sectors that are key for the transition to climate neutrality. Member States are also currently 
amending  their  national  recovery  and  resilience  plans  to  include  REPowerEU  Chapters,6 
which  is  a  crucial  opportunity  to  provide  immediate  support  to  companies  and  boost  their 
competitiveness, without creating unnecessary strategic dependencies.  

While  these  solutions  provide  fast  and  targeted  support,  the  EU  needs  a  more  structural 
answer to the investment needs of its industries. As indicated by President von der Leyen in 
the State of the Union address of 14 September 2022,7 there is a need to ensure that the future 
of  industry  is  made  in  Europe.  Moreover,  a  common  European  industrial  policy  requires 
common  European  funding.8  Hence,  the  need  to  set  up  a  Strategic  Technologies  for 
Europe Platform (‘STEP’).  

The  Platform  should  help  preserve  a  European  edge  on  critical  and  emerging  technologies 
relevant  to  the  green  and  digital  transitions,  from  computing-related  technologies,  including 
microelectronics,  quantum  computing,  and  artificial  intelligence;  to  biotechnology  and 
biomanufacturing,  and  net-zero  technologies.  The  European  Council  recognised  the  need  to 
address  the  issue  and  recommended  to  ‘ensure  full  mobilisation  of  available  funding  and 
existing  financial  instruments  and  deploy  them  in  a  more  flexible  manner,  so  as  to  provide 
timely  and  targeted  support  in  strategic  sectors  without  affecting  the  cohesion  policy 
objectives’.9 This  way, the  STEP  should also  help  to  mobilise private capital to  support the 
competitiveness  of  European  businesses  in  these  technologies  in  the  global  arena,  which  in 
turn will lead to domestic capacity building. 

Placing the STEP at the heart of the EU budget is the most effective solution. The transition to 
climate  neutrality,  resilience  and  digital  technologies  are  already  guiding  principles  of  the 
multiannual financial framework: 30% of the EUR 2 trillion 2021-2027 MFF which includes 
the  NextGenerationEU  recovery  programmes  are  being  spent  on  climate  actions  and  more 
than 20% of the Recovery and Resilience Facility is dedicated to digital policies. Besides, the 
Digital  Europe  Programme  supports  bringing  digital  technology  to  businesses,  citizens  and 
public  administrations.  The  EU  budget  is  also  the  ultimate  EU  tool  to  underpin  the  Single 
Market  and  common  action  with  value-added  at  EU  level,  securing  economies  of  scale, 
effectiveness, solidarity and passing a clear political message that the EU stands together in 
the face of challenges.   

The  creation  of  the  STEP  is  fully  aligned  with  the  ambitions  set  by  Europe’s  partners.  The 
United  States’  Inflation  Reduction  Act  will  mobilise  over  USD  360  billion  by  2032 
(approximately EUR 330 billion). Japan's green transformation plans aim to raise up to JPY 
20  trillion  (approximately  EUR  140  billion).10  India  has  put  forward  the  Production  Linked 
Incentive Scheme to enhance competitiveness in sectors like solar photovoltaics and batteries. 
The United Kingdom, Canada and many others have also put forward their investment plans 
in  clean  technologies.  It  is  important  for  all  actors  to  ensure  that  funding  be  designed  and 
implemented  in  the  least  distortive  manner  practicable.  Reinforcing  transparency  and 

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Communication on a Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework for State Aid measures (OJ C 101, 
17.3.2023, p. 3). 
Regulation (EU) 2023/435 as regards REPowerEU (OJ L 63, 28.2.2023, p. 1).  
https://state-of-the-union.ec.europa.eu/state-union-2022_en  
Speech of 4 December 2022, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/es/speech_22_7487 
European Council conclusions of 23 March 2023, EUCO 4/23 
COM(2023) 62 final.  

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deliberation on industrial subsidies internationally is equally key to safeguard and improve the 
existing  – but  incomplete  -  level  playing  field  on which the EU’s  and  global  prosperity has 
been built.   

Overview of the EU budget to the green and digital transition   

The EU has several funds and programmes on- and off-budget to provide support to deep and 
digital  technologies,  clean  technologies,  and  biotechnologies.  These  instruments  include  in 
particular cohesion policy funds, the Recovery and Resilience Facility,  the Innovation Fund, 
InvestEU, the European Defence Fund and Horizon Europe:  

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

Cohesion policy supports the green (EUR 110 billion) and digital (EUR 36.6 billion) 
transition  in  Member States and  regions,  including  a total  of EUR 85 billion under 
the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the 
Just Transition Fund (JTF) – the EU’s main funds under regional development policy 
– to support the EU energy transition.  

The  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility  and  REPowerEU,  the  EU's  plan  to  make 
Europe independent  from  Russian fossil fuels,  offer unprecedented opportunities to 
Member States to finance green and digital investments and reforms. 
Drawing on the revenues from the EU Emission Trading System (ETS)11 

– 

– 

– 

The Modernisation Fund (EUR 60 billion) provides substantial support to 13 
beneficiary Member States to accelerate their energy transition.  

The Social Climate Fund (EUR 86 billion) will provide substantial support to 
Member States to help addressing for vulnerable groups the consequences of 
the green transition.   

The  Innovation  Fund  (EUR  43  billion)  will  provide  until  2030  funding  for 
innovative low-carbon technologies, including for the manufacturing of these 
technologies, for instance to help energy-intensive industries, develop carbon 
capture  and  storage,  innovative  renewable  energy  generation  or  energy 
storage.   

InvestEU contributes both to the green transition and to digitisation. Overall 30% of 
the  InvestEU  guarantee  (i.e.  EUR  7.8  billion)  and  60%  of  the  Sustainable 
Infrastructure Window (EUR 5.9 billion) contribute to climate objectives. Further, it 
is  expected that more than  EUR 2 billion  could  contribute to  digital  objectives  and 
over EUR 1 billion to biotech and medicines related investments.  

Horizon  Europe,  the  EU's  main  research  and  innovation  programme,  will  dedicate 
EUR  20.2  billion  to  research  and  development  of  clean  tech;  EUR  11.5  billion  to 
biotech and medicines, and EUR 19.3 billion to digital technologies.   

The Digital Europe Programme, with a total budget allocation of EUR 7.6 billion, is 
providing support to digital technologies.  

The European Defence Fund, with a budget of EUR 8 billion, supports research and 
development of state-of-the-art and interoperable defence technology and equipment.  

While the EU has been  providing steady financing both to  the  green and digital  transitions, 
the  funds  are  generally  spread  across  various  spending  programmes  and  following  different 
rules.  Leveraging  on  existing  instruments  and  governance  frameworks  will  speed-up  the 

11 

Based on a carbon price of EUR 80 / ton CO2eq 

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implementation and allow to mobilise higher amounts of financial support. This is the aim of 
the STEP.  

Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP)  

The STEP will create the necessary conditions for a more effective, efficient and targeted use 
of existing EU funds while contributing to achieving a level playing field in the Single Market 
and  thereby  safeguarding  cohesion.  It  will  also  help  to  direct  existing  funding  towards  the 
relevant projects and speed up implementation on a subset of areas which will be identified as 
crucial  for  Europe’s  leadership.  The  choice  of  streamlining  and  making  a  better  use  of 
existing  instruments  over  creating  a  brand-new  instrument  responds  to  the  call  by  the 
European  Council  and  has  three  main  advantages.  First,  timing.  With the  creation  of  a  new 
instrument taking at least 12 to 18 months, bringing existing instruments together can be done 
much  more  quickly.  This  would  be  an  indisputable  advantage  for  the  beneficiaries  of  EU 
funding  as  they  would  have  the  chance  to  reap  the  benefits  of  EU  funding  more  swiftly. 
Second,  adapting  the  existing  instruments  would  increase  the  possibilities  of  blending 
different sources of financing – under both direct and shared management – thereby leading to 
a more efficient use of resources. And finally, building on those existing instruments will also 
be simpler for project promoters and programme managers. With the help of the Sovereignty 
Portal, all the information about  funding opportunities will be centralised. Moreover, it will 
limit the administrative burden for project promoters and programme managers and minimise 
the risk of overlaps amongst instruments.  

The STEP would allow the Union to react quickly in the face of risks for companies critical 
for Union’s value chains and to develop a top up for multi country projects, such as Important 
Projects  of  Common  European  Interest  (IPCEIs),  to  enhance  all  Member  State’s  access  to 
such projects, thereby safeguarding cohesion, and to strengthen the Single Market and counter 
unequal availability of State Aid.  

On that basis, the objective of the STEP is three-fold:  

1. 

2. 

3. 

Providing flexibility in existing instruments  

Reinforcing the firepower of existing instruments  

Creating synergies among existing instruments  

Providing flexibility in existing instruments to better support relevant investments 

Cohesion  funds  represent  the  largest  single  EU  policy  financed  through  the  EU  budget.  To 
incentivise Member States, the Commission proposes a new priority across all major funds - 

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the  European  Regional  Development  Fund  (ERDF),  Cohesion  Fund  (CF),  and  the  Just 
Transition  Fund  (JTF).  The  Commission  also  proposes  to  open  up  those  funds  for  large 
companies in less developed and transition regions, as well as in more developed regions of 
Member States with a GDP per capita below the EU average, to unleash greater investments 
in the target areas of the STEP. By providing financial incentives in the form of higher pre-
financing and EU financing, Member States are encouraged to reprioritise their programmes. 
Under those funds, the Commission also proposes a 30% pre-financing in 2024 to incentivise 
uptake and an increase the EU financing to 100% for STEP projects.  

Moreover,  it  is  proposed  to  provide  additional  flexibilities  for  Member  States  to  be  able  to 
implement  the  2014-2020  cohesion  policy  programmes.  The  regulatory  framework  for  the 
implementation of the 2014-2020 programmes for cohesion policy and the Fund for European 
Aid to  the Most Deprived (FEAD)  has already been adapted to  provide  Member States and 
regions  with  additional  flexibility  in  terms  of  implementation  rules  of  cohesion  policy  and 
more  liquidity  to  tackle  the  effects  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  and  the  war  or  aggression 
against Ukraine.12 These measures, introduced at the end of the programming period, require 
sufficient time and administrative resources to be fully exploited and implemented. Therefore, 
it is proposed to extend the deadlines for the submission of the closure documentation under 
the  2014-2020  period  by  12  months.  This  should  help  the  Member  States  that  will  face 
additional workload linked to the revision of the operational programmes for the purpose of 
the STEP.   

To incentivise Member States to provide resources to InvestEU, the EU flagship programme 
to boost investments in critical industries, the Commission proposes to increase the transfers 
to  InvestEU  from  the  recovery  and  resilience  plans  from  4%  to  10%.  This  additional 
flexibility to use Member States’ resources under InvestEU will help them to benefit from the 
established structures and market expertise of the InvestEU implementing partners, to select 
and finance the most promising companies. In this respect, where a Member State decides to 
transfer resources to InvestEU national compartments for implementing an existing InvestEU 
financial  product  developed  for  the  EU  compartment  by  the  Commission  with  Union 
implementing  partners  and  international  implementing  partners,  such  as  the  European 
Investment  Bank  Group  and  the  European  Bank  for  Reconstruction  and  Development, 
meaning  that  the  Member  State  has  no  discretionary  input  into  the  design  of  the  financial 
product, such a decision does not render the design of the financial product imputable to the 
State and hence such a decision does not in itself entail State aid. This is without prejudice to 
the obligation of Union financial instruments and budgetary guarantees to be consistent with 
State aid rules pursuant to Article 209(2)(c) of the Financial Regulation. 

Moreover,  to  facilitate  the  RRF  related  contributions  to  the  Member  State  compartment  of 
InvestEU and its uptake, the Commission will adapt the Technical guidance on the application 
of ‘do no significant harm’ under Regulation (EU) 2021/241 to ensure that financial products 
implemented  under  the  InvestEU  Fund  can  indicate,  where  applicable  the  absence  of 
significant harm to the six environmental objectives set out in Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 

12 

The  additional  REACT-EU  resources  stemming  from  the  NextGenerationEU  have  increased  the 
funding available in 2021 and 2022 (without national co-financing required) to provide Member States 
with  rapid  assistance  for  fostering  crisis  repair  and  resilient  recovery.  Other  measures  include  the 
Cohesion’s  Action  for  Refugees  in  Europe  (CARE)  package,  and  the  Supporting  Affordable  Energy 
initiative (SAFE). See Regulation (EU) 2022/562 as regards Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe 
(CARE)  (OJ  L  109,  8.4.2022,  p.  1);  Regulation  (EU)  2022/2039  as  regards  Flexible  Assistance  for 
Territories  (FAST-CARE)  (OJ  L  275,  25.10.2022,  p.  23);  and  Regulation  (EU)  2023/435  as  regards 
REPowerEU (OJ L 63, 28.2.2023, p. 1).  

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2020/852  by  applying  InvestEU  rules  in  combination  with  the  relevant  implementing 
partner’s policies. 

In addition, new STEP priorities will be included in the Innovation Fund, which is a funding 
programme  for  the  deployment  of  net-zero  and  innovative  technologies;  the  European 
Defence  Fund,  which  is  a  funding  programme  for  the  research  and  development  of  defence 
technology,  and  the  European  Innovation  Council  (EIC)  under  Horizon  Europe,  which  is 
Europe’s  flagship  innovation  programme  to  identify,  develop  and  scale  up  breakthrough 
technologies. Moreover, it will be possible for the EIC to provide equity-only support to non-
bankable small mid-caps.  

Equity support for STEP sectors  

Companies  looking  for  investments  to  start  up  or  scale  must  overcome  a  series  of 
interconnected  problems  from  securing  patient  capital  to  accessing  critical  networks  and 
capabilities  if  they  are  to  remain  in  Europe  and  compete  effectively  in  the  current  wave  of 
innovation. 

Figure: Venture capital by destination and by stage (2020-Q1 2023).  

Source: Global venture capital – Dealroom Q1 2023 update. 

The EU has two main instruments providing equity support for European companies, namely 
the InvestEU Programme and the European Innovation Council. InvestEU is the EU flagship 
programme  to  catalyse  private  investments  in  the  EU  economy.  The  InvestEU  Fund  is 
delivered through implementing partners, including the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 
the  European  Investment  Fund  (EIF),  which  deploy  financial  products  providing  debt 
(including guarantee), equity and quasi-equity support to companies and projects operating in 
sectors relevant for the European sovereignty.  

In particular, the EIF deploys two equity products  with the total  EU guarantee allocation of 
EUR  5.2  billion  and  an  indicative  portfolio  of  EUR  8.7  billion,  targeting  research, 
development,  commercialisation  and  scaling  of  clean  technologies  or  environmental 
sustainability solutions and digital and sustainable infrastructure projects. As of mid-2023, the 
EIF has approved more than 100 investments in funds expected to mobilise close to EUR 30 
billion  of  investment.  The  EIB  provides  equity-type  support  under  high-risk  thematic  and 
venture  debt  products,  focusing  inter  alia  on  green  transition,  strategic  digital  technologies 
and key enabling technologies.  

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The  types  of  support  that  can  be  provided  through  the  EIC  involve  blended  finance,  grant-
only  and  equity-only  under  certain  conditions.  In  accordance  with  the  existing  legislation, 
equity-only support can be provided to non-bankable SMEs, including start-ups, which have 
already  received  a  grant-only  support.  This  initiative  expands  that  definition  by  allowing  to 
provide equity-only to non-bankable SMEs and small mid-caps carrying out breakthrough and 
disruptive  innovation  in  critical  technologies  and  regardless  of  whether  they  previously 
received  other  types  of  support  from  the  EIC  Accelerator.  The  proposed  extension  would 
provide  equity-only  support  to  high  risk,  high  potential  companies  targeting  investments  in 
the range of EUR 15 to 50 million and catalysing financing rounds with  co-investors in  the 
range of EUR 50 to 250 million. 

The EIC was established under Horizon Europe to identify and provide scale up support for 
breakthrough  technologies  and  innovations,  with  a  focus  on  higher  risk,  earlier  stage 
companies. A key component of the EIC is the EIC Fund, which is designed to take risks that 
the market will not take alone and bridges a critical financing gap for deep tech companies. 
The EIC Fund has been fully operational since Autumn 2022 and has already made over 130 
investment decisions. However, the EIC Fund cannot accommodate the needs of an increasing 
number of companies that require follow-on financing rounds or larger investment amounts. 
This is particularly the case for  critical and emerging technologies that remain high risk but 
also  require  large  amounts  of  capital  to  reach  the  market.  The  new  EIC  Fund  compartment 
would  meet  the  needs  for  larger  investment  amounts  (above  EUR  15  million),  as  well  as 
complementing  other  EU  financial  instruments  and  products,  including  those  under  Invest 
EU. 

Demand for investments in deep tech in Europe remains strong, with over 5000 applications 
received in the first two years of EIC operation resulting in support for over 400 companies. 
Of these, 245 companies have been recommended for the unique blend of non-dilutive grant 
alongside  investment  through  the  EIC  and  131  of  these  companies  have  received  an 
investment  recommendation  of  EUR  5  million  or  above.  It  is  estimated  that  approximately 
25%  of  the  companies  that  have  been  awarded  investment  of  over  EUR  5  million  from  the 
EIC will require follow-on funding of on average EUR 25-35 million: representing a pipeline 
of 20-30 companies a year13 requiring EUR 0.5 to 1 bn per year.  

Based  on  current  experience  from  the  EIC,  this  EU-backed  investment  would  leverage 
additional private investment of up to five times and therefore significantly address the market 
gap. Without additional support, many of these companies could relocate outside of Europe to 
access  larger  financing  rounds  or  could  be  overtaken  by  third  country  competitors  that  are 
better financed.  

Reinforcing the firepower of existing instruments to speed up relevant investments 

In  terms  of  resources,  it  is  proposed  that  an  additional  total  amount  of  EUR  10  billion  is 
allocated to support existing and well-proven EU investment schemes aimed at strengthening 
STEP  investments, while  preserving  the  cohesion  objectives  and  contributing  to  a  level 
playing  field  in  the  Single  Market  by  ensuring  a  geographically  balanced  distribution  of 
projects  financed  under  the  STEP  via  the  respective  mandates  of  the  participating 
programmes,  taking  into  account  the  demand-driven  nature  of  certain  implementing 
programmes.  

InvestEU 

13 

The figure is based on EIC Accelerator funding awards in 2021-22. 

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The  deployment  is  well  on  track  with  85%  of  the  initial  guarantee  already  contracted  with 
implementing  partners,  representing  EUR  22.3  billion.  The  fast  absorption  of  the  EU 
guarantee reveals the large market interest for the funding opportunities offered by InvestEU. 
This  calls  for  reinforcing  the  EU  guarantee  by  an  additional  EUR7.5  billion;  requiring  a 
financial  top-up  of  EUR  3  billion  with  a  40%  provisioning  rate.  This  additional  guarantee 
should be exclusively used for project contributing to STEP priorities and has the potential to 
trigger up to EUR 75 billion of investments with an average multiplier of 10. 

