C 214/10
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
31.5.2022
A downward revision of the final maximum financial contribution does not justify downgrading or removing reforms from the plans.
In fact, reforms come with little to no associated costs and as such are not linked to the size of the maximum financial contribution.
Furthermore, the revised plan still needs to meet all assessment criteria, and in particular address all or a substantial set of CSRs.
To compensate for the reduced maximum financial contribution and address the REPowerEU objectives, besides relying on national funds, Member States facing a downward revision are encouraged to make use of the following options: — Request a RRF loan, — Transfers from cohesion policy as set out under Article 26 of the Common Provisions Regulation and Article 7(1) of the RRF Regulation, — Shift investments which will be completed by end 2023 from the RRF to European Structural and Investment Funds for the 2014-2020 programming period, including through REACT-EU, in line with the N+3 rule, — Shift some investments planned under the RRF to the 2021-2027 cohesion policy programmes, Loans compensating downwards revision As mentioned above, Member States can request loans until 31 August 2023.
An option for compensating the decreased maximum financial contribution and addressing the new objectives of REPowerEU would be for the Member State concerned to take up a loan.
Under such a scenario, the conditions of Article 14 of the RRF Regulation apply.
The Member State should make clear in the revised RRP, which reforms and investments are shifted from the financial contribution (i.e. grants) to loans.
Transfers from CPR funds to the RRF under Article 26 of the Common Provisions Regulation Article 7(1) of the RRF Regulation gives Member States a possibility to transfer resources allocated under shared management to the RRF, in particular through funds covered by the CPR.
According to Article 26 of the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR, Regulation (EU) 2021/1060), up to 5 % of the CPR funds for the 2021-2027 budgetary period can be transferred to other EU instruments, for the exclusive benefit of the Member State concerned, meaning already made transfers to other instruments (e.g. to Erasmus+) reduce the maximum amount that can be transferred to the RRF.
This provision could enable the Member State to increase its resources available under the RRF, possibly covering for the downward revision of the final maximum financial contribution.
Member States may request such transfers either as part of their partnership agreement or as part of programme amendments or, where the Partnership Agreement has been approved and one or more programmes have not yet been adopted, through notification of a revision of certain limited information within the Partnership Agreement.
Member States that wish to use such an option should discuss with the Commission which way to choose based on the state of advancement of their partnership agreement and their programmes.
Under Article 26(3) of the CPR, requests for such a transfer via programme amendment shall be duly justified with a view to the complementarities and impact to be achieved.
As part of the justification to be provided for such a transfer, Member States can rely on the fact that, in general, the reforms and investments under the RRP, which such transfers will enable, should also contribute positively to achieving the goals pursued under cohesion policy.
For instance, many RRPs include reforms to improve the effectiveness of public administration or reforms on public procurement that will help increase the effectiveness of Member States’ investments under the cohesion policy funds.
This possibility to transfer up to 5 % under Article 26 of the CPR can be used to compensate for a decrease in allocation in relation to any measure included in the existing RRP.
It can also be used for reforms and investments included in the REPowerEU chapter.
This is to be distinguished from the possibility to transfer up to 7,5 % under the newly proposed article 26a of the CPR where the transferred resources can be used exclusively for reforms and investments included in the REPowerEU chapter and which can only be requested where the Member State has already requested transfers from that specific Fund up to the ceiling of 5 % set out in Article 26 of the CPR.