A new STEP policy window will be set under InvestEU to provide an additional volume of 
budgetary  guarantee  to  the  implementing  partners,  which  will  deploy  debt  (including 
guarantees) and equity financial products for companies, including SMEs, and projects in the 
sectors  supported  by  the  STEP,  including  investment  in  manufacturing  and  supply  chains. 
InvestEU  will  leverage  additional  investment,  particularly  from  the  private  sector,  by 
addressing  market  failures  and  sub-optimal  investment  situations  experienced  in  the  sectors 
targeted  by  the  STEP.  InvestEU  is  already  able  to  support  projects  falling  within  Important 
Projects  of  Common  European  Interest  (IPCEIs)  within  the  meaning  of  Article  107(3)(b) 
TFEU and its reinforcement through the fifth window will therefore enhance its possibility to 
do so for critical projects within the scope of application of STEP. 

The European Innovation Council 

The  EIC  is  the  leading  mean  for  providing  seed  capital  to  fast  growing  start-ups.  Given  its 
expertise, the EIC is well suited to reinforce the funding in companies seeking scale-up capital 
beyond  the  first  innovation  phase.  A  EUR  0.5  billion  budgetary  reinforcements  combined 
with  EUR  2.13  billion  from  redeployment  and  de-commitments  will  enable  the  EIC  to 
provide unprecedented equity investments  for tickets  between EUR 15 million  and EUR 50 
million.  With  an  average  multiplier  of  5,  this  can  lead  to  EUR  13  billion  of  fresh  equity 
support to non-bankable SMEs and small mid-caps.  

Innovation Fund 

The  Innovation  Fund,  financed  from  the  auctioning  of  allowances  under  the  EU  Emissions 
Trading System, is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the deployment of net-
zero  and  innovative  technologies.  It  aims  to  bring  to  market  industrial  solutions  to 
decarbonise Europe and focuses on highly innovative technologies and processes. The goal to 
create  the  right  financial  incentives  for  companies  to  invest  in  clean  tech  and  to  empower 
them  to  become  global  clean  tech  leaders  is  fully  aligned  with  the  STEP  objectives.  To 
respond to the growing needs for innovation to maintain the EU’s competitiveness on global 
markets, the size of the Innovation Fund should be increased by EUR 5 billion.  In line with 
the objectives of ensuring cohesion and promoting the Single Market, and in order to support 
the  green  transition  and  the  development  of  clean  technologies  throughout  the  Union,  the 
additional  financial  envelope  shall  be  made  available  through  calls  for  proposals  open  to 
entities from Member States whose average GDP per capita is below the EU average of the 
EU-27 measured in purchasing power standards (PPS) and calculated on the basis of Union 
figures for the period 2015-2017. Taking into account experience to date, this should result in 
overall investments of around EUR 20 billion. 

European Defence Fund 

The European Defence Fund is critical to enhance the competitiveness, innovation, efficiency 
and  technological  autonomy  of  the  Union’s  defence  industry,  thereby  contributing  to  the 
Union’s  open  strategic  autonomy.  It  also  supports  the  cross-border  cooperation  between 
Member  States  as  well  as  cooperation  between  enterprises,  research  centres,  national 
administrations, international organisations and universities throughout the Union, both in the 

EN 

8 

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research and in the development phases of defence products and technologies. To respond to 
growing needs, the European Defence Fund should be increased by EUR 1.5 billion. Taking 
into account the limited experience to date, this could result in overall investments of around 
EUR 2 billion. 

Taken  together,  the  reinforcements  of  the  foregoing  four  programmes  and  instruments 
(InvestEU, European Innovation Council, Innovation Fund, European Defence Fund) can be 
expected  to  lead  to  additional  investments  in  the  critical  technologies  covered  by  STEP  of 
around EUR 110 billion.  

By providing financial incentives in cohesion policy funds in the form of higher pre-financing 
and co-financing, Member States are encouraged to reprioritise their programmes. Every 5% 
of  reprogramming  towards  STEP  priorities  leads  to  EUR 18.9   billion  of  resources  made 
available,  in  addition  to  EUR 6 billion  to  be  paid  out  from  the  Just  Transition  Fund.  The 
increase of the ceiling under the RRF to use resources for InvestEU products via its national 
compartments  represents  an  additional  flexibility  for  Member  States  of  EUR 30 billion 
potentially available for such sovereignty investments. 

Altogether, the total  estimated amount of new investments through STEP could  reach up to 
EUR 160 billion. 

Creating synergies among instruments to better support relevant investments 

To access those funds, companies and project promoters will be able to consult a new publicly 
available  website  (the  ‘Sovereignty  Portal’).  This  Portal  will  provide  information  about 
relevant  funding  opportunities  with  the  ongoing  and  upcoming  calls  under  the  EU 
programmes  contributing  to  the  STEP  objectives  as  well  as  guidance  and  contacts  to  the 
existing advisory hubs.  

Moreover,  a  ‘Sovereignty  Seal’  will  be  awarded  to  projects  contributing  to  the  STEP 
objectives,  provided  that  the  project  has  been  assessed  and  complies  with  the  minimum 
quality requirements, in particular eligibility, exclusion and award criteria, provided by a call 
for  proposals  under  Horizon  Europe,  the  Digital  Europe  programme,  the  EU4Health 
programme,  the  European  Defence  Fund  or  the  Innovation  Fund,  and  regardless  of  whether 
the project has received funds under those instruments. These minimum quality requirements 
will  be  established  with  a  view  to  identify  high  quality  projects.  This  Seal  offers  a  unique 
opportunity  to  build  on  the  applicable  high-quality  evaluation  processes  under  those 
instruments. This Seal will be used as a quality label and will help projects attract public and 
private investments by certifying its contribution to the objectives of the STEP and therefore 
guiding  market  participants  in  their  investment  decisions.  Moreover,  the  Seal  will  promote 
better  access  to  EU  funding  and  financing,  notably  by  facilitating  cumulative  or  combined 
funding  from  several  Union  instruments.  This  would,  for  instance,  allow  Member  States  to 
grant  support  from  ERDF  and  ESF+  to  projects  having  been  awarded  a  Sovereignty  Seal 
directly, subject to compliance with applicable State aid rules.  

The  Commission  is  also  working  to  ensure  synergies  between  the  rules  of  the  Innovation 
Fund  and  the  State  aid  rules  to  ensure  a  more  streamlined  process.  The  Commission  will 
further align criteria and streamline processes to ensure that the decision on State aid is taken 
at  the  same  time  as  the  funding  decision  from  the  Innovation  Fund,  provided  a  complete 
notification by the Member State occurs in due time. Such synergies are also being assessed 
for other selected EU instruments, including the EIC Fund. 

The Commission will also consult Member States on a proposal to enable higher rates of aid 
via a bonus for projects within the scope of STEP in assisted regions to spur further economic 
development, while preserving cohesion objectives. 

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Authorities  in  charge  of  programmes  falling  under  STEP  should  also  be  encouraged  to 
consider support for strategic projects identified in accordance with the Net Zero Industry and 
the  Critical  Raw  Materials  Acts  that  fall  under  the  scope  of  Article  2  of  the  Regulation, 
subject to compliance with applicable State aid rules. 

STEP– focus on investments 

To  be  successful,  the  STEP  should  focus  on  few  but  well-targeted  investment  areas.  The 
Platform should ensure and preserve a European edge on critical and emerging technologies 
and  related  manufacturing  in  the  following  fields:14  deep  and  digital  technologies,  clean 
technologies, and biotechnologies. The scope of the STEP would therefore focus on leading 
edge  technologies  to  advance  the  green  and  digital  transitions,  supporting  both  the 
manufacturing side and the value chains.  

Deep and digital technologies  

Innovation, and in particular its new wave of deep-tech innovation, is the European reply to 
bring down greenhouse gas emissions, to make our economies more digital and to guarantee 
Europe’s  food,  energy  and  secure  raw  materials  supply  and  security.  Deep  tech  innovation, 
which  is  rooted  in  cutting  edge  science,  technology  and  engineering,  often  combining 
advances  in  the  physical,  biological  and  digital  spheres  and  with  the  potential  to  deliver 
transformative solutions in the face of global challenges. Those innovations have the potential 
to  drive  innovation  across  the  economy  and  society,  thus  transforming  the  EU’s  business 
landscape. 

The European Innovation Agenda already aims to position Europe at the forefront of the new 
wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups. One of its main objectives is to improve access to 
finance for European start-ups and scale-ups, for example, by mobilising untapped sources of 
private capital and simplifying listing rules.  

The  STEP  would  add  another  dimension  to  the  EU  commitment  to  the  delivery  on  this 
agenda. The EU will steer further funding, and also define a clear investment direction. This 
will further support deep tech investments in Europe, to the benefit of the EU economies and 
the society as a whole.  

Digital technologies have a profound impact on the competitiveness of the EU economy as a 
whole, boosting efficiency and innovation. Their adoption and integration across the economy 
will  be  vital  to  the  overall  competitiveness  and  productivity.15  To  maintain  its  industrial 
leadership, the EU needs to attain a leading role in key digital technology. 

Clean technologies 

EU’s  competitiveness  in  the  clean  energy  sector  entails  the  capacity  to  produce  and  use 
affordable,  reliable  and  accessible  clean  energy  and  compete  in  the  global  clean  energy 
markets,  with  the  overall  aim  of  supporting  the  transition  to  climate  neutrality  and  bringing 
benefits  to  the EU  economy  and people.  The EU is  currently facing technological and non-
technological  challenges,  such  as  high  energy  prices,  critical  raw  materials  supply  chain 
disruptions  and  skills  shortages.  Strengthening  the  competitiveness  of  the  EU  clean  energy 
sector will contribute to increasing the EU's technology leadership, and shape a more resilient, 

14 

15 

EN 

innovation  across 

In  accordance  with  the  New  European  Innovation  Agenda,  deep  tech  innovation  has  the  potential  to 
drive 
long-term 
competitiveness of the EU highlighted clean technology, biotechnology and digital as key relevant areas 
for the future due to its high-growth potential and higher labour productivity.   
Communication on the Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030,  COM(2023) 168 
final.  

the  economy  and  society.  The  Communication  on 

the 

10 

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independent,  secure  and  affordable  energy  system  needed  to  meet  these  challenges.  In  that 
context,  the  Commission’s  communication  on  the  Green  Deal  Industrial  Plan  presented  a 
comprehensive  plan  for  enhancing  the  competitiveness  of  Europe’s  net-zero  industry  and 
supporting the fast transition to climate neutrality; and the Net-Zero Industry Act16 establishes 
a  framework  of  measures  for  strengthening  Europe’s  net-zero  energy  technologies 
manufacturing ecosystem.  

Since  2020, 
the  European  Commission  has  published  yearly  progress  reports  on 
competitiveness  of  clean  energy  technologies  that  present  the  current  and  projected  state  of 
play for different clean and low-carbon energy technologies and solutions. According to the 
2022 Competitiveness Progress Report,17 which the Commission publishes in the context of 
the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action framework, ‘The rapid development 
and  deployment  of  home-grown  clean  energy  technologies  in  the  EU  is  key  to  a  cost-
effective, climate friendly and socially fair response to the current energy crisis’. The report 
also  confirms  that  more  public  and  private  investments  in  clean  energy  research  and 
innovation,  scale-up  and  affordable  deployment  are  of  pivotal  importance.  The  EU’s 
regulatory  and  financial  frameworks  have  a  crucial  role  to  play  here.  Together  with  the 
implementation of the New European Innovation Agenda, EU funding programmes, enhanced 
cooperation between Member States, and a continuous monitoring of national R&I activities, 
are crucial to design an impactful EU R&I ecosystem, and to bridge the gap between research 
and innovation and market uptake, thus reinforcing EU competitiveness. 

Biotechnologies 

Biotechnology and biomanufacturing are key for the modernisation of the European industry. 
They  are  used  in  a  variety  of  industrial  sectors  such  as  healthcare  and  pharmaceuticals, 
agriculture, materials, and  bioeconomy. Reaping  the full benefits  of biotechnology  can help 
the EU economy grow and provides new jobs, while also supporting sustainable development, 
public health, and environmental protection. 

The coronavirus pandemic has proven the importance of biotech with vaccine manufacturers 
having played a key role in reversing the course of the pandemic. And while Europe continues 
to be a leader in life science innovation, its biotech industry remains approximately a quarter 
of  the  size  of  the  US  in  terms  of  both  the  number  of  companies  and  the  value  of  venture 
financing.18 In addition, financing – both at the earliest stages and later on – is deemed more 
limited  in  Europe  than  in  the  US.  This  constrains  companies’  ability  to  invest  in  larger 
diversified pipelines and leaves them reliant on their initial investors. 

• 

Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area 

The Green Deal Industrial Plan is the EU’s roadmap to secure the long-term competitiveness 
of  Europe's  industry  and  support  the  fast  transition  to  climate  neutrality.  The  Net-Zero 
Industry  Act  represents  its  regulatory  arm.  The  act  seeks  to  ensure  a  simpler  and  fast-track 
permitting,  promoting  European  strategic  projects,  and  developing  standards  to  support  the 
scale-up  of  technologies  across  the  Single  Market.  It  is  complemented  by  the  Critical  Raw 
Materials Act,19 to ensure sufficient access to those materials, like rare earths, that are vital for 

16 

17 
18 

19 

Proposal  for  a  regulation  establishing  a  framework  of  measures  for  strengthening  Europe’s  net-zero 
technology products manufacturing ecosystem, COM(2023) 161 final. 
Progress report on competitiveness of clean energy technologies, COM(2022) 643 final.  
Gong  J.,  Romet-Lemonne  J-L.,  Houser  B.,  ‘Bridging  the  gap  between  innovation  and  later-stage 
financing for biotech in Europe’, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 22, 2023, pp. 438-439.  
Proposal  for  a  regulation  establishing  a  framework  for  ensuring  a  secure  and  sustainable  supply  of 
critical raw materials, COM(2023) 160 final.  

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11 

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manufacturing  technologies  that  are  key  for  the  twin  transition.  Another  key  instrument  to 
support the competitiveness of the European industry is the European Chips Act.20 It seeks to 
bolster  Europe’s  resilience  in  semiconductor  technologies  and  applications,  and  boost  the 
EU's share of the global microchips market.  

• 

Consistency with other Union policies 

The  proposal  falls  within  the  EU’s  overall  efforts  to  secure  the  green  and  digital 
transformation  of  its  economy.  It  contributes  to  the  objectives  of  parts  of  the  Fit  for  55 
package21 that focus on decarbonising EU industry. 

The  proposal  will  also  contribute  to  the  EU’s  resilience  and  open  strategic  autonomy  by 
strengthening the EU’s capacity as regards critical technologies, including key energy-related 
technologies,  which  is  crucial  for  supporting  the  development  of  other  sectors  of  the 
economy. 

It  relies  on  existing  EU  policies  that  seek  to  achieve  the  same  objective  –  from  cohesion, 
through  recovery  investments  to  research  and  innovation  financing  –  which  seek  to  support 
European economy and channel EU funds towards the green and digital transformation. 

2. 

• 

LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

Legal basis 

This Regulation pursues the general objective of setting up a legal framework which supports 
the  channelling  of  EU  funds  towards  STEP  projects.  The  objectives  of  the  STEP  will  be 
achieved through the following programmes:  

– 

– 

– 

– 

20 

21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund (CF), established 
under  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1058;22  the  Just  Transition  Fund  (JTF),  established 
under  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1056;23  the  European  Social  Fund  Plus  (ESF+), 
established under Regulation 2021/1057;24 the Common Provisions Regulation (EU) 
2021/1060.25 
Recovery and Resilience Facility, established under Regulation (EU) 2021/241.26 
InvestEU, established under Regulation (EU) 2021/52327  
Digital  Europe,  established  under  Regulation  2021/694;28  Horizon  Europe, 
established under Regulation 2021/695;29 European Defence Fund, established under 
Regulation  (EU)  2021/69730  and  the  Innovation  Fund,  established  under  Directive 
2003/87/EC.31  

Proposal  for  a  regulation  establishing  a  framework  of  measures  for  strengthening  Europe’s 
semiconductor ecosystem, COM(2022) 46 final.  
Communication on the Fit for 55, COM(2021) 550 final; and accompanying proposals.  
OJ L 224, 24.6.2021, p. 31. 
OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 1.  
OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 21. 
OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 159. 
OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 17. 
OJ L 107, 26.3.2021, p. 30. 
OJ L 166, 11.5.2021, p. 1. 
OJ L 170, 12.5.2021, p. 1. 
OJ L 170, 12.5.2021, p. 149. 
OJ L 275 25.10.2003, p. 32. 

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– 

The STEP will  also  be implemented within the EU4Health programme, established 
under  Regulation  (EU)  2021/52232,  concerning  the  objective  to  reinforce  the 
development of biotechnologies in the Union. 

Therefore, considering the above, Article 164, Article 173, Article 175(3), Article 176, Article 
177,  Article  178,  Article  182(1)  and  Article  192(1)  are  the  relevant  legal  bases  for  the 
implementation of this Regulation. 

 • 

Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)  

The  objectives  of  the  proposal  cannot  be  achieved  by  Member  States  acting  alone,  as  the 
problems are of a cross-border nature, and not limited to single Member States or to a subset 
of Member States. The proposed actions focus on areas where there is a demonstrable value 
added in acting at Union level due to the scale, speed and scope of the efforts needed within 
the Single Market.  

Given  the  challenges  for  accelerating  the  deployment  of  net-zero  and  digital  technologies, 
intervention at the level of the Union helps coordinate responses to address the Union’s needs 
for  additional  manufacturing  capacities  and  to  prevent  structural  dependencies.  Action  at 
Union level can clearly drive European actors towards a common vision and implementation 
strategy. This is key to generate economies of scale and of scope and to generate critical mass 
necessary  for  scaling  up  green  and  digital  technologies  manufacturing  in  the  EU,  while 
limiting fragmentation of efforts, deepening of regional imbalances and self-harming subsidy 
races between the Member States.  

• 

Proportionality 

The  proposal  is  designed  to  help  developing  a  manufacturing  ecosystem  via  measures  to 
facilitate  investments.  The  objective  is  to  support  the  longer-term  competitiveness  and 
innovation  capacity  of  European  industry  via  manufacturing  capabilities,  de-risking  of 
investments into strategic projects, as well as by start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs. 

The measures do not go beyond what is necessary to achieve these goals. The STEP does not 
consist  of  a  new  fund  structure  but  relies  on  existing  EU  funding  instruments  and  the 
proposed additional resources are proportionate to the need to accelerate Platform investments 
in the short term. 

• 

Choice of the instrument 

 A  Regulation  is  the  appropriate  instrument  as  it  provides  directly  applicable  rules  for  the 
support. 

3. 

• 

RESULTS 
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

EX-POST 

EVALUATIONS, 

OF 

STAKEHOLDER 

Stakeholder consultations 

No  stakeholder  consultation  was  carried  out  specifically.  This  initiative  takes  into  account 
stakeholder consultations conducted for the preparation of other related initiatives, such as the 
Critical Raw Materials Act, the Net-Zero Industry Act, the European Innovation Agenda, the 
Fit for 55 package, the European Chips Act, and the Digital Decade Compass. Moreover, the 
European  Commission  has  long-standing  and  regular  contacts  with  industry  stakeholders, 

32 

OJ L 107, 26.3.2021, p.1. 

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13 

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Member  States  and  trade  associations,  which  enabled  the  collection  of  feedback  relevant  to 
the proposal.  

• 

Impact assessment 

This  proposal  does  not  create  a  new  instrument  but  is  implemented  through  existing  tools 
under the EU budget, which are amended to be able to better mobilise investment resources 
into critical technologies. Those existing tools, such as cohesion funds, InvestEU and Horizon 
Europe,  have  been  subject  to  an  impact  assessment.33  Moreover,  the  proposal  builds  on 
existing  proposals  which  have  been  subject  to  impact  analysis,  such  as  the  Critical  Raw 
Materials  Act,  the  European  Innovation  Agenda,  the  Fitfor55  package,  the  European  Chips 
Act, and the Digital Decade Compass as well as the investment needs assessment published 
on  23  March  2023.  This  analysis,  carried  out  in  impact  assessments  or  analytical  staff 
working documents,34 covers the most significant impacts of this proposal. For those reason, 
another impact assessment is not needed. The explanatory memorandum also reflects the ex-
ante  assessment  carried  out  by  the  Commission  in  relation  to  the  equity-only  support  to  be 
provided under the EIC for non-bankable SMEs and small mid-caps. 

• 

Regulatory fitness and simplification 

The proposal  is  not  linked to  regulatory  fitness  and simplification but  contains a number of 
provisions  to  simplify  the  implementation  of  existing  EU  instruments.  The  reporting 
requirements  have  been  kept  to  a  minimum  to  limit  the  administrative  burden  on  Member 
States’  authorities  and  companies,  while  not  undermining  the  sound  financial  management 
principles. 

• 

Fundamental rights 

Article 15 of the Charter provides for the freedom  to  choose an occupation and the right  to 
engage  in  work.  Supporting  the  competitiveness  of  the  European  industry  will  ensure 
economic  growth  and  make  sure  it  continues  to  offer  job  opportunities  to  citizens  and 
residents of the Union. 

Article  16  of  the  Charter  of  Fundamental  Rights  of  the  European  Union  (‘the  Charter’) 
provides for the freedom to conduct a business. The measures under this proposal support the 
creation of innovation capacity and the deployment of clean energy technologies, which can 
reinforce the freedom to conduct a business in accordance with Union law and national laws 
and practices.  

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 

The proposal will result in additional pre-financing to be paid under JTF in 2024, financed by 
the  European  Recovery  Instrument  NextGenerationEU.  It  will  also  result  in  additional  pre-
financing to be paid under the ERDF, CF and ESF+ in 2024 for amounts programmed under 
priorities  dedicated  to  operations  contributing  to  strengthening  STEP  objectives.  The 
additional  pre-financing  payments  for  the  JTF  in  2024  will  be  financed  only  from  external 
assigned  revenues  and  will  result  in  a  frontloading  of  NGEU  payment  appropriations  from 
year 2026 to  year 2024. All amounts will be available as external assigned revenues, within 

33 

34 

In  particular  ERDF  and  CF  (SWD(2018)  282  final),  ESF+  (SWD(2018)  289  final),  InvestEU 
(SWD(2018) 314 final), and Horizon Europe (SWD(2018) 307 final). 
SWD(2023)  161  final,  SWD(2022)  187  final,  SWD(2020)  176  final,  SWD(2022)  147  final,  and 
SWD(2021) 247 final, and SWD(2023)68 final, respectively.  

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the  meaning  of  Article  21(5)  of  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2018/1046  stemming  from  the 
Next GenerationEU borrowing operations.  

The additional pre-financing payments for the ERDF, CF and ESF+ in 2024 will result in a 
frontloading of payment appropriations to 2024 and is budgetary neutral over the 2021-2027 
period. This additional pre-financing was not envisaged in the draft budget. The Commission 
will  monitor  the  amounts  programmed  by  Member  States  under  priorities  dedicated  to 
operations contributing to STEP objectives and assess their impact on the payment needs in 
the  context  of  the  global  transfer  exercise  in  2024.  The  amount  paid  as  additional  pre-
financing shall be totally cleared from the Commission accounts not later than closure of the 
respective  programmes,  such  that  the  total  amount  of  payments  made  under  the  concerned 
Funds will remain unchanged with this proposal. The proposed modification does not require 
changes  in  the  Multiannual  Financial  Framework  annual  ceilings  for  commitments  and 
payments  as  per  Annex  I  to  Council  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2020/2093,  and  does  not 
imply changes to the overall payment needs over the 2021-27 programming period. 

As for Horizon Europe, the proposal consists in reinforcing the envelope of the EIC by EUR 
2.63 billion in total: 

– 

– 

– 

EUR 0.8 billion are proposed to be redeployed from the resources allocated to Pillar 
II 'Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness' for the period 202[x] 
to 2027; 

EUR 0.13 billion from the reflows of the EIC pilot of Horizon 2020 

EUR  1.2  billion  resulting  from  total  or  partial  non-implementation  of  research 
projects supported by Horizon Europe and its predecessors, are proposed to be made 
available again, in line with Article 15(3) of the Financial Regulation, to the benefit 
of the EIC strand of Horizon Europe; and 

– 

EUR 0.5 billion budgetary reinforcement 

In  addition,  the  Innovation  Fund  should  be  reinforced  by  EUR  5  billion,  the  European 
Defence Fund by  EUR  1.5 billion and the InvestEU  should benefit from  a reinforcement  of 
EUR 3 billion resulting in a guarantee of EUR 7.5 billion.  

The total budgetary implications for the MFF is therefore EUR 10 billion.  

5. 

• 

OTHER ELEMENTS 

Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements 

The  Commission  will  monitor  the  implementation  of  the  Platform  and  measure  the 
achievement of the objectives under this Regulation in a targeted and proportionate manner. 
The Commission will ensure that data for monitoring the implementation of the activities and 
results are collected efficiently, effectively and in a timely manner.  

To  monitor  the  implementation  of  the  Platform,  the  Commission  will  compile  the 
expenditures  related  to  the  STEP  from  the  relevant  programmes.  The  respective  climate 
spending  targets  under  the  relevant  programmes  continue  to  apply.  This  requires  the 
following: 

– 

Common  Provisions  Regulation:  updating  Annex  I  of  the  Regulation  to  include 
additional intervention fields;  

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15 

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– 

– 

– 

Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility:  tagging  and  reporting  based  on  a  break-down  of 
the estimated expenditure by the Commission in accordance with article 29(3) of that 
Regulation of investments related to the STEP objectives; 

InvestEU: tracking of expenditures by the Commission. 

Direct  management  programmes  (Horizon  Europe,  Innovation  Fund,  European 
Defence  Fund,  Digital  Europe  Programme,  EU4Health  Programme):  tracking  of 
expenditures by the Commission. 

To monitor and assess the performance of the programme, the Commission will compile the 
results of performance indicators related to the STEP from the relevant programmes. 

The implementation of the performance indicators related to the STEP requires: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

• 

Cohesion  instruments:  amending  of  the  annexes  of  the  fund-specific  regulation 
containing the performance indicators; 

InvestEU:  amending  Annex  III  of  the  InvestEU  Regulation  containing  the  key 
performance and monitoring indicators; 

Recovery and Resilience Facility: relying on the existing reporting framework 

Direct  management  programmes  (Horizon  Europe,  Innovation  Fund,  European 
Defence Fund,  Digital  Europe Programme, EU4Health Programme): information to 
be gathered by the Commission. 

Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal 

Chapter 1 of this Regulation (Articles 1 to 8) sets out the common provisions necessary for 
the creation of the STEP, while Chapter 2 contains the amendments to other relevant pieces of 
EU legislation (Articles 9 to 19).  

Subject matter and Platform objectives (Articles 1 and 2) 

Article  1  explains  the  subject  matter  of  the  Regulation,  and  Article  2  defines  the  objectives 
and scope of the instrument. In accordance with Article 2, the STEP has a twofold objective: 
(i)  to  support  the  development  or  manufacturing  of  critical  technologies  in  the  Union  or 
safeguarding  and  strengthening  their  value  chains;  and  (ii)  reducing  labour  and  skills 
shortages  in  those  strategic  sectors.  Article  2  also  defines  the  fields  for  those  critical 
technologies, namely deep and digital technologies, clean technologies, and biotechnologies. 
This provision further specifies that, in order for a technology to be deemed as critical for the 
purposes  of  the  Platform,  it  should  meet  the  following  conditions:  (i)  bring  an  innovative, 
element with significant economic potential to the Single Market; or (ii) contribute to reduce 
or prevent  the strategic  dependencies of the  Union.  It  is  also  clarified that, where  an  IPCEI 
approved pursuant to Article 107(3)(b) TFEU relates to any of the technology fields referred 
to in Article 2(1)(a), the relevant technologies should be deemed to be critical. Article 2 also 
provides with further guidance as to the meaning of ‘value chain’.  

Financial support (Article 3) 

This provision lays down the additional EU funding which is used to reinforce the firepower 
of  several  instruments,  namely  InvestEU,  Horizon  Europe,  European  Defence  Fund  and  the 
Innovation Fund.  

Sovereignty Seal and cumulative funding (Article 4) 

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Article 4 creates a ‘Sovereignty Seal’, which is a new label intended to help project promoters 
attract  public  and  private  investments  by  certifying  its  contribution  to  the  STEP  objectives. 
The  Sovereignty  Seal  would  be  awarded  under  directly  managed  programmes,  namely 
Horizon  Europe,  the  Innovation  Fund,  the  Digital  Europe  programme,  the  EU4Health 
programme,  and  the  European  Defence  Fund.  The  Seal  builds  on  the  existing  ‘Seal  of 
Excellence’, which is a quality label for eligible projects that could not be funded due to lack 
of  budget  available.  Unlike  the  Seal  of  Excellence,  the  Sovereignty  Seal  is  defined  only  by 
reference  to  the  objectives  pursued  by  the  projects  to  which  it  has  been  awarded,  and 
regardless of whether the project has been able to receive EU funding as long as it has been 
successfully  evaluated  under  Horizon  Europe,  the  Innovation  Fund,  the  Digital  Europe 
programme,  the  EU4Health  programme  or  the  European  Defence  Fund.  This  is  a  way  to 
promote that projects which have been partly funded can also receive cumulative or combined 
funding  with  another  Union  instrument  (Article  4(1)(b)).  Moreover,  the  Sovereignty  Seal 
would also apply to cases where a project  has not been able to receive  EU funds under one 
programme,  in  order  to  promote  that  it  receives  support  under  another  programme  (Article 
4(1)(a)).  

This provision also indicates that projects having been awarded a Sovereignty Seal should be 
prioritised by Member States when proposing their Recovery and Resilience Plans and when 
deciding on investment projects to be financed from its share of the Modernisation Fund. As 
regards the InvestEU Programme (see also Article 15), the Sovereignty Seal should be taken 
into account by the Commission in the context of the procedure provided for in Article 19 of 
the EIB Statute and of the policy check laid down in Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2021/523. 
In addition, the implementing partners should be requested to examine projects having been 
awarded  the  Sovereignty  Seal  in  case  they  fall  within  their  geographic  and  activity  scope. 
Concerning cohesion policy, it is proposed that managing authorities are able to grant support 
from  the ERDF or the ESF+ directly,  subject  to  compliance with  applicable State aid  rules, 
for operations attributed a Sovereignty Seal (see Article 13).  

Strategic  projects  identified  in  accordance  with  the  Net  Zero  Industry  and  the  Critical  Raw 
Materials  Acts  that  fall  under  the  scope  of  Article  2  of  the  Regulation  may  benefit  from 
cumulative funding across relevant Programmes. 

Monitoring and implementation (Article 5) 

Article  5  defines  how  the  Commission  shall  monitor  the  implementation  of  the  STEP,  the 
results and progress towards the achievement of its objectives.  

Sovereignty Portal (Article 6) 

Article 6 sets out the obligation for the Commission to set up a new publicly available website 
(the Sovereignty Portal) to provide support to companies and project promoters seeking funds 
for STEP investments. To that end, the Portal is required to display in particular the following 
information: ongoing and upcoming calls for proposals linked to the STEP objectives (Article 
6(1)(a)) and contacts to the national competent authorities designated to act as the main point 
of contact for the implementation of the  STEP at national level (Article 6(1)(d)). Moreover, 
the  Portal  should  inform  about  the  projects  which  have  been  awarded  a  Sovereignty  Seal 
label, in order to give them visibility towards potential investors (Article 6(1)(b)), as well as 
strategic projects identified under the NZIA and the CRMA (Article 6(1)(c)). Moreover, the 
Platform  should  present  the  information  about  the  implementation  of  the  Platform  (Article 
6(2)).  Article  6(4)  requires  Member  States  to  designate  one  national  competent  authority  to 

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act as the main point of contact for those priorities, with the objective to ensure the consistent 
application of the  STEP throughout the Union,  and  in  order to facilitate  the combination of 
available  funding  for  Platform  projects,  notably  under  directly  managed  programmes  and 
shared management programmes. 

Annual report and evaluation (Articles 7 and 8).  

Articles  7  sets  out  the  obligation  for  the  Commission  to  provide  an  annual  report  to  the 
European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  progress  made  in  implementing  the  STEP 
objectives. 

Article 8 lays down the rules on the evaluation of the Platform. The Commission is required 
to provide an evaluation report to the European Parliament and the Council by 31 December 
2025. 

Amendments to Directive 2003/87/EC (EU ETS Directive) (Article 9) 

Article  9  amends  the  EU  ETS  Directive  to  specify  the  amount  of  additional  funds  to  be 
implemented through the Innovation Fund for  projects aimed at supporting the development 
or  manufacturing  in  the  Union  of  clean  technologies.  This  additional  support  is  made 
available only to Member States whose average GDP per capita is below the EU average of 
the  EU-27  measured  in  purchasing  power  standards  (PPS)  and  calculated  on  the  basis  of 
Union figures for the period 2015-2017. 

Amendments  to  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1058,  Regulation  on  the  European  Regional 
Development Fund and on the Cohesion Fund (Article 10), Regulation on the Just Transition 
Fund (Article 11), and to Regulation (EU) 2021/1057, Regulation establishing the European 
Social Fund Plus (Article 12) 

Article 10 amends the Regulation on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and 
on the Cohesion Fund (CF) to create new specific objectives under Policy Objective 1 (a more 
competitive and smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation 
and  regional  ICT  connectivity)  and  Policy  Objective  2  (a  greener,  low-carbon  transitioning 
towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe by promoting clean and fair energy 
transition,  green  and  blue  investment,  the  circular  economy,  climate  change  mitigation  and 
adaptation, risk prevention and management, and sustainable urban mobility). It is also made 
possible to support productive investments in enterprises other than SMEs, in less developed 
and transition regions, as well as in more developed regions in Member States whose average 
GDP  per  capita  is  below  the  EU  average  of  the  EU-27  measured  in  purchasing  power 
standards (PPS) and calculated on the basis of Union figures for the period 2015-2017. 

Article  11  amends  the  Regulation  on  the  Just  Transition  Fund  (JTF)  to  indicate  that  such  a 
programme can support investments linked to the STEP objectives. 

Moreover, in order to help accelerate those investments and providing the necessary liquidity, 
an exceptional pre-financing of 30% will be available for the year 2024. It is also set out that 
Member States should be able to apply an increased EU financing rate of up to 100%. This is 
reflected for the three Regulations above, by including the same provisions under Articles 10, 
11, and 12.  

Annexes I and II of the ERDF and CF regulation are amended to include the indicators related 
to the new STEP objectives. 

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Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, Regulation laying down common provisions 
applicable amongst others to the ERDF, CF, JTF and ESF+ (Article 13)  

This  Regulation  is  also  amended  to  allow  that  projects  having  been  awarded  a  Sovereignty 
Seal  could  benefit  from  better  access  to  EU  funding,  notably  by  facilitating  cumulative  or 
combined funding from several Union instruments. To that end, managing authorities will be 
able  to  grant  support  from  the  ERDF  or  the  ESF+  directly,  for  operations  attributed  a 
Sovereignty Seal.  It is also set out that Member States should be able to  apply an increased 
EU financing rate of up to 100%.  

Article 49 of the CPR Regulation is amended to ensure that the managing authorities identify 
and submit to the Commission the planned calls for proposals related to the STEP objectives 
in order to publish them on the Sovereignty portal, as well as a dedicated secondary theme for 
the ESF +. 

The amendment  to  Annex I of the CPR  Regulation  incorporates supplementary intervention 
fields that will allow to track the expenditure related to the new Platform objectives. 

Amendments  to  Regulation  (EU)  No  1303/2013  (Article  14)  and  Regulation  (EU)  No 
223/2014 (Article 15) 

This  amendment  to  provide  with  additional  flexibilities  for  Member  States  to  be  able  to 
implement the 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes, the EMFF and the Fund for European 
Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). The regulatory framework for the implementation of the 
2014-2020 programmes has already been adapted to provide Member States and regions with 
additional flexibility in terms of implementation rules and more liquidity to tackle the effects 
of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  and  the  war  or  aggression  against  Ukraine.35  These  measures, 
introduced  at  the  end  of  the  programming  period,  require  sufficient  time  and  administrative 
resources to  be fully exploited and implemented. This  is linked to the need for the Member 
States  to  focus  administrative  resources  on  the  revision  of  the  operational  programmes 
towards the STEP.  

Therefore,  the  deadline  for  the  submission  of  that  final  payment  application  should  be 
extended  by  12  months.  Furthermore,  the  deadline  for  the  submission  of  the  closure 
documents  should  also  be  extended  by  12  months  so  that  the  necessary  controls  and  audits 
allowing for an orderly closure of programmes under the 2014-2020 programming period can 
be carried out. In order to ensure a sound implementation of the EU budget and respect for the 
payment  ceilings,    payments  to  be  made  in  2025  should  be  capped  at  1  %  of  the  financial 
appropriations from resources under the Multiannual Financial Framework per programme.  It 
should  be  clarified  that  amounts  due  exceeding  the  ceiling  of  1%  of  programme 
appropriations per fund for 2025 would not be paid in 2025 nor in subsequent years but only 
used for the clearance of pre-financing. Unused amounts shall be decommitted in accordance 
with the general rules for decommitment at closure. 

35 

The  additional  REACT-EU  resources  stemming  from  the  NextGenerationEU  have  increased  the 
funding available in 2021 and 2022 (without national co-financing required) to provide Member States 
with  rapid  assistance  for  fostering  crisis  repair  and  resilient  recovery.  Other  measures  include  the 
Cohesion’s  Action  for  Refugees  in  Europe  (CARE)  package,  and  the  Supporting  Affordable  Energy 
initiative (SAFE).  

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Amendments  to  Regulation  (EU)  2021/523,  establishing  the  InvestEU  Programme  (Article 
16) 

This  provision  creates  a  new  policy  area  (fifth  window)  aimed  at  supporting  STEP  
investments under InvestEU, and it accommodates the additional amount of EUR [...] billion 
proposed in the context of the MFF review by amending the amounts of the EU guarantee for 
the  purposes  of  the  STEP.  Amendments  are  also  made  to  reflect  the  Sovereignty  Seal 
dimension into InvestEU, as explained under Article 4. 

It also proposes additional flexibilities and clarifications to better pursue the objectives of this 
initiative. In relation to the combination of portfolios, it is specified that when support from 
the  financial  instruments  referred  to  in  Article  7(1)  is  combined  in  a  financial  product  in  a 
subordinated  position  to  the  EU  guarantee  under  this  Regulation  and/or  EU  guarantee 
established  by  Regulation  (EU)  2015/1017,  the  losses,  revenues  and  repayments  as  well  as 
potential recoveries may also be attributed on a non pro rata basis. This amendment aims at 
facilitating  synergies  between  the  InvestEU  and  other  Union  programmes  by  increasing  the 
flexibility on the design of blending operations.  

To facilitate the uptake of the Member State compartment, it is proposed to slightly increase 
the time period available to conclude a guarantee agreement from nine to twelve months from 
the conclusion of the contribution agreement. The rules on the membership of the Investment 
Committee are also  amended to  clarify that a non-permanent  member may  be  assigned to  a 
maximum  of  two  configurations  to  apply  a  selection  process  that  allows  to  constitute  the 
Investment Committee for the new fifth window in a swift manner.  

Annex  III  of  InvestEU  Regulation  is  amended  to  include  the  indicators  related  to  the  new 
STEP window. 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/695, establishing Horizon Europe (Article 17) 

This  provision  aims  at  providing  additional  flexibility  and  funding  for  the  EIC  Accelerator. 
The Accelerator under Horizon Europe should be able to provide equity-only support to non-
bankable  SMEs,  including  start-ups,  and  non-bankable  small  mid-caps,  carrying  out 
innovation in the technologies supported by STEP. Moreover, the unused funds committed for 
the  EIC  Pilot  under  Horizon2020  should  be  made  available  for  the  purposes  of  the  EIC 
Accelerator under Horizon Europe. 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/697, establishing the European Defence Fund (Article 
18) 

Article  18  amends  the  Regulation  on  the  European  Defence  Fund  to  specify  the  amount  of 
additional funds to be implemented through the European Defence Fund. 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/241, establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility 
(Article 19) 

This Regulation  is  amended  to  increase the  ceiling for the amount of  estimated costs of the 
recovery and resilience plans that Member States can use for the Member State compartment 
of InvestEU. In addition to the applicable ceiling of 4% of the recovery and resilience plan’s 
financial  allocation,  Member  States  can  decide  to  allocate  a  further  6%  to  support  STEP 
investments,  therefore  up  to  a  total  of  10%.  Article  29  is  amended  to  ensure  the  Member 

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States  identify  and  submit  to  the  Commission  the  planned  calls  for  proposals  related  to  the 
Platform objectives in order to publish them on the Sovereignty portal. 

Entry into force and application (Article 20) 

It is proposed that this Regulation, which is directly applicable in all Member States, enters 
into force on the day following that of its publication.

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2023/0199 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) and amending 
Directive 2003/87/EC, Regulations (EU) 2021/1058, (EU) 2021/1056, (EU) 2021/1057, 
(EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) 2021/1060, (EU) 2021/523, (EU) 2021/695, 
(EU) 2021/697 and (EU) 2021/241 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 164, Article 173, Article 175, third paragraph, Article 176, Article 177, Article  178, 
Article 182(1) and Article 192(1) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee36, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions37, 

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

36 
37 
38 

39 

Strengthening  the  competitiveness  and  resilience  of  the  European  economy  through 
the green and digital transformations has been the EU compass over the last years. The 
green  and  digital  transitions  anchored  in  the  European  Grean  Deal38  and  the  Digital 
Decade,39  spurs  growth  and  the  modernisation  of  the  EU  economy,  opening  up  new 
business  opportunities  and  helping  gain  a  competitive  advantage  on  the  global 
markets.  The  European  Green  Deal  sets  out  the  roadmap  for  making  the  Union’s 
economy  climate  neutral  and  sustainable  in  a  fair  and  inclusive  manner,  tackling 
climate  and  environmental-related  challenges.  Moreover,  the  Digital  Decade  Policy 
Programme 2030 sets out a clear direction for the digital transformation of the Union 
and  for  the  delivery  of  digital  targets  at  Union  level  by  2030,  notably  concerning 
digital  skills,  digital  infrastructures,  and  the  digital  transformation  of  businesses  and 
public services.  

The  EU  industry  has  proven  its  inbuilt  resilience  but  is  being  challenged.  High 
inflation,  labour  shortages,  post-COVID  supply  chains  disruptions,  rising  interest 
rates, and spikes in energy costs and input prices are weighing on the competitiveness 
of the EU industry. This is paired with strong, but not always fair, competition on the 
fragmented  global  market.  The  EU  has  already  put  forward  several  initiatives  to 

OJ C [...], [...], p. [...]  
OJ C [...], [...], p. [...]  
Communication  on  The  European  Green  Deal,  COM(2019)  640  final.  See  also  European  Parliament 
resolution of 15 January 2020, and European Council conclusions of 11 December 2020. 
Decision  (EU)  2022/2481  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  14 December  2022 
establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 (OJ L 323, 19.12.2022, p. 4). 

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(3) 

(4) 

support  its  industry,  such  as  the  Green  Deal  Industrial  Plan,40  the  Critical  Raw 
Materials Act41, the Net Zero Industry Act42, the new Temporary Crisis and Transition 
Framework for State aid,43 and REPowerEU.44 While these solutions provide fast and 
targeted support, the EU needs a more structural answer to the investment needs of its 
industries, safeguarding cohesion and the level playing field in the Single Market and 
to reduce the EU’s strategic dependencies.  

The  uptake  and  scaling  up  in  the  Union  of  deep  and  digital  technologies,  clean 
technologies, and biotechnologies will be essential to seize the opportunities and meet 
the objectives of the green and digital transitions, thus promoting the competitiveness 
of the European industry and its sustainability. Therefore, immediate action is required 
to  support  the  development  or  manufacturing  in  the  Union  of  such  technologies, 
safeguarding  and  strengthening  their  value  chains  thereby  reducing  the  Union’s 
strategic  dependencies,  and  addressing  existing  labour  and  skills  shortages  in  those 
sectors  through  trainings  and  apprenticeships  and  the  creation  of  attractive,  quality 
jobs accessible to all.  

There is a need to support critical technologies in the following fields: deep and digital 
technologies, clean technologies, and biotechnologies (including the respective critical 
raw  materials  value  chains),  in  particular  projects,  companies  and  sectors  with  a 
critical  role for EU’s  competitiveness  and resilience and its value  chains. By way of 
example, deep technologies and digital technologies should include microelectronics, 
high-performance computing, quantum  technologies (i.e., computing, communication 
and  sensing 
technologies),  cloud  computing,  edge  computing,  and  artificial 
intelligence,  cybersecurity  technologies,  robotics,  5G  and  advanced  connectivity  and 
virtual  realities,  including  actions  related  to  deep  and  digital  technologies  for  the 
development  of  defence  and  aerospace  applications.  Clean  technologies  should 
include,  among  others,  renewable  energy;  electricity  and  heat  storage;  heat  pumps; 
electricity grid; renewable fuels of non-biological origin; sustainable alternative fuels; 
electrolysers and fuel cells; carbon capture, utilisation and storage; energy efficiency; 
hydrogen  and  its  related  infratructure;  smart  energy  solutions;  technologies  vital  to 
sustainability such as water purification and desalination; advanced materials such as 
nanomaterials,  composites  and  future  clean  construction  materials,  and  technologies 
for the sustainable extraction and processing of critical raw materials. Biotechnology 
should  be  considered  to  include  technologies  such  as  biomolecules  and  its 
applications, pharmaceuticals and medical technologies vital for health security, crop 
biotechnology,  and  industrial  biotechnology,  such  as  for  waste  disposal,  and 
biomanufacturing. The Commission may issue guidance to further specify the scope of 
the technologies in these three fields considered to be critical in accordance with this 
Regulation,  in  order  to  promote  a  common  interpretation  of  the  projects,  companies 
and sectors to be supported under the respective programmes in light of the common 
strategic  objective.  Moreover,  technologies  in  any  of  these  three  fields  which  are 
subjects  of an  Important Project  of Common European  Interest  (IPCEI) approved  by 
the Commission  pursuant  to  Article 107(3), point (b) TFEU should be deemed to  be 
critical, and individual projects within the scope of such an IPCEI should be eligible 

40 
41 
42 
43 

44 

Communication on A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age, COM(2023) 62 final.  
COM(2023) 160 final 
COM(2023) 161 final 
Communication on a Temporary Crisis and  Transition Framework for State Aid measures (OJ C 101, 
17.3.2023, p. 3). 
Regulation (EU) 2023/435 as regards REPowerEU (OJ L 63, 28.2.2023, p. 1).  

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(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

for funding, in accordance with the respective programme rules, to the extent that the 
identified funding gap and the eligible costs have not yet been completely covered. 

Strengthening the manufacturing capacity of key technologies in the Union will not be 
possible  without  a  sizeable  skilled  workforce.  However,  labour  and  skills  shortages 
have increased in all sectors including those considered key for the green and digital 
transition  and  endanger  the  rise  of  key  technologies,  also  in  the  context  of 
demographic change. Therefore, it is necessary to boost the activation of more people 
to the labour market relevant for strategic sectors, in particular through the creation of 
jobs and apprenticeships for young, disadvantaged persons, in particular, young people 
not in employment, education or training. Such support will complement a number of 
other actions aimed at meeting the skills needs stemming from the transition, outlined 
in the EU Skills Agenda.45 

The  scale  of  investments  needed  for  the  transition  require  a  full  mobilisation  of 
funding available under existing EU programmes and funds, inclusive those granting a 
budgetary  guarantee  for  financing  and  investment  operations  and  implementation  of 
financial instruments and blending operations. Such funding should be deployed in a 
more flexible manner, to provide timely and targeted support for critical technologies 
in strategic sectors. Therefore, a Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (‘STEP’) 
should  give  a  structural  answer  to  the  Union  investment  needs  by  helping  to  better 
channel  the  existing  EU  funds  towards  critical  investments  aimed  at  supporting  the 
development  or  manufacturing  of  critical  technologies,  while  preserving  a  level 
playing  field  in  the  Single  Market,  thereby  preserving  cohesion  and  aiming  at  a 
geographically  balanced  distribution  of  projects  financed  under  the  STEP  in 
accordance with the respective programme mandates.  

The STEP should identify resources which should be implemented within the existing 
Union programmes and funds, the InvestEU, Horizon Europe, European Defence Fund 
and Innovation Fund. This should be accompanied by providing additional funding of 
EUR 10 billion. Of this, EUR 5 billion should be used to increase the endowment of 
the  Innovation  Fund46  and  EUR  3  billion  to  increase  the  total  amount  of  the  EU 
guarantee  available  for  the  EU  compartment  under  the  InvestEU  Regulation  to  EUR 
7,5 billion,47 taking into account the relevant provisioning rate. EUR 0.5 billion should 
be  made  available  to  increase  the  financial  envelope  under  the  Horizon  Europe 
Regulation,48  which  should  be  amended  accordingly;  and  EUR  1.5  billion  to  the 
European Defence Fund.49 

(8) 

A Sovereignty Seal should be awarded to projects contributing to the STEP objectives, 
provided  that  the  project  has  been  assessed  and  complies  with  the  minimum  quality 
requirements, in particular eligibility, exclusion and award criteria, provided by a call 
for proposals under Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe programme,50 the EU4Health 

45 

46 

47 
48 
49 
50 

Communication  on  a  European  Skills  Agenda  for  sustainable  competitiveness,  social  fairness  and 
resilience, COM(2020) 274 final.  
Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading (OJ L 275, 
25.10.2003, p. 32).  
Regulation (EU) 2021/523 establishing the InvestEU Programme (OJ L 107, 26.3.2021, p. 30). 
Regulation (EU) 2021/695 establishing Horizon Europe (OJ L 170, 12.5.2021, p. 1). 
Regulation (EU) 2021/697 establishing the European Defense Fund (OJ L 170, 12.5.2021, p. 149.) 
Regulation (EU) 2021/694 establishing the Digital Europe Programme (OJ L 166, 11.5.2021, p. 1).  

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(9) 

programme,51  the European Defence  Fund or the  Innovation Fund, and  regardless  of 
whether  the  project  has  received  funding  under  those  instruments.  These  minimum 
quality requirements will be established with a view to identify high quality projects. 
This Seal should be used as a quality label, to help projects attract public and private 
investments by certifying its contribution to the STEP objectives. Moreover, the Seal 
will  promote  better  access  to  EU  funding,  notably  by  facilitating  cumulative  or 
combined funding from several Union instruments.  

To  that  end,  it  should  be  possible  to  rely  on  assessments  made  for  the  purposes  of 
other Union programmes in accordance with Articles 126 and 127 of Regulation (EU, 
Euratom)  2018/1046,52  in  order  to  reduce  administrative  burden  for  beneficiaries  of 
Union funds and encourage investment in priority technologies. Provided they comply 
with the provisions of the RRF Regulation,53 Member States should consider including 
actions  awarded  the  Sovereignty  Seal  when  preparing  their  recovery  and  resilience 
plans  and when proposing their Recovering  and Resilience Plans and when deciding 
on investment projects to be financed from its share of the Modernisation Fund.  The 
Sovereignty Seal should also be taken into account by the Commission in the context 
of the procedure provided for in Article 19 of the EIB Statute and of the policy check 
laid  down  in  Article  23  of  the  InvestEU  Regulation.  In  addition,  the  implementing 
partners should be required to examine projects having been awarded the Sovereignty 
Seal  in  case  they  fall  within  their  geographic  and  activity  scope  in  accordance  with 
Article  26(5)  of  that  Regulation.  Authorities  in  charge  of  programmes  falling  under 
STEP should also be encouraged to consider support for strategic projects identified in 
accordance  with  the  Net  Zero  Industry  and  the  Critical  Raw  Materials  Acts  that  are 
within  the  scope  of  Article  2  of  the  Regulation  and  for  which  rules  on  cumulative 
funding may apply. 

(10)  A  new  publicly  available  website  (the  ‘Sovereignty  Portal’)  should  be  set  up  by  the 
Commission  to  provide  information  on  available  support  to  companies  and  project 
promoters  seeking  funds  for  STEP  investments.  To  that  end,  it  should  display  in  an 
accessible  and  user-friendly  manner  the  funding  opportunities  for  STEP  investments 
available  under  the  EU  budget.  This  should  include  information  about  directly 
managed  programmes,  such  as  Horizon  Europe,  the  Digital  Europe  programme,  the 
EU4Health programme, and the Innovation Fund, and also other programmes such as 
InvestEU,  the  RRF,  and  cohesion  policy  funds.  Moreover,  the  Sovereignty  Portal 
should help increase the visibility for STEP investments towards investors, by listing 
the projects that have been awarded a Sovereignty Seal. The Portal should also list the 
national  competent  authorities  responsible  for  acting  as  contact  points  for  the 
implementation of the STEP at national level. 

(11)  While  the  STEP  relies  on  the  reprogramming  and  reinforcement  of  existing 
programmes  for  supporting  strategic  investments,  it  is  also  an  important  element  for 
testing  the  feasibility  and  preparation  of  new  interventions  as  a  step  towards  a 
European  Sovereignty  Fund.  The  evaluation  in  2025  will  assess  the  relevance  of  the 

51 

52 

53 

Regulation  (EU)  2021/522  establishing  a  Programme  for  the  Union’s  action  in  the  field  of  health, 
EU4Health Programme (OJ L 107, 26.3.2021, p. 1).  
Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2018/1046  on  the  financial  rules  applicable  to  the  general  budget  of  the 
Union (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1).  
Regulation  (EU)  2021/241  establishing  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility  (OJ  L  57,  18.2.2021,  p. 
17).   

EN 

25 

  EN 

 
                                                 
actions  undertaken  and  serve  as  basis  for  assessing  the  need  for  an  upscaling  of  the 
support towards strategic sectors.  

(12)  Directive  2003/87/EC54  should  be  amended  to  allow  for  additional  financing  with  a 
financial  envelope  for  the  period  2024-2027  of  EUR  5  billion.  The  Innovation  Fund 
supports investments in innovative low-carbon technologies, which is a scope that is to 
be  covered  by  the  STEP.  The  increase  in  volume  of  the  Innovation  Fund  should 
therefore  allow  to  provide  financing  responding  to  the  objective  of  supporting  the 
development or manufacturing in the Union of critical clean technologies. In line with 
the objectives of ensuring cohesion and promoting the Single Market, and in order to 
support the green transition and the development of clean technologies throughout the 
Union,  the  additional  financial  envelope  should  be  made  available  through  calls  for 
proposals  open  to  entities  from  Member  States  whose  average  GDP  per  capita  is 
below  the  EU  average  of  the  EU-27  measured  in  purchasing  power  standards  (PPS) 
and calculated on the basis of Union figures for the period 2015-2017. 

(13) 

In  order  to  extend  support  possibilities  for  investments  aimed  at  strengthening 
industrial  development  and  reinforcement  of  value  chains  in  strategic  sectors,  the 
scope  of  support  from  the  ERDF  should  be  extended  by  providing  for  new  specific 
objectives under the ERDF, without prejudice to the rules on eligibility of expenditure 
and climate spending as set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/106055 and Regulation (EU) 
2021/105856.  In  strategic  sectors,  it  should  also  be  possible  to  support  productive 
investments in enterprises other than SMEs, which can make a significant contribution 
to  the  development  of  less  developed  and  transition  regions,  as  well  as  in  more 
developed  regions  of  Member  States  with  a  GDP  per  capita  below  the  EU  average. 
Managing  authorities  are  encouraged  to  promote  the  collaboration  between  large 
enterprises  and  local  SMEs,  supply  chains,  innovation  and  technology  ecosystems. 
This  would  allow  reinforcing  Europe’s  overall  capacity  to  strengthen  its  position  in 
those sectors through providing access to all Member States for such investments, thus 
counteracting the risk of increasing disparities.  

(14)  The scope of support of the JTF, laid down in  Regulation  (EU) 2021/1056,57 should 
also  be  extended  to  cover  investments  in  clean  technologies  contributing  to  the 
objectives of the STEP by large enterprises, provided that they are compatible with the 
expected contribution to the transition to climate neutrality as set out in the territorial 
just transition  plans. The support provided for such investments  should not  require a 
revision of the territorial just transition plan where that revision would be exclusively 
linked  to  the  gap  analysis  justifying  the  investment  from  the  perspective  of  job 
creation. 

(15)  The  ESF+,58  being  the  main  EU  Fund  for  investment  in  people,  provides  a  key 
contribution to promote the development of skills. In order to facilitate the use of that 
Fund  for  the  STEP  objectives,  it  should  be  possible  to  use  the  ESF+  to  cover 

54 

55 
56 

57 
58 

Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading (OJ L 275, 
25.10.2003, p. 32).  
Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 laying down common provisions (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 159).  
Regulation (EU) 2021/1058  on the European Regional Development Fund and on the  Cohesion Fund 
(OJ L 224, 24.6.2021, p. 31).  
Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 establishing the Just Transition Fund (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 1).  
Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 establishing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) (OJ L 231 30.6.2021, 
p.21). 

EN 

26 

  EN 

 
                                                 
(16) 

investments  aimed at  achieving a skilled and resilient workforce ready for the future 
world of work.  

In  order  to  help  accelerate  investments  and  provide  immediate  liquidity  for 
investments supporting the STEP objectives under the ERDF, the ESF+59 and the JTF, 
an additional amount of exceptional pre-financing should be provided in the form of a 
one-off payment with respect to the priorities dedicated to investments supporting the 
STEP  objectives.  The  additional  pre-financing  should  apply  to  the  whole  of  the  JTF 
allocation given the need to accelerate its implementation and the  strong links of the 
JTF  to  support  Member  States  towards  the  STEP  objectives.  The  rules  applying  for 
those  amounts  of  exceptional  pre-financing  should  be  consistent  with  the  rules 
applicable to pre-financing set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. Moreover, to further 
incentivise  the  uptake  of  such  investments  and  ensure  its  faster  implementation,  the 
possibility for an increased EU financing rate of 100% for the STEP priorities should 
be available. When implementing the new STEP objectives, managing authorities are 
encouraged to  apply certain social criteria or promote social positive outcomes, such 
as  creating  apprenticeships  and  jobs  for  young  disadvantaged  persons,  in  particular 
young  persons  not  in  employment,  education  or  training,  applying  the  social  award 
criteria  in  the  Directives  on  public  procurement  when  a  project  is  implemented  by  a 
body  subject  to  public  procurement,  and  paying  the  applicable  wages  as  agreed 
through collective bargaining. 

(17)  The  Common  Provisions  Regulation60  should  be  amended  to  allow  that  projects 
having  been  awarded  a  Sovereignty  Seal  could  benefit  from  better  access  to  EU 
funding,  notably  by  facilitating  cumulative  or  combined  funding  from  several  Union 
instruments.  To  that  end,  it  should  be  possible  for  managing  authorities  to  grant 
support from the ERDF or the ESF+ directly, for operations attributed a Sovereignty 
Seal.  

(18)  The regulatory framework for the implementation of the 2014-2020 programmes has 
been adapted over the past years to provide Member States and regions with additional 
with additional flexibility in terms of implementation rules and more liquidity to tackle 
the  effects  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  and  the  war  or  aggression  against  Ukraine. 
These  measures,  introduced  at  the  end  of  the  programming  period,  require  sufficient 
time and administrative resources to be fully exploited and implemented; also at a time 
where  Member  States  will  focus  resources  on  revising  the  2021-2027  operational 
programmes linked to the STEP objectives. With a view to alleviate the administrative 
burden on programme authorities and to prevent possible loss of funds at closure for 
purely  administrative  reasons,  the  deadlines  for  the  administrative  closure  of  the 
programmes under the 2014-2020 period should  be extended in  Regulation (EU) No 
1303/201361 and Regulation (EU) No 223/201462. More specifically, the deadline for 
the  submission  of  that  final  payment  application  should  be  extended  by  12  months. 
Furthermore, the deadline for the submission of the closure documents should also be 
extended by 12 months. In the context of this amendment, it is appropriate to clarify 
that  distribution  of  food  and  material  bought  until  the  end  of  the  eligibility  period 

59 

60 
61 
62 

Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 establishing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, 
p. 21).  
Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 laying down common provisions (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 159).  
Regulation (EU) 1303/2013 laying down common provisions (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 320).  
Regulation (EU) 223/2014 on the Fund for European Aid on the Most Deprived (OJ L 72, 12.3.2014, p. 
1).  

EN 

27 

  EN 

 
                                                 
(19) 

(end-2023) may continue after that date. In order to ensure a sound implementation of 
the  EU  budget  and  respect  for  the  payment  ceilings,  payments  to  be  made  in  2025 
should  be  capped  at  1  %  of  the  financial  appropriations  from  resources  under  the 
Multiannual Financial Framework per programme. Amounts due exceeding the ceiling 
of 1% of programme appropriations per fund for 2025 would not be paid in 2025 nor 
in subsequent years but only used for the clearance of pre-financing. Unused amounts 
shall  be  decommitted  in  accordance  with  the  general  rules  for  decommitment  at 
closure. 

InvestEU is the EU flagship programme to boost investment, especially the green and 
digital  transition,  by  providing  demand-driven  financing,  including  through  blending 
mechanisms,  and  technical  assistance.  Such  approach  contributes  to  crowd  in 
additional  public  and  private  capital.  Given  the  high  market  demand  of  InvestEU 
guarantee, the EU compartment of InvestEU should be reinforced to correspond to the 
objectives  of  the STEP.  This  will, among other things,  reinforce  InvestEU’s existing 
possibility to invest in projects forming part of an IPCEI, within the identified critical 
technology  sectors.  In  addition,  Member  States  are  encouraged  to  contribute  to  the 
InvestEU  Member  State  compartment  to  support  financial  products  in  line  with  the 
STEP objectives, without prejudice to applicable State aid rules. It should be possible 
for Member States to include as a measure in their recovery and resilience plans a cash 
contribution for the purpose of the Member State compartment of InvestEU to support 
objectives of the STEP. That additional contribution to support objectives of the STEP 
could reach up to 6% of their recovery and resilience plan’s total financial allocation 
the  Member  State  compartment  of  InvestEU.  Additional  flexibility  and 
to 
clarifications should also be introduced to better pursue the objectives of the STEP.   

(20)  Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, and 
its  European  Innovation  Council  (EIC)  provides  for  support  for  innovations  with 
potential  breakthrough  and  disruptive  nature  with  scale-up  potential  that  may  be  too 
risky for private investors. Additional flexibility should be provided for under Horizon 
Europe, so that the EIC Accelerator can provide equity-only support to non-bankable 
SMEs, including start-ups, and non-bankable SMEs and small mid-caps, carrying out 
innovation in the technologies supported by the STEP and regardless of whether they 
previously  received  other  types  of  support  from  the  EIC  Accelerator.  The 
implementation of the EIC Fund is currently limited to a maximum investment amount 
of  EUR  15  million  except  in  exceptional  cases  and  cannot  accommodate  follow-on 
financing rounds or larger investment  amounts.  Allowing for equity-only support for 
non-bankable  SMEs and small  mid-caps  would address  the  existing market gap with 
investments  needs  in  the  range  of  EUR  15  to  50  million.  Moreover,  experience  has 
shown that the amounts committed for the EIC Pilot under Horizon2020 are not fully 
used.  These  unused  funds  should  be  made  available  for  the  purposes  of  the  EIC 
Accelerator  under  Horizon  Europe.  The  Horizon  Europe  Regulation  should  also  be 
amended to reflect the increased envelope for the European Defence Fund. 

(21)  The  European  Defence  Fund 

is 

the 

leading  programme  for  enhancing 

the 
competitiveness,  innovation,  efficiency  and  technological  autonomy  of  the  Union’s 
defence  industry,  thereby  contributing  to  the  Union’s  open  strategic  autonomy.  The 
development  of  defence  capabilities  is  crucial,  as  it  underpins  the  capacity  and  the 
autonomy of the European industry to develop defence products and the independence 
of Member States  as the end-users of such products. The additional envelope should 
therefore  be  made  available  to  support  actions  in  the  field  of  deep  and  digital 
technologies contributing to the development of defence applications.  

EN 

28 

  EN 

 
(22)  Since  the  objectives  of  this  Regulation,  namely  to  strengthen  European  sovereignty, 
accelerate  the  Union’s  green  and  digital  transitions  and  enhance  its  competitiveness, 
and reduce its strategic dependencies cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member 
States, but can rather 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. 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

CHAPTER 1 

STEP 

Article 1 
Subject matter 

This  Regulation  establishes  a  Strategic  Technologies  for  Europe  Platform  (‘STEP’  or  ‘the 
Platform’) to support critical and emerging strategic technologies . 

It  lays down the objectives of the  Platform, the amount of financial support available under 
the Platform, and rules for the implementation of the Sovereignty Seal and Sovereignty portal 
and for reporting on the Platform objectives.  

Article 2 
STEP objectives 

To strengthen  European  sovereignty and security,  accelerate the Union’s  green  and 
digital transitions and enhance its competitiveness, reduce its strategic dependencies, 
favour  a  level  playing  field  in  the  Single  Market  for  investments  throughout  the 
Union,  and  promote  inclusive  access  to  attractive,  quality  jobs,  the  Platform  shall 
pursue the following objectives: 

(a) 

supporting  the  development  or  manufacturing  throughout  the  Union,  or 
safeguarding  and  strengthening  the  respective  value  chains,  of  critical 
technologies in the following fields: 

(i) 

deep and digital technologies 

(ii) 

clean technologies 

(iii)  biotechnologies 

(b) 

addressing shortages of labour and skills critical to all kinds of quality jobs in 
support of the objective under point (a). 

The technologies referred to in point (a) of the first paragraph, shall be deemed to be 
critical where they meet at least one of the following conditions:  

(a) 

bring  an innovative, cutting-edge  element  with  significant  economic potential 
to the Single Market; 

(b) 

contribute to reduce or prevent strategic dependencies of the Union. 

Where an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) approved by the 
Commission  pursuant  to  Article  107(3),  point  (b)  TFEU  relates  to  any  of  the 

1. 

2. 

3. 

EN 

29 

  EN 

 
 
technology  fields  referred  to  in  point  (a)  of  paragraph  1,  the  relevant  technologies 
shall be deemed to be critical. 

4. 

The value chain for the manufacturing of critical technologies referred to in the first 
paragraph  relates  to  final  products,  as  well  as  key  components,  specific  machinery 
and critical raw materials primarily used for the production of those products.  

1. 

Implementation of the Platform shall be supported, in particular, through:  

Article 3 
Financial Support  

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

a Union guarantee referred to in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/523 with 
the  indicative  amount  of  EUR  7 500 000  000  That  guarantee  shall  be 
implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/523; 

an  amount  of  EUR  500 000  000  in  current  prices  of  the  financial  envelope 
referred to  in  point (i) of Article 12(2)(c) of Regulation  (EU) 2021/695. That 
amount shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/695; 

an  amount  of  EUR  5 000 000  000  in  current  prices  of  the  financial  envelope 
referred to in the sixth subparagraph of Article 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC. 
That  amount  shall  be  implemented  within  the  Innovation  Fund  in  accordance 
with  the  rules  of  Article  10a(8)  of  Directive  2003/87/EC  and  Commission 
Delegated Regulation [2019/856]. 

(d)  An amount of EUR  1 500 000 000  in  current  prices of the  financial envelope 
refered to  in  Article 4(1) of Regulation  (EU) 2021/697. That  amount shall  be 
implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/697. 

The amounts referred to in the paragraph 1 shall be used with the aim of achieving 
the objectives referred to in Article 2.  

Article 4 
Sovereignty Seal and cumulative funding 

The Commission shall award a Sovereignty Seal to any action contributing to any of 
the Platform objectives, provided the action has been assessed and complies with the 
minimum quality requirements, in particular eligibility, exclusion and award criteria, 
provided by a call for proposals under Regulation (EU) 2021/695, Regulation (EU) 
2021/694,  Regulation  (EU)  2021/697,  Regulation  (EU)  2021/522,  or  Commission 
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/856.  

The Sovereignty Seal  may be used  as a quality label,  in  particular for the purposes 
of:  

(a) 

(b) 

receiving  support  for  the  action  under  another  Union  fund  or  programme  in 
accordance with the rules applicable to that fund or programme, or 

financing  the  action  through  cumulative  or  combined  funding  with  another 
Union instrument in line with the rules of the applicable basic acts. 

When  revising  their  recovery  and  resilience  plans  in  accordance  with  Regulation 
(EU)  2021/241,  Member  States  shall,  without  prejudice  to  the  provisions  of  that 
Regulation,  consider  as  a  priority  action  which  have  been  awarded  a  Sovereignty 
Seal in accordance with paragraph 1. 

2. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

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30 

  EN 

 
4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

1. 

When deciding on investment projects to finance from their respective shares of the 
Modernisation  Fund  in  accordance  with  Article  10d  of  Directive  2003/87/EC, 
Member  States  shall  consider  as  a  priority  project  for  critical  clean  technologies 
which  have  received  the  Sovereignty  Seal  in  accordance  with  paragraph  1.  In 
addition,  Member  States  may  decide  to  grant  national  support  to  projects  with  a 
Sovereignty  Seal  contributing  to  the  Platform  objective  referred  to  in  Article  2(1), 
point (a)(ii).  

Under Regulation (EU) 2021/523, the Sovereignty Seal shall be taken into account in 
the context of the procedure provided for in Article 19 of the European Investment 
Bank Statute and of the policy check as laid down in Article 23(3) of that Regulation. 
In addition,  the implementing partners shall examine projects  having been awarded 
the Sovereignty Seal  in  case they  fall within their geographic and activity  scope as 
laid down in Article 26(5) of that Regulation.  

Strategic projects identified in accordance with the [Net Zero Industry Act] and the 
[Critical Raw Materials Act] within the scope of Article 2 that receive a contribution 
under the Programmes refered to  in  Article 3 may  also  receive  a contribution from 
any  other  Union  programme,  including  Funds  under  shared  management,  provided 
that the contributions  do not  cover the same costs. The  rules  of the relevant  Union 
programme shall apply to the corresponding contribution to the strategic project. The 
cumulative  funding  shall  not  exceed  the  total  eligible  costs  of  the  strategic  project. 
The  support  from  the  different  Union  programmes  may  be  calculated  on  a  pro-rata 
basis in accordance with the documents setting out the conditions for support. 

The  award  of  a  Sovereignty  Seal  and  provision  of  cumulative  funding  is  without 
prejudice to applicable State aid rules and to the Union’s international obligations. 

Article 5 
Monitoring of implementation 

The Commission shall monitor the implementation of the Platform and measure the 
achievement  of  the  Platform  objectives  set  out  in  Article  2.  The  monitoring  of 
implementation shall be targeted and proportionate to the activities carried out under 
the Platform.  

The monitoring system of the Commission shall ensure that data for monitoring the 
implementation  of  the  activities  carried  out  under  the  Platform  and  the  results  of 
those activities are collected efficiently, effectively and in a timely manner.  

The Commission shall report on the expenditure financed by the Platform. It shall, as 
appropriate,  report  on  the  achievements  related  to  each  of  the  specific  Platform 
objectives. 

Article 6 
Sovereignty portal 

The  Commission  shall  establish  a  dedicated  publicly  available  website  (the 
funding 
‘Sovereignty  portal’),  providing 
opportunities  for  projects  linked  to  the  Platform  objectives  and  grant  visibility  to 
those projects, in particular by displaying the following information: 

information  about 

investors  with 

(a) 

ongoing  and  upcoming  calls  for  proposals  and  calls  for  tender  linked  to  the 
Platform objectives under the respective programmes and funds; 

EN 

31 

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(b)  projects that have been awarded a Sovereignty Seal quality label in accordance 

with Article 4; 

(c) 

projects  that  have  been  identified  as  strategic  projects  under  the  [Net-Zero 
Industry Act] and the [Critical Raw Materials Act], to the extent that they fall 
within the scope of Article 2; 

(d) 

contacts  to  the  national  competent  authorities  designated  in  accordance  with 
paragraph 4; 

The  Sovereignty  portal  shall  also  display  information  about  the  implementation  of 
the Platform and in relation to Union budget expenditure as referred to in Article 5, 
as well as the performance indicators defined under the respective programmes.  

The Sovereignty portal shall be launched at the  [date of the entry into force of this 
Regulation] and shall be updated by the Commission regularly.  

By  [3  months  after  the  entry  into  force  of  this  Regulation],  Member  State  shall 
designate one national competent authority to act as the main point of contact for the 
implementation of the Platform at national level.  

Article 7 
Annual report 

The Commission shall provide an annual report to the European Parliament and the 
Council on the implementation of the Platform.  

The  annual  report  shall  include  consolidated  information  on  the  progress  made  in 
implementing the Platform objectives under each of the programmes and funds. 

The annual report shall also include the following information: 

(a) 

(b) 

overall expenditure of the STEP financed under the respective programmes;  

the  performance  of  the  STEP  based  on  the  performance  indicators  defined 
under the respective programmes. 

Article 8 
Evaluation of the Platform 

By 31 December 2025, the Commission shall provide the European Parliament and 
the Council with an evaluation report on the implementation of the Platform.  

The evaluation report shall, in particular, assess to which extent the objectives have 
been  achieved,  the  efficiency  of  the  use  of  the  resources  and  the  European  added 
value. It shall also consider the continued relevance of all objectives and actions, in 
view of their potential upscaling. 

Where  appropriate,  the  evaluation  shall  be  accompanied  by  a  proposal  for 
amendments of this Regulation. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

CHAPTER 2 

AMENDMENTS 

Article 9 

Amendments to Directive 2003/87/EC [ETS] 

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32 

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Directive 2003/87/EC is amended as follows: 

(1) 

In Article 10a(8), the following sixth subparagraph is inserted: 

‘In  addition  to  the  allowances  referred  to  in  the  first  to  fifth  subparagraphs  of  this 
paragraph,  the  Innovation  Fund  shall  also  implement  a  financial  envelope  for  the 
period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027 of EUR 5 000 000 000 in current 
prices  for  supporting  investments  contributing  to  the  STEP  objective  referred  to  in 
Article  2,  point  (a)(ii)  of  Regulation  .../...63  [STEP  Regulation].  This  financial 
envelope  shall  be  made  available  to  support  investments  only  in  Member  States 
whose average GDP per capita is  below the EU average of the EU-27 measured in 
purchasing  power  standards  (PPS)  and  calculated  on  the  basis  of  Union  figures  for 
the period 2015-2017’ 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 [ERDF and CF] 

Article 10 

Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

In Article 3(1), point (a), the following point is added: 

‘(vi)  supporting  investments  contributing  to  the  STEP  objectives  referred  to  in 
Article 2 of Regulation .../...64 [STEP Regulation]’ 

(2) 

In Article 3(1), point (b), the following point is added: 

‘(ix) supporting investments contributing to the STEP objective referred to in Article 
2(1), point (a)(ii) of Regulation .../... [STEP Regulation]’ 

(3) 

In Article 3, the following paragraph 1a is inserted:  

The  resources  under  the  specific  objective  referred  to  in  Article  3(1),  first 
subparagraph,  points  (a)(vi)  and  (b)(ix)  shall  be  programmed  under  dedicated 
priorities corresponding to the respective policy objective.  

The Commission shall pay 30 % of the ERDF allocation to that priority as set out in 
the  decision  approving  the  programme  amendment  as    exceptional  one-off  pre-
financing in addition to the yearly pre-financing for the programme provided for in 
Article 90(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 or in Article 51(2), (3) and (4) of 
Regulation  (EU)  2021/1059.  The  exceptional  pre-financing  shall  be  paid  by  31 
December  2024,  provided  the  Commission  has  adopted  the  decision  approving  the 
programme amendment by 31 October 2024. 

In accordance with Article 90 (5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and Article 51(5) of 
Regulation  (EU)  2021/1059,  the  amount  paid  as  exceptional  pre-financing  shall  be 
cleared no later than with the final accounting year.  

In  accordance  with  Article  90(6)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1060,  any  interest 
generated  by  the  exceptional  pre-financing  shall  be  used  for  the  programme 
concerned in the same way as the ERDF and shall be included in the accounts for the 
final accounting year. 

63 
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Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].   
Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].   

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In accordance with Article 97(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the exceptional pre-
financing shall not be suspended.  

In accordance with Article 105 (1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the pre-financing 
to be taken into account for the purposes of calculating amounts to be de-committed 
shall include the exceptional pre-financing paid. 

By way of derogation from Article 112 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the maximum 
co-financing rates for dedicated priorities established to support the STEP objectives 
shall be increased to 100 %.’ 

(4) 

In Article 5(2), the following point (e) is inserted: 

‘(e) when they contribute to the specific objective under PO 1 set out in Article 3(1), 
first  subparagraph,  point  (a)(vi)  or  to  the  specific  objective  under  PO  2  set  out  in 
point (b)(ix) of that subparagraph, in less developed and transition regions, as well as 
more developed regions  in  Member States whose average GDP per capita is  below 
the  EU  average  of  the  EU-27  measured  in  purchasing  power  standards  (PPS)  and 
calculated on the basis of Union figures for the period 2015-2017. 

Point (e) shall apply to Interreg programmes where the geographical coverage of the 
programme within the Union consists exclusively of categories of regions set out in 
that point.’  

(5) 

In Article 5, the following new paragraph 3a is inserted: 

‘3a.  In  order  to  contribute  to  the  specific  objectives  under  PO  1  set  out  in  Article 
3(1), first subparagraph, point (a)(vi) and under PO 2 set out in point (b)(ix) of that 
subparagraph, the ERDF shall also support training, life-long learning, reskilling and 
education activities’.  

(6) 

In Annex I, Table I, the following row is added under policy objective 1: 

(vi) 
supporting 
investments  contributing 
to  the  STEP  objectives 
referred to in Article 2 of 
Regulation  .../...  [STEP 
Regulation] 

Any RCO listed for 
specific objectives (i), 
(iii) and (iv) 

Any  RCR 
listed 
specific  objectives 
(iii) and (iv) 

for 
(i), 

Firms: 
RCO125 
Enterprises 
supported 
linked  primarily  to  deep 
and  digital  technologies 
productive investments 

Firms: 
RCO126 
Enterprises 
supported 
linked  primarily  to  clean 
technologies  productive 
investments  

Firms: 
supported 
to 

RCO127 
Enterprises 
linked 
biotechnologies 
productive investments  

primarily 

[These  indicators  are  to 
be reported as subsets of 
RC001-RCO04]  

(7) 

In Annex I, Table I, the following row is added under policy objective 2: 

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(ix) 
supporting 
investments  contributing 
to  the  STEP  objectives 
referred to in Article 2 of 
Regulation  .../...  [STEP 
Regulation] 

Any RCO listed for 
specific objectives (i), 
(iii), (iv) and (vi) under 
policy objective 1 

for 
Any  RCR 
listed 
(i), 
specific  objectives 
(iii) and (iv) under policy 
objective 1 

Firms: 
RCO125 
Enterprises 
supported 
linked  primarily  to  deep 
and  digital  technologies 
productive investments 

RCO126 
Firms: 
supported 
Enterprises 
linked  primarily  to  clean 
technologies  productive 
investments  

Firms: 
supported 
to 

RCO127 
Enterprises 
linked 
biotechnologies 
productive investments  

primarily 

[These  indicators  are  to 
be reported as subsets of 
RC001-RCO04]  

(8) 

In the Table of Annex II, the following row is added under policy objective 1: 

(vi) 
supporting 
investments  contributing 
to  the  STEP  objectives 
referred  to  Article  2  of 
Regulation  .../...  [STEP 
Regulation] 

Any  CCO 
listed 
for 
(i), 
specific  objectives 
(iii) and (iv) under policy 
objective 1 

listed 

Any  CCR 
for 
specific  objectives  (i), 
(iii)  and 
(iv)  under 
policy objective 1 

(9) 

In the Table of Annex II, the following row is added under policy objective 2: 

Any  CCO 
listed 
for 
(i), 
specific  objectives 
(iii) and (iv) under policy 
objective 1 

listed 

Any  CCR 
for 
specific  objectives  (i), 
(iii)  and 
(iv)  under 
policy objective 1 

(ix) 
supporting 
investments  contributing 
to  the  STEP  objectives 
referred  to  Article  2  of 
Regulation  .../...  [STEP 
Regulation] 

Article 11 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 [JTF] 

Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

Article 2 is replaced by the following: 

‘In  accordance  with  the  second  subparagraph  of  Article  5(1)  of  Regulation  (EU) 
2021/1060, the JTF shall contribute to the specific objective of enabling regions and 
people  to  address  the  social,  employment,  economic  and  environmental  impacts  of 
the transition towards the Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate and a climate-
neutral economy of the Union by 2050, based on the Paris Agreement. The JTF may 
also  support  investments  contributing  to  the  STEP  objective  referred  to  in  Article 
2(1), point (a)(ii) of Regulation .../... [STEP Regulation].’ 

(2) 

In Article 8(2) the following subparagraph is inserted: 

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‘The  JTF  may  also  support  productive  investments  in  enterprises  other  than  SMEs 
contributing  to  the  STEP  objectives  referred  to  in  Article  2  of  Regulation  .../...65 
[STEPRegulation].  That  support  may  be  provided  irrespective  of  whether  the  gap 
analysis  was  carried  out  in  accordance  with  Article  11(2)(h)  and  irrespective  of  its 
outcome. Such investments shall only be eligible where they do not lead to relocation 
as defined in point (27) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. The provision of 
such support shall not  require a revision of the territorial  just transition  plan where 
that revision would be exclusively linked to the gap analysis.’ 

(3) 

In Article 10, the following paragraph 4 is added: 

‘The Commission shall pay 30% of the JTF allocation, including amounts transferred 
in line with Article 27 of Regulation EU 2021/1060, to a programme as set out in the 
decision  approving  the  programme  as  exceptional  one-off  pre-financing  in  addition 
to the yearly pre-financing for the programme provided for in Article 90(1) and (2) 
of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. The exceptional pre-financing shall be paid as from 
[entry into force of this Regulation]. 

In accordance with Article 90(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the amount paid as 
exceptional  pre-financing  shall  be  cleared  no  later  than  with  the  final  accounting 
year.  

In  accordance  with  Article  90(6)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1060,  any  interest 
generated  by  the  exceptional  pre-financing  shall  be  used  for  the  programme 
concerned in the same way as the ERDF and shall be included in the accounts for the 
final accounting year. 

In accordance with Article 97(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the exceptional pre-
financing shall not be suspended.  

In accordance with Article 105(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the pre-financing 
to be taken into account for the purposes of calculating amounts to be de-committed 
shall include the exceptional pre-financing paid. 

By way of derogation from Article 112 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the maximum 
co-financing rates for dedicated priorities established to support the STEP objectives 
shall be increased to 100 %.’ 

Article 12 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 [ESF+] 

Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

A new article 12a is inserted: 

‘Article 12a 

In addition to the pre-financing for the programme provided for in Article 90(1) and 
(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, where the Commission approves an amendment 
of  a  programme  including  one  or  more  priorities  dedicated  to  operations  supported 
by  the  ESF+  contributing  to  the  STEP  objectives  referred  to  in  Article  2  of 

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Regulation .../...66 [STEP Regulation], it shall make an exceptional pre-financing of 
30% on the basis of the allocation to those priorities. The exceptional pre-financing 
shall  be  paid  by  31  December  2024,  provided  the  Commission  has  adopted  the 
decision approving the programme amendment by 31 October 2024. 

In accordance with Article 90(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the amount paid as 
exceptional  pre-financing  shall  be  cleared  no  later  than  with  the  final  accounting 
year.  

In  accordance  with  Article  90(6)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1060,  any  interest 
generated  by  the  exceptional  pre-financing  shall  be  used  for  the  programme 
concerned in the same way as the ESF+ and shall be included in the accounts for the 
final accounting year. 

In accordance with Article 97(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the exceptional pre-
financing shall not be suspended.  

In accordance with Article 105(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the pre-financing 
to be taken into account for the purposes of calculating amounts to be de-committed 
shall include the exceptional pre-financing paid. 

By way of derogation from Article 112 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the maximum 
co-financing rates for dedicated priorities established to support the STEP objectives 
shall be increased to 100 %.’ 

Article 13 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 [CPR] 

Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

In Article 2, point (45) is replaced by the following: 

‘(45)  ‘Seal  of  Excellence’  means  the  quality  label  attributed  by  the  Commission  in 
respect  of  a  proposal,  which  shows  that  the  proposal  which  has  been  assessed  in  a 
call for proposals under a Union instrument is deemed to comply with the minimum 
quality requirements of that Union instrument, but could not be funded due to lack of 
budget  available  for  that  call  for  proposals,  and  might  receive  support  from  other 
Union  or  national  sources  of  funding;  or  the  ‘Sovereignty  Seal’  referred  to  in 
Article 4 of Regulation .../...67 [STEP Regulation].’ 

(2) 

In Article 14(5), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: 

‘In  accordance  with  the  second  subparagraph  of  Article  10(4)  of  the  InvestEU 
Regulation, where a guarantee agreement has not been concluded within  12 months 
from the conclusion of the contribution agreement, the contribution agreement shall 
be terminated or prolonged by mutual agreement.’ 

(3) 

In Article 49, the following paragraph 2a is inserted: 

‘Where  support  is  programmed  for  the  STEP  objectives  referred  to  in  Article  2  of 
Regulation .../... [STEP Regulation], the managing authority shall ensure that all the 
information  to  be  published  in  accordance  with  paragraph  2  of  this  Article  is  also 
submitted to the Commission in the format set out in paragraph 4 of this Article for 

66 
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publication on the Sovereignty Portal set out in Article 6 of Regulation .../... [STEP 
Regulation], including a timetable of the planned calls for proposals that is updated 
at least three times a year, as well as the link to the calls for proposals on the day of 
their publication.’ 

(4) 

In the Annex I, Table 1, the following rows are added: 

INTERVENTION FIELD 

145a 

145b 

188 

189 

190 

191 

192 

193 

for 

Support 
the 
development  of  skills  or 
access to employment in 
digital 
and 
deep 
technologies, 
biotechnologies. 

for 

the 
Support 
development  of  skills  or 
access to employment in 
clean technologies. 

investments 
Productive 
in 
enterprises 
large 
linked primarily to clean 
technologies. 

SMEs 

Productive 
in 
primarily 
technologies. 

investments 
linked 
clean 

to 

Productive 
in 
large 
linked 
biotechnologies. 

investments 
enterprises 
to 

primarily 

SMEs 

Productive 
in 
primarily 
biotechnologies. 

investments 
linked 
to 

investments 
Productive 
in 
enterprises 
large 
linked  primarily  to  deep 
and digital technologies.  

SMEs 

investments 
Productive 
in 
linked 
primarily  to  deep  and 
digital technologies.   

for 

Coefficient 
the 
calculation of  support  to 
climate 
change 
objectives 

for 

Coefficient 
the 
calculation  of  support  to 
environmental objectives 

0% 

0% 

100% 

40% 

100% 

40% 

100% 

40% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

(5) 

In Annex I, Table 6, the following row is added: 

11 

Contributing to skills 
and jobs in deep and 
digital technologies, 
clean technologies, 
biotechnologies 

0% 

0% 

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Article 14 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 [CPR] 

Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

In Article 135, the following paragraph 6 is added: 

‘6.  By  way  of  derogation  from  paragraph  2,  the  deadline  for  the  submission  of  the 
final application for an interim payment for the final accounting year shall be 31 July 
2025.  The  last  application  for  interim  payment  submitted  by  31  July  2025  shall  be 
deemed  to  be  the  final  application  for  an  interim  payment  for  the  final  accounting 
year.  

Amounts from  resources other than REACT-EU  reimbursed by  the Commission as 
interim payments in 2025 shall not exceed 1 % of the total financial appropriations to 
the  programme  concerned  by  Fund,  REACT-EU  resources  excluded.  Amounts  that 
would be due to be paid by the Commission in 2025 exceeding this percentage shall 
not  be  paid  and  shall  be  used  exclusively  for  the  clearing  of  pre-financing    at 
closure.’  

 (2) 

In Article 138, the following subparagraph is added:  

‘By way of derogation from the deadline set out in the first subparagraph, Member 
States may submit the documents referred to under points (a), (b) and (c) for the final 
accounting year by 15 February 2026.’ 

Article 15 

Amendment to Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 [FEAD] 

Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

In Article 13, paragraph 5 is replaced by the following: 

‘5.  The  Member  State  shall  submit  a  final  report  on  implementation  of  the 
operational programme together with the closure documents as set out in Article 52, 
by 15 February 2026 at the latest.’ 

(2) 

In Article 22, the following paragraph 2a is added: 

‘2a. In the case of costs reimbursed pursuant to points (b), (c), (d) and (e) of Article 
26(2),  the  corresponding  actions  being  reimbursed  shall  be  carried  out  by  the 
submission  of  the  final  application  for  an  interim  payment  for  the  final  accounting 
year in accordance with Article 45(6).’ 

(3) 

In Article 45, the following paragraph 6 is added: 

‘6.  By  way  of  derogation  from  paragraph  2,  the  deadline  for  the  submission  of  the 
final application for an interim payment for the final accounting year shall be 31 July 
2025.  The  last  application  for  interim  payment  submitted  by  31  July  2025  shall  be 
deemed  to  be  the  final  application  for  an  interim  payment  for  the  final  accounting 
year.  

Amounts  reimbursed  by  the  Commission  as  interim  payments  in  2025  shall  not 
exceed  1  %  of  the  total  financial  appropriations  to  the  programme  concerned. 
Amounts  that  would  be  due  to  be  paid  by  the  Commission  in  2025  exceeding  this 
percentage  shall  not  be  paid  and  shall  be  used  exclusively  for  the  clearing  of  pre-
financing  at closure.’ 

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39 

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(4) 

In Article 48, the following subparagraph is added:  

‘By way of derogation from the deadline set out in the first subparagraph, Member 
States may submit the documents referred to under points (a), (b) and (c) for the final 
accounting year by 15 February 2026.’ 

Article 16 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/523 [InvestEU] 

Regulation (EU) 2021/523 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

Article 3 is amended as follows:  

(a) 

the following point is added in paragraph 1: 

‘(h) supporting investments contributing to the STEP objectives referred to in 
Article 2 of Regulation .../...68 [STEP Regulation]’ 

(b) 

the following point is added in paragraph 2: 

‘(e)  supporting  financing  and  investment  operations  related  to  the  areas 
referred to in Article 8(1), point (e).’ 

(2) 

Article 4 is amended as follows:  

(a) 

In paragraph 1, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: 

‘The  EU  guarantee  for  the  purposes  of  the  EU  compartment  referred  to  in 
Article 9(1), point (a), shall be EUR 33 652 310 073 in current prices. It shall 
be provisioned at the rate of 40 %. The amount referred to in Article 35(3), first 
subparagraph, point (a), shall be also taken into account for contributing to the 
provisioning resulting from that provisioning rate.‘; 

(b)  paragraph 2, second subparagraph is replaced by the following: 

‘An amount of EUR 18 827 310 073 in current prices of the amount referred to 
in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be allocated for the 
objectives referred to in Article 3(2).’;  

(c) 

the fourth subparagraph of paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: 

‘The  indicative  distribution  of  the  EU  guarantee  for  the  purposes  of  the  EU 
compartment  is  set  out in  Annex  I to  this Regulation. Where  appropriate, the 
Commission may depart from the amounts referred to in Annex I by up to 15 
%  for  each  objective  referred  to  in  Article  3(2),  points  (a)  to  (e).  The 
Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of any such 
departure.’ 

(3) 

In Article 7(3), a second subparagraph is added: 

‘By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, when support from the financial 
instruments is combined in a financial product in a subordinated position to the EU 
guarantee under this Regulation and/or EU guarantee established by Regulation (EU) 
2015/1017, the losses, revenues and repayments from financial products as referred 
to in paragraph 1, as well as potential recoveries, may also be attributed on a non pro 

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rata  basis  between  the  financial  instruments  and  the  EU  guarantee  under  this 
Regulation and/or EU guarantee established by Regulation (EU) 2015/1017.’ 

(4) 

Article 8 is amended as follows: 

(a) 

In paragraph 1, the introductory wording is replaced by the following: 

‘1. 
The  InvestEU  Fund  shall  operate  through  the  following  five  policy 
windows that shall address market failures or suboptimal investment situations 
with their specific scope:’; 

(b) 

In paragraph 1, the following point (e) is added: 

‘(e)  
a  STEP  policy  window,  which  comprises  investments  contributing  to 
the    STEP  objectives  referred  to  in  Article  2  of  Regulation  .../...  [STEP 
Regulation]’. 

(5) 

In Article 10,  the second subparagraph of paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: 

‘Where  no  guarantee  agreement  has  been  concluded  within  12  months  from  the 
conclusion  of  the  contribution  agreement,  the  contribution  agreement  shall  be 
terminated or prolonged  by mutual agreement. Where the  amount of  a  contribution 
agreement  has  not  been  fully  committed  under  one  or  more  guarantee  agreements 
within twelve months from the conclusion of the contribution agreement, that amount 
shall  be  amended  accordingly.  The  unused  amount  of  provisioning  attributable  to 
amounts  allocated  by  Member  States  pursuant  to  the  provisions  on  the  use  of  the 
ERDF,  the  ESF+,  the  Cohesion  Fund  and  the  EMFAF  delivered  through  the 
InvestEU Programme laid down in Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 or to the provisions 
on the use of the EAFRD delivered through the InvestEU Programme laid down in 
the  CAP  Strategic  Plans  Regulation  shall  be  re-used  in  accordance  with  those 
respective  Regulations.  The  unused  amount  of  provisioning  attributable  to  amounts 
allocated  by  a  Member  State  under  Article  4(1),  third  subparagraph,  of  this 
Regulation shall be paid back to the Member State.’ 

(6) 

Article 13(4) is replaced by the following:  

‘4. At least 75 % of the EU guarantee under the EU compartment as referred to in 
Article 4(1), first subparagraph, amounting to at least EUR 25 239 232 554, shall be 
granted  to  the  EIB  Group.  The  EIB  Group  shall  provide  an  aggregate  financial 
contribution  amounting  to  at  least  EUR  6 309 808  138.  That  contribution  shall  be 
provided  in  a  manner  and  form  that  facilitates  the  implementation  of  the  InvestEU 
Fund and the achievement of the objectives set out in Article 15(2).’; 

(7) 

In Article 23, the following paragraph 3 is added: 

‘3. In the context of the procedures referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, 
the Commission shall take into account any Sovereignty Seal awarded under Article 
4 of Regulation .../... [STEP Regulation] to a project’.   

(8) 

Article 24(2) is amended as follows:  

(a) 

the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: 

‘The  Investment  Committee  shall  meet  in  five  different  configurations, 
corresponding to the five policy windows referred to in Article 8(1).’ 

(b)  The fifth subparagraph is replaced by the following:  

‘Four members  of the  Investment  Committee shall be permanent  members of 
each  of  the  five  configurations  of  the  Investment  Committee.  At  least  one  of 

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the  permanent  members  shall  have  expertise  in  sustainable  investment.  In 
addition, each of the five configurations shall have two experts with experience 
in  investment  in  sectors  covered  by  the  corresponding  policy  window.  The 
Steering  Board  shall  assign  the  Investment  Committee  members  to  the 
appropriate configuration or configurations.  A non-permanent member may 
be  assigned  to  maximum  two  configurations,  subject  to  fulfilling  the 
requirements  for  both  of  them.  The  Investment  Committee  shall  elect  a 
chairperson from among its permanent members.’ 

(9) 

In Article 25, point (j)  is added to paragraph 2 as follows: 

‘(j)   provide advisory support to equity fund managers active in the areas referred 
to in point (e) of Article 8(1).’ 

(10) 

In Article 26, the following paragraph 5 is added: 

‘5.  In  addition  to  paragraph  4,  implementing  partners  shall  also  examine  projects 
having been awarded the Sovereignty Seal under Article 4 of Regulation .../... [STEP 
Regulation] whenever those projects fall within their geographic and activity scope’.  

(11) 

In Article 35, paragraph 5 is added as follows: 

‘5. By way of derogation from Article 16, second subparagraph, of this Regulation,  
financing  and  investment  operations  approved  by  the  implementing  partner  as  of  1 
January 2023 until the signature of a guarantee agreement or of an amendment to an 
existing one encompassing the STEP Window may be covered by the EU guarantee, 
provided  that  those  operations  are  indicated  in  the  guarantee  agreement,  pass  the 
policy check referred to  in  Article 23(1) or receive a favourable opinion within the 
framework of the procedure provided for in Article 19 of the EIB Statute and are in 
both cases approved by the Investment Committee in accordance with Article 24.’ 

(12) 

In Annex I, point (e) is added as follows: 

‘(e)  up to EUR 7 500 000 000 for objectives referred to in Article 3(2), point (e).’ 

(13) 

In Annex II, point (16) is inserted as follows: 

‘(16)  scaling  up,  deployment  and  large-scale  manufacturing  of  the  critical 
technologies  referred  to  in  Article  2(1),  point  (a)  of  Regulation  .../...  [STEP 
Regulation], as well as the respective value chain referred to in Article 2(4) of that 
Regulation.’ 

(14) 

In Annex III, point (9) is inserted as follows:  

‘7a. STEP  

7a.1  Investment  mobilised  by  technology  area:  i)  deep  and  digital  technologies,  ii) 
clean technologies and iii) biotechnologies.’ 

7a.2 Jobs created or supported. 

7a.2  Number  of  enterprises  supported  by  technology  area:  i)  deep  and  digital 
technologies, ii) clean technologies and iii) biotechnologies. 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/695 [Horizon Europe] 

Regulation (EU) 2021/695 is amended as follows: 

Article 17 

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(1)  

Article 12 is amended as follows:  

(a) 

paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: 

‘1.  The  financial  envelope  for  the  implementation  of  the  Programme  for  the 
period  from  1  January  2021  to  31  December  2027  shall  be  EUR  86 623 000 
000  in  current  prices  for  the  specific  programme  referred  to  in  point  (a)  of 
Article 1(2) and for the EIT and EUR 9 453 000 000 in current prices for the 
specific programme referred to in point (c) of Article 1(2). ’ 

(b) 

in paragraph 2, points (b) and (c) are replaced by the following: 

‘(b)  EUR  46  628  000  000  for  Pillar  II  'Global  Challenges  and  European 
Industrial Competitiveness' for the period 2021 to 2027, of which: 

(i) EUR 6 775 000 000 for cluster 'Health'; 

(ii)  EUR  1  350  000  000for  cluster  'Culture,  Creativity  and  Inclusive 
Society'; 

(iii) EUR 1 276 000 000 for cluster 'Civil Security for Society'; 

(iv) EUR 13 229 000 000 for cluster 'Digital, Industry and Space'; 

(v) EUR 13 229 000 000 for cluster 'Climate, Energy and Mobility'; 

(vi)  EUR  8  799  000  000  for  cluster  'Food,  Bioeconomy,  Natural 
Resources, Agriculture and Environment'; 

(vii) EUR 1 970 000 000 for the non-nuclear direct actions of the JRC; 

(c) EUR 13 237 000 000 for Pillar III 'Innovative Europe' for the period 2021 
to 2027, of which: 

(i) EUR 10 052 000 000 for the EIC; 

(ii) EUR 459 000 000 for European innovation ecosystems; 

(iii) EUR 2 726 000 000 for the EIT;’ 

(2) 

In Article 46, the following paragraph 4a is inserted: 

‘4a.  By  derogation  from  Article  209(3)  of  the  Financial  Regulation,  repayments 
including reimbursed advances, revenues and unused amounts net of fees and costs 
of EIC blended finance of the EIC pilot under Horizon 2020 shall be considered to be 
internal  assigned  revenues  in  accordance  with  Article  21(3),  point  (f)  and  Article 
21(4) and (5) of the Financial Regulation. The time restriction of two years set out in 
the second subparagraph of Article 209(3) of the Financial Regulation shall apply as 
from the date of entry into force of Regulation .../...69 [STEP Regulation]’. 

(3) 

In Article 48, the following point (d) is added in the first subparagraph: 

‘(d) equity-only support required for scale-up to non-bankable SMEs, including start-
ups,  and  non-bankable  small  mid-caps,  including  entities  which  have  already 
received  support  in  line  with  points  (a)  to  (c),  carrying  out  breakthrough  and 
disruptive non-bankable innovation in the critical technologies referred to in Article 
2(1)(a)  of  Regulation  .../...  [STEP  Regulation],  financed  under  Article  3(b)  of  that 
Regulation.’  

69 

Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].   

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Article 18 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/697 [EDF] 

Regulation (EU) 2021/697 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

Article 4 is amended as follows 

(a)  Paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: 

‘1.   In  accordance  with  Article 12(1)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2021/695,  the 
financial  envelope  for  the  implementation  of  the  Fund  for  the  period  from 
1 January  2021  to  31 December  2027  shall  be  EUR  9 453 000  000  in  current 
prices.’ 

(b) 

in paragraph 2, points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following: 

‘(a) EUR 3 151 000 000 for research actions; 

(b) EUR 6 302 000 000 for development actions.’ 

(c)  Paragraph 5 is added: 

‘An amount of EUR 1 500 000 000 in current prices of the amount referred to 
in  paragraph  2  shall  be  allocated  to  calls  for  proposals  or  awards  of  funding 
supporting  investments  contributing  to  the  STEP  objectives  referred  to  in 
Article 2(1), point (a)(i)  of Regulation .../...70 [STEP Regulation].’ 

Article 19 

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 [RRF] 

Regulation (EU) 2021/241 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

In Article 7, the following paragraph 3 is added: 

‘3. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, Member States may also propose to include in 
their  recovery  and  resilience  plan,  as  estimated  costs,  the  amount  of  the  cash 
contribution  for  the  purpose  of  the  Member  State  compartment  pursuant  to  the 
relevant provisions of the InvestEU Regulation exclusively for measures supporting 
investment operations contributing to the STEP objectives referred to in Article 2 of 
Regulation  .../...71  [STEP  Regulation].  Those  costs  shall  not  exceed  6  %  of  the 
recovery and resilience plan’s total financial allocation, and the relevant measures, as 
set  out  in  the  recovery  and  resilience  plan,  shall  respect  the  requirements  of  this 
Regulation.’  

(2) 

In Article 29 the following paragraph 6 is inserted: 

‘6. Prior to launching any calls for proposals or tendering procedures related to the 
STEP  objectives,  as  defined  in  Article  2  of  Regulation  .../...  [STEP  Regulation], 
Member  States  shall  make  available  the  following  information  on  the  Sovereignty 
portal referred to in Article 6 of that Regulation: 

(a) 

geographical area covered by the call for proposal; 

(b) 

investment concerned; 

70 
71 

Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].   
Regulation …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council … [insert full title and OJ reference].   

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(c) 

type of eligible applicants; 

(d) 

total amount of support for the call; 

(e) 

(f) 

start and end date of the call;  

link to the website where the call will be published.’ 

CHAPTER 3 

FINAL PROVISIONS 

Article 20 

Entry into force and application 

This  Regulation  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  day  following  that  of  its  publication  in  the 
Official Journal of the European Union. 

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT 

Contents 

1. 

1.1. 

1.2. 

1.3. 

1.4. 

FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE ................................................. 3 

Title of the proposal/initiative ...................................................................................... 3 

Policy area(s) concerned .............................................................................................. 3 

The proposal/initiative relates to: ................................................................................. 3 

Objective(s) .................................................................................................................. 3 

1.4.1.  General objective(s) ..................................................................................................... 3 

1.4.2.  Specific objective(s) ..................................................................................................... 3 

1.4.3.  Expected result(s) and impact ...................................................................................... 4 

1.4.4. 

Indicators of performance ............................................................................................ 4 

1.5. 

Grounds for the proposal/initiative .............................................................................. 4 

1.5.1.  Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term including a detailed timeline for 

roll-out of the implementation of the initiative ............................................................ 4 

1.5.2.  Added value of Union involvement (it may result from different factors, e.g. 

coordination gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For 
the purposes of this point 'added value of Union involvement' is the value resulting 
from Union intervention which is additional to the value that would have been 
otherwise created by Member States alone. ................................................................. 5 

1.5.3.  Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past .................................................. 5 

1.5.4.  Compatibility with the Multiannual Financial Framework and possible synergies 

with other appropriate instruments............................................................................... 5 

1.5.5.  Assessment of the different available financing options, including scope for 

redeployment ................................................................................................................ 6 

1.6. 

1.7. 

2. 

2.1. 

2.2. 

2.2.1. 

2.2.2. 

Duration and financial impact of the proposal/initiative ............................................. 7 

Management mode(s) planned ..................................................................................... 7 

MANAGEMENT MEASURES................................................................................... 7 

Monitoring and reporting rules .................................................................................... 7 

Management and control system(s) ............................................................................. 8 

Justification of the management mode(s), the funding implementation mechanism(s), 
the payment modalities and the control strategy proposed .......................................... 8 

Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up 
to mitigate them............................................................................................................ 8 

2.2.3.  Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio of "control 

costs ÷ value of the related funds managed"), and assessment of the expected levels 
of risk of error (at payment & at closure) .................................................................... 8 

2.3. 

Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities ................................................................ 8 

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3. 

3.1. 

ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE .............. 9 

Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s) 
affected ......................................................................................................................... 9 

3.2. 

Estimated financial impact of the proposal on appropriations ................................... 11 

3.2.1.  Summary of estimated impact on operational appropriations.................................... 11 

3.2.2.  Estimated output funded with operational appropriations ......................................... 16 

3.2.3.  Summary of estimated impact on administrative appropriations ............................... 18 

3.2.4.  Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework.............................. 20 

3.2.5.  Third-party contributions ........................................................................................... 20 

3.3. 

Estimated impact on revenue ..................................................................................... 21 

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1. 

FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL 

1.1. 

Title of the proposal/initiative 

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing 
the  Strategic  Technologies  for  Europe  Platform  (‘STEP’)  and  amending    Directive 
2003/87/EC,  Regulations  (EU) 2021/1058,  (EU)  2021/1056,  (EU) 2021/1057, (EU) 
No 1303/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) 2021/1060, (EU) 2021/523, (EU) 2021/695, 
(EU) 2021/697 and (EU) 2021/241 

1.2. 

Policy area(s) concerned  

Industrial policy 

European Green Deal 

Europe fit for the digital age 

Single Market 

1.3. 

The proposal/initiative relates to:  

 a new action  

 a new action following a pilot project/preparatory action72  

 the extension of an existing action  

 a merger or redirection of one or more actions towards another/a new action  

1.4. 

Objective(s) 

1.4.1.  General objective(s) 

The  EU  has  put  in  place  over  the  last  years  a  comprehensive  set  of  instruments  to 
support  the  decarbonisation  and  digitalisation  of  Europe.  While  the  EU  has  been 
providing  steady  financing  both  to  the  green  and  digital  transitions,  the  funds  are 
generally spread across various spending programmes and following different rules. 
Ensuring coherence among these existing funds towards a common objective has the 
potential  to  enhance  their  effectiveness  and  accelerate  the  support  to  the  industrial 
sectors critical for the twin transition. 

The STEP aims to strengthen European edge on critical and emerging technologies 
relevant  to  the  green  and  digital  transitions,  from  computing-related  technologies, 
including  microelectronics,  quantum  computing,  and  artificial  intelligence;  to 
biotechnology and biomanufacturing, and net-zero technologies. 

The STEP aims to achieve its objectives through the following means: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

Providing flexibility in existing instruments 

Reinforcing the firepower of existing instruments  

Creating synergies among instruments towards the common goal  

72 

As referred to in Article 58(2)(a) or (b) of the Financial Regulation. 

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1.4.2. 

Specific objective(s) 

supporting  the  development  or  manufacturing  throughout  the  Union,  or 
(a) 
safeguarding and strengthening the respective value chains, of critical technologies in 
the following fields, provided those technologies meet certain conditions: 

(i) 

deep and digital technologies 

(ii) 

clean technologies 

(iii)  biotechnologies 

addressing shortages of labour and skills critical to all kinds of quality jpbs in 

(b) 
support of the objective under point (a). 

1.4.3.  Expected result(s) and impact 

Specify the effects which the proposal/initiative should have on the beneficiaries/groups targeted. 

The  expected  impact  of  the  Platform  includes  a  substantial  strengthening  of  the 
European  Union's  industrial  capabilities  and  competitiveness  in  the  areas  of  clean, 
biotech  and  deeptech  technologies.  This  impact  is  projected  to  reinforce  the  EU's 
position  as  a  global  leader  in  these  critical  areas  ultimately  enhancing  the  EU's 
economic growth, sustainable development and international competitiveness.  

1.4.4. 

Indicators of performance 

Specify the indicators for monitoring progress and achievements. 

Indicators: 

1. Enterprises supported  

2. Number of participants in trainings  

3. Total investment mobilised  

4. Number of jobs created or maintained 

1.5. 

Grounds for the proposal/initiative  

1.5.1.  Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term including a detailed timeline for 

roll-out of the implementation of the initiative 

The  Regulation  should  be  fully  applicable  shortly  after  its  adoption,  i.e.  the  day 
following    its  publication  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the  European  Union.  However, 
some actions will start as of the date of adoption of the proposal by the Commission: 

-  The  Commission  will  start  integrating  the  STEP  objectives  in  the  ongoing 
implementation  of  programmes,  such  as  under  Horizon  Europe  or  the  Innovation 
Fund. 

- The Commission is establishing the One-Stop-Shop as of now to act as the central 
coordinator  among  EU  instruments  for  the  purpose  of  the  Platform.  The  structure 
will grow over time to integrate additional resources. 

The two actions above should be able to produce results as of end 2023. 

Subject to the adoption of this proposal by the co-legislators, the Commission intends 
to  deploy  very  quickly  the  additional  resources  in  the  selected  programmes  so  that 

EN 

4 

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beneficiaries  could  start  receiving  financial  support  or  implementing  additional  EU 
guarantee as of 2024. 

1.5.2.  Added  value  of  Union  involvement  (it  may  result  from  different  factors,  e.g. 
coordination gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For 
the purposes of this point 'added value of Union involvement' is the value resulting 
from  Union  intervention,  which  is  additional  to  the  value  that  would  have  been 
otherwise created by Member States alone. 

The EU as whole is at the forefront for implementing the actions required to pursue  
the green and digital transitions. By acting together, Member States are better able to 
pool  resources  for  achieving  these  objectives  and  reinforce  the  effectiveness  of  the 
actions.  

Sustaining  the  green  and  digital  transitions  with  a  strong  industrial  base  requires  a 
coordinated action among Member States, also in view of the global competition to 
attract capital and investments. 

1.5.3.  Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past 

The  EU  has  adopted  in  previous  years  regulatory  changes  to  accelerate  the 
deployment of EU funds, for instance CARE and FAST CARE are examples where 
the cohesion funds have been subject to targeted changes to face emerging crisis. 

The  EU  has  also  adopted  recently  the  REPowerEU  Regulation  to  reinforce  the 
firepower  of  an  existing  instrument,  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility,  and 
flexibilise  at  the  same  time  the  possibility  to  use  other  funds  for  the  REPowerEU 
purposes. 

These experiences have been taken into account in the design of this proposal. 

1.5.4.  Compatibility  with  the  Multiannual  Financial  Framework  and  possible  synergies 

with other appropriate instruments 

This  Regulation  creates  the necessary conditions for a more effective,  efficient and 
targeted use of existing EU funds in  the name of greater support to  STEP  projects. 
The  EU  has  put  in  place  over  the  last  years  a  comprehensive  set  of  instruments  to 
support the decarbonisation and digitalisation of Europe. 

The  choice  of  streamlining  and  making  a  better  use  of  existing  instruments  over 
creating  a  brand  new  instrument  has  two  main  advantages.  First,  timing.  With  the 
creation  of  a  new  instrument  potentiallly  taking  a  long  time,  bringing  existing 
instruments together can be done much more quickly. This would be an indisputable 
advantage for the beneficiaries of EU funding as they would have the chance to reap 
the  benefits  of  EU  funding  more  swiftly.  Second,  blending  different  sources  of 
financing – under direct, indirect and shared management – could also lead to a more 
efficient use of resources. 

While  the  STEP  proposal  is  fully  embedded  in  the  exising  MFF  and  the  current 
instruments, it also requires additional resources to achieve the objectives. As such, 
as  part  of  the  mid-term  review  of  the  MFF,  the  Commission  is  proposing  targeted 
reinforcements for the STEP. 

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1.5.5.  Assessment  of  the  different  available  financing  options,  including  scope  for 

redeployment 

N/A 

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6 

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1.6. 

Duration and financial impact of the proposal/initiative 

  limited duration  

–  in effect from [DD/MM]YYYY to 31/12/2030 

–    Financial impact from 2023 to 2027 for commitment appropriations and from 

2023 to 2030 for payment appropriations.  

 unlimited duration 

–  Implementation with a start-up period from YYYY to YYYY, 

–  followed by full-scale operation. 

1.7.  Method(s) of budget implementation planned73  

 Direct management by the Commission 

–   by its departments, including by its staff in the Union delegations;  

–    by the executive agencies  

 Shared management with the Member States  

 Indirect management by entrusting budget implementation tasks to: 

–   third countries or the bodies they have designated; 

–   international organisations and their agencies (to be specified); 

–  the EIB and the European Investment Fund; 

–   bodies referred to in Articles 70 and 71 of the Financial Regulation; 

–   public law bodies; 

–   bodies governed by private law with a public service mission to the extent that 

they are provided with adequate financial guarantees; 

–   bodies governed by the private law of a Member State that are entrusted with 
the  implementation  of  a  public-private  partnership  and  that  are  provided  with 
adequate financial guarantees; 

–   bodies or persons entrusted with the implementation of specific actions in the 
CFSP pursuant to Title V of the TEU, and identified in the relevant basic act. 

– 

If more than one management mode is indicated, please provide details in the ‘Comments’ section. 

2. 

MANAGEMENT MEASURES  

2.1.  Monitoring and reporting rules  

Specify frequency and conditions. 

In accordance with Article 7 of the STEP Regulation, the Commission shall provide 
an annual report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation 
of  the  STEP.  The  annual  report  shall  provide  consolidated  information  on  the 
progress made in implementing the STEP objectives under each of the programmes 
referred to in Article 2, including:  

73 

Details of budget implementation methods and references to the Financial Regulation may be found on 
the BUDGpedia site: https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/corp/budget/financial-rules/budget-
implementation/Pages/implementation-methods.aspx 

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(a) overall STEP expenditure financed under the respective programmes  

(b) the performance of the STEP investments based on the common indicators  

In  addition,  in  accordance  with  Article  8  of  the STEP  Regulation,  the  Commission 
will  draw  up  an  evaluation  report  on  the  implementation  of  the  Fund  no  later  than 
31/12/2025  and  submit  it  to  the  European  Parlimament  and  the  Council.  The 
evaluation report shall, in particular, assess to which extent the objectives have been 
achieved, the efficiency of the use of the resources and the European added value. It 
shall also consider the continued relevance of all objectives and actions. 

2.2.  Management and control system(s)  

2.2.1. 

Justification of the management mode(s), the funding implementation mechanism(s), 
the payment modalities and the control strategy proposed 

The STEP shall be implemented in accordance with the management mode, payment 
modalities and control strategy applicable to the programmes referred to in Article 3 
of the Regulation.  

2.2.2. 

Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up 
to mitigate them 

The STEP will rely on existing EU instruments, including their control set-ups, and 
as such should not result in additional risks. 

2.2.3.  Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio of "control 
costs ÷ value of the related funds managed"), and assessment of the expected levels 
of risk of error (at payment & at closure)  

The budget will be implemented in accordance with the management mode, payment 
modalities and control strategy applicable to the programmes referred to in Article 3 
of  the  regulation.  This  approach  guarantees  an  efficient  implementation  of  funds, 
using proven control systems that are already established. 

2.3.  Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities  

Specify existing or envisaged prevention and protection measures, e.g. from the Anti-Fraud Strategy. 

The Platform shall be implemented through the programmes referred to in Article 3 
of the Regulation.  The prevention and protection measures will be those already in 
place for those programmes. 

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3. 

3.1. 

ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE  

Heading(s)  of  the  multiannual  financial  framework  and  expenditure  budget 
line(s) affected  

  Existing budget lines  

In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines. 

Budget line 

Heading of 
multiannual 
financial 
framework 

Number  

Type of  
expenditure 

Diff./Non-
diff.74 

Contribution  

from 
EEA-
EFTA 
countries
75 

from 
candidate 
countries 
and 
potential 
candidates
76 

from 
other 
third 
countries 

other assigned 
revenue 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

01.020210 Cluster “Health” (Horizon Europe) 

Diff 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

01.020220  Cluster ‘Culture,  Creativity  and 
Inclusive Society’ (Horizon Europe) 

Diff 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

01.020230 Cluster ‘Civil Security for Society’ 
(Horizon Europe) 

01.020240  Cluster  ‘Digital,  Industry  and 
Space’ (Horizon Europe) 

01.020250  Cluster  ‘Climate,  Energy  and 
Mobility’ (Horizon Europe) 

Diff 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Diff 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Diff 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

01.020260  Cluster 
Natural 
Resources, 
Environment’ (Horizon Europe) 

‘Food,  Bioeconomy, 
and 

Agriculture 

Diff 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

01.0200301  European  Innovation  Council 
(Horizon Europe) 

Diff 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

02.0202 (InvestEU - provisioning) 

Diff 

Yes 

No 

No 

Yes 

Yes 

External 
assigned 
revenue from 
NGEU for the 
JTF  

05.02.01  European  Regional  Development 
Fund (ERDF) Operational Expenditure 

2a 

05.03.01  Cohesion  Fund  (CF)  Operational 
Expenditure 

Diff. 

No 

No 

No 

07.02.01  European  Social  Fund  Plus  (ESF+) 
shared  management  strand  –  Operational 
Expenditure 

3 

74 
75 
76 

09.03.01  Just  Transition  Fund 

(JTF) 

- 

Diff 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

Diff. = Differentiated appropriations / Non-diff. = Non-differentiated appropriations. 
EFTA: European Free Trade Association.  
Candidate countries and, where applicable, potential candidates from the Western Balkans. 

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Operational Expenditure 

  New budget lines requested  

In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines. 

Budget line 

Type of 
expenditure 

Heading of 
multiannual 
financial 
framework 

Number  

Diff./Non-
diff. 

from 
EFTA 
countries 

Contribution  

from 
candidate 
countries 
and 
potential 
candidates 

from  
other 
third 
countries 

other assigned 
revenue  

09.05.01  Innovation  Fund  (IF)  -  operational 
expenditure 

09.01.04.01  Support  expenditure 
Innovation Fund 

for 

the 

Diff.  and 
Non-diff. 

3 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

09.01.04.74  European  Climate,  Infrastructure 
and  Environment  Executive  Agency  – 
Contribution from the Innovation Fund 

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3.2. 

Estimated financial impact of the proposal on appropriations  

3.2.1. 

Summary of estimated impact on operational appropriations  

–    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of operational appropriations  

–  The proposal/initiative requires the use of operational appropriations, as explained below: 

Heading of multiannual financial  
framework  

Number  1 

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

Horizon Europe 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

TOTAL 

Operational appropriations redeployed from Horizon Europe Pillar II to the European Innovation Council 

01.020210 Cluster “Health” 

Commitments 

(1a) 

-14,700 

-44,200 

-59,100 

-118,000 

01.020220  Cluster  ‘Culture,  Creativity  and 
Inclusive Society’ 

Commitments 

(1a) 

01.020230 Cluster ‘Civil Security for Society’ 

Commitments 

01.020240 Cluster ‘Digital, Industry and Space’  Commitments 

(1a) 

(1a) 

01.020250  Cluster 
Mobility’ 

‘Climate,  Energy  and 

Commitments 

(1a) 

01.020260  Cluster  ‘Food,  Bioeconomy,  Natural 
Resources, Agriculture and Environment’ 

Commitments 

(1a) 

-4,400 

-13,300 

-18,300 

-36,000 

-3,300 

-10,000 

-13,700 

-27,000 

-29,200 

-87,500 

-116,300 

-233,000 

-29,200 

-87,500 

-116,300 

-233,000 

-19,200 

-57,500 

-76,300 

-153,000 

01.020301 European Innovation Council 

Commitments 

(1a) 

100,000 

300,000 

400,000 

800,000 

Operational appropriations stemming from decommitments made available again (Article 15(3) of the Financial Regulation) (current prices) 

01.020301 European Innovation Council 

Commitments 

(1a) 

500,000 

400,000 

200,000 

100,000 

1 200,000 

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11 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Operational appropriations stemming from the Mid-Term Revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 

01.020301 European Innovation Council 

Commitments 

(1a) 

125,000 

125,000 

125,000 

125,000 

500,000 

Estimated operational appropriations stemming from repayments from the European Innovation Council Pilot under Horizon 2020 

01.00301 European Innovation Council 

Commitments 

(1a) 

Appropriations of an administrative nature financed from the envelope 
of specific programmes77 

Total appropriations for Horizon Europe 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

130,000 

01.020301 European Innovation Council 

Commitments 

Payments 

(1a) 

(2a) 

625,000 

625,000 

625,000 

625,000 

625,000 

625,000 

625,000 

625,000 

2 630,000* 
2 630,000* 

* of which an estimated amount of EUR 130 million of assigned revenue stemming from the European Innovation Council Pilot under Horizon 2020, for which the annual profile cannot be known in advance. 

DG: ECFIN 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

TOTAL 

 Operational appropriations  

02.0202 
Guarantee 

-  Provisioning 

of 

InvestEU 

Commitments 

Payments 

(1a) 

(2a) 

Appropriations of an administrative nature financed from the envelope 
of specific programmes78  

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

3000,000 
3000,000 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

TOTAL appropriations 
for DG ECFIN 

Commitments 

=1a 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

Payments 

=2a 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

750,000 

3000,000 

3000,000 

77 

78 

Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure are not detailed but included in the overall amounts indicated under operational lines. They should roughly correspond to the 
same percentages compared to administrative lines as the one occurred in the 2021-2024 period.    
Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure are not detailed but included in the overall amounts indicated under operational lines. They should roughly correspond to the 
same percentages compared to administrative lines as the one occurred in the 2021-2024 period.    

EN 

12 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
Heading of multiannual financial  
framework  

Number  3 

DG: Regional and Urban Policy 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

2028 

2029 

TOTAL 

 Operational appropriations  

09.0301  -  Just  Transition  Fund  (JTF)  - 
Operational Expenditure* 

Commitments 

Payments 

(1a) 

(2a) 

0,000  0,000 

0,000  0,000 

5 935,000 

-5 935,000 

0,000 

0,000 

Appropriations  of  an  administrative  nature  financed  from  the 
envelope of specific programmes79  

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

TOTAL appropriations 
for DG Regional and Urban Policy 

Commitments 

Payments 

=1a+1b 
+3 

=2a+2b 

+3 

0,000  0,000 

0,000  0,000 

0,000 

5 935,000  0,000 

-5 935,000  0,000 

0,000 

0,000 

0,000 

*  The  additional  pre-financing  payments  for  the  JTF  in  2024  will  be  financed  only  from  external  assigned  revenues  and  will  result  in  a  frontloading  of  NGEU  payment 
appropriations  from  year  2026  to  year  2024.  Additional  pre-financing  amounts  to  be  paid  under  the  ERDF,  CF  and  ESF+  will  depend  on  Member  State’s  programming 
decisions and will be entirely financed by MFF resources. 

Heading of multiannual financial  
framework  

Number  3 

DG: CLIMA 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

TOTAL 

79 

Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure are not detailed but included in the overall amounts indicated under operational lines. They should roughly correspond to the 
same percentages compared to administrative lines as the one occurred in the 2021-2024 period.    

EN 

13 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Operational appropriations  

09.0501  -  Innovation  Fund  (IF)  -  
operational expenditure 

Commitments 

Payments 

(1a) 

(2a) 

1 250,000 

1 250,000 

1 250,000 

1 250,000 

5 000,000 

500,000 

1 125,000 

1 150,000 

2 225,000 

5 000,000 

Appropriations  of  an  administrative  nature  financed  from 
the envelope of specific programmes80  

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

TOTAL appropriations 
for DG CLIMA 

Commitments 

Payments 

=1a+1b 
+3 

=2a+2b 

+3 

1 250,000 

1 250,000 

1 250,000 

1 250,000 

5 000,000 

500,000 

1 125,000 

1 150,000 

2 225,000 

5 000,000 

Heading of multiannual 
financial  
framework  

Number  5 

European Defence Fund 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

TOTAL 

 Operational appropriations  

13.0301 – Defence 

Commitments 

Payments 

(1a) 

(2a) 

Appropriations of an administrative nature 
financed  from  the  envelope  of  specific 
programmes81  

TOTAL 

Commitments 

=1a+1b 
+3 

375,000 
375,000 

376,000 
376,000 

375,000 
375,000 

374,000 
374,000 

1 500,000 
1 500,000 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

p.m. 

375,000 

375,000 

375,000 

375,000 

1 500,000 

80 

81 

Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure are not detailed but included in the overall amounts indicated under operational lines. They should roughly correspond to the 
same percentages compared to administrative lines as the one occurred in the 2021-2024 period.    
Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure are not detailed but included in the overall amounts indicated under operational lines. They should roughly correspond to the 
same percentages compared to administrative lines as the one occurred in the 2021-2024 period.    

EN 

14 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
appropriations 
for European 
Defence Fund 

Payments 

=2a+2b 

+3 

375,000 

376,000 

375,000 

374,000 

1 500,000 

 TOTAL operational appropriations  

Commitments 

Payments 

  TOTAL  appropriations  of  an  administrative  nature 
financed from the envelope for specific programmes  

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

TOTAL appropriations  
under HEADING <….> 
of the multiannual financial framework 

Commitments 

=4+ 6 

Payments 

=5+ 6 

If more than one operational heading is affected by the proposal / initiative, repeat the section above: 

  TOTAL  operational  appropriations  (all 
operational headings) 

Commitments 

Payments 

 TOTAL appropriations of an administrative nature financed 
from  the  envelope  for  specific  programmes  (all  operational 
headings) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

TOTAL appropriations  
under HEADINGS 1 to 6 
of the multiannual financial framework 
(Reference amount) 

Commitments 

=4+ 6 

Payments 

=5+ 6 

EN 

15 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Heading of multiannual financial  
framework  

7 

‘Administrative expenditure’ 

This section should be filled in using the 'budget data of an administrative nature' to be firstly introduced in the Annex to the Legislative 
Financial Statement (Annex 5 to the Commission decision on the internal rules for the implementation of the Commission section of the general 
budget of the European Union), which is uploaded to DECIDE for interservice consultation purposes. 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

2028 

2029 

TOTAL 

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

DG: <…….> 

 Human resources  

 Other administrative expenditure  

3,026 

3,026 

3,026 

3,026 

1,037 

1,037  

14,178 

0.257 

0.385 

0.385 

0.257 

0.182 

0.182 

1,648 

TOTAL DG <…….> 

Appropriations  

3,283 

3,411 

3,411 

3,283 

1,219 

1,219 

15,826 

TOTAL appropriations 
under HEADING 7 
of the multiannual financial framework  

(Total  commitments  = 
Total payments) 

3,283 

3,411 

3,411 

3,283 

1,219 

1,219 

15,826 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

2028 

2029 

TOTAL 

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

TOTAL appropriations  
under HEADINGS 1 to 7 
of the multiannual financial framework  

Commitments 

Payments 

3.2.2.  Estimated output funded with operational appropriations  

Commitment appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places) 

EN 

16 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

2028 

2029 

TOTAL 

OUTPUTS 

o
N

Cost 

o
N

Cost 

o
N

Cost 

o
N

Cost 

o
N

Cost  N

o

Cost 

o
N

Cost 

Total 
No 

Total 
cost 

Indicate 
objectives and 
outputs  

 

Type82 

Avera
ge 
cost 

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE No 183… 

- Output 

- Output 

- Output 

Subtotal for specific objective No 1 

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE No 2 ... 

- Output 

Subtotal for specific objective No 2 

TOTALS 

82 
83 

Outputs are products and services to be supplied (e.g.: number of student exchanges financed, number of km of roads built, etc.). 
As described in point 1.4.2. ‘Specific objective(s)…’  

EN 

17 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
3.2.3. 

Summary of estimated impact on administrative appropriations  

–    The  proposal/initiative  does  not  require  the  use  of  appropriations  of  an 

administrative nature  

–    The proposal/initiative requires the use of appropriations of an administrative 

nature, as explained below: 

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

2028 

2029 

TOTAL 

HEADING 7 
of the multiannual 
financial framework 

Human resources  

3.026 

3.026 

3.026 

3.026 

1.037 

1.037 

14,178 

0.257 

0.385 

0.385 

0.257 

0.182 

0.182 

1.648 

3.283 

3.411 

3.411 

3.283 

1.219 

1.219 

15,826 

Other administrative 
expenditure  

Subtotal HEADING 7 
of the multiannual 
financial framework  

Outside HEADING 784 
of the multiannual 
financial framework  

Human resources  

Other expenditure  
of an administrative 
nature 

Subtotal  
outside HEADING 7 
of the multiannual 
financial framework  

TOTAL 

3,283 

3,411 

3,411 

3,283 

1,219 

1,219 

15,826 

The  appropriations  required  for  human  resources  and  other  expenditure  of  an  administrative  nature  will  be  met  by 
appropriations from the DG that are already assigned to management of the action and/or have been redeployed within the 
DG,  together  if  necessary  with  any  additional  allocation  which  may  be  granted  to  the  managing  DG  under  the  annual 
allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints. 

84 

Technical  and/or  administrative  assistance  and  expenditure  in  support  of  the  implementation  of  EU programmes 
and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research. 

EN 

18 

  EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
3.2.3.1.  Estimated requirements of human resources  

–    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of human resources.  

–    The  proposal/initiative  requires  the  use  of  human  resources,  as  explained 

below: 

Estimate to be expressed in full time equivalent units 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

2028 

2029 

15 

15 

15 

15 

5 

5 

 Establishment plan posts (officials and temporary staff) 

20 01 02 01 (Headquarters and Commission’s Representation 
Offices) 

20 01 02 03 (Delegations) 

01 01 01 01  (Indirect research) 

 01 01 01 11 (Direct research) 

Other budget lines (specify) 

 External staff (in Full Time Equivalent unit: FTE)85 

20 02 01 (AC, END, INT from the ‘global envelope’) 

5 

5 

5 

5 

2 

2 

20 02 03 (AC, AL, END, INT and JPD in the delegations) 

XX 01  xx yy zz  86 

- at Headquarters 

- in Delegations  

01 01 01 02 (AC, END, INT - Indirect research) 

 01 01 01 12 (AC, END, INT - Direct research) 

Other budget lines (specify) 

TOTAL 

20 

20 

20 

20 

7 

7 

XX is the policy area or budget title concerned. 

The human resources required will be met by staff from the DG who are already assigned to management of the 
action  and/or  have  been  redeployed  within  the  DG,  together  if  necessary  with  any  additional  allocation  which 
may  be  granted  to  the  managing  DG  under  the  annual  allocation  procedure  and  in  the  light  of  budgetary 
constraints. 

Description of tasks to be carried out: 

Officials and temporary staff 

External staff 

15 FTEs (12 AD and 3 AST) will be required to set up and start  the first activities of 
the one-stop-shop in 2024. The same number of FTEs will be needed until the end of 
the current MFF period, before decreasing to 5 FTEs in 2028 and 2029 

The  One-Stop-Shop  will  consist  of  an  additional  unit  to  be  established  within  DG 
BUDG  in  the  Commission.  However,  these  needs  will  be  covered  through  internal 
redeployment within the Commission. 

2 Contract Agents and 3 Seconded National Experts until 2027 and 2 Contract Agents 
afterwards.  The  2 contract  agents  will  be  covered  from  internal  redeployment  within 
the Commission. 

85 

86 

AC=  Contract  Staff;  AL  =  Local  Staff;  END=  Seconded  National  Expert;  INT  =  agency  staff; 
JPD= Junior Professionals in Delegations.  
Sub-ceiling for external staff covered by operational appropriations (former ‘BA’ lines). 

EN 

19 

  EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
3.2.4.  Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework  

The proposal/initiative: 

–    can be fully financed through redeployment within the relevant heading of the 

Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). 

Explain what reprogramming is required, specifying the budget lines concerned and the corresponding 
amounts. Please provide an excel table in the case of major reprogramming. 

–    requires use of the unallocated margin under the relevant heading of the MFF 

and/or use of the special instruments as defined in the MFF Regulation. 

Explain  what  is  required,  specifying  the  headings  and  budget  lines  concerned,  the  corresponding 
amounts, and the instruments proposed to be used. 

–   requires a revision of the MFF. 

B1’s input needed 

3.2.5.  Third-party contributions  

The proposal/initiative: 

–    does not provide for co-financing by third parties 

–    provides for the co-financing by third parties estimated below: 

Appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places) 

Year 
N87 

Year 
N+1 

Year 
N+2 

Year 
N+3 

Enter as many years as necessary 
to show the duration of the 
impact (see point 1.6) 

Total 

Specify  the  co-financing 
body  

TOTAL appropriations 
co-financed  

87 

Year N is the year in which implementation of the proposal/initiative starts.  Please replace "N" by the 
expected first year of implementation (for instance: 2021). The same for the following years. 

EN 

20 

  EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
3.3. 

Estimated impact on revenue  

–    The proposal/initiative has no financial impact on revenue. 

–    The proposal/initiative has the following financial impact: 

–   on own resources  

–   on other revenue 

– 

please indicate, if the revenue is assigned to expenditure lines  

Appropriations 
available for 
the current 
financial year 

Budget revenue line: 

Article …………. 

     EUR million (to three decimal places) 

Impact of the proposal/initiative88 

Year 
N 

Year 
N+1 

Year 
N+2 

Year 
N+3 

Enter as many years as necessary to show 
the duration of the impact (see point 1.6) 

For assigned revenue, specify the budget expenditure line(s) affected. 

Other  remarks  (e.g.  method/formula  used  for  calculating  the  impact  on  revenue  or  any  other 
information). 

88 

As regards traditional own resources (customs duties, sugar levies), the amounts indicated must be net 
amounts, i.e. gross amounts after deduction of 20 % for collection costs. 

EN 

21 

  EN