EU Funds Information

EU General Knowledge

Table of Content

Introduction on EU funds
Cohesion Policy Funds
Specific funds
Timeline: from Multiannual Financial Framework to reimbursement of costs
Priorities for 2021-2027
Partnership Principle
Focus on ERDF
Focus on ESF+
Useful links

Introduction on EU funds

European Union funding programmes are financed by the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework and the Recovery plan for Europe (Next Generation EU). EU funding programmes can also be classified according to the type of funding management, being either shared-management fundings (called “funds”) or fundings directly managed by the European Commission.

Funds are jointly managed the European Commission and national or regional authorities; the latter being referred as Managing Authorities or Intermediate Bodies. Shared management funds represent about 80 % of the EU budget and include cohesion policy funds (see further below). The Helpdesk project focuses mainly on the latter as these are particularly difficult to access for social services providers.

Direct management fundings are managed by the European Commission or through EU agencies. These fundings includes grants, financial guarantees, transferring funds, monitoring activities, selecting contractors, etc. All funding and tender opportunities can be found on this platform.

Cohesion Policy Funds

More than half of EU funds are channeled through the five Cohesion Policy Funds (that used to be called European Structural and Investment Funds – ESIF), managed jointly by the European Commission and EU Member States.

The Cohesion Policy Funds are shared-management funds for which Member States are responsible for setting up management and control systems and complying with the requirements of EU regulations. The European Commission plays a supervisory role, verifying the effectiveness of national implementation systems.

Specific funds

The EU cohesion policy 2021-2027 has set the following 5 policy objectives supporting growth, sustainability, and inclusiveness.

A more competitive and smarter Europe
A greener, low‑carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy
A more connected Europe by enhancing mobility
A more social and inclusive Europe
Europe closer to citizens by fostering the sustainable and integrated development of all types of territories

Cohesion Policy is delivered through specific funds. These funds support the EU priorities as follows:

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), to invest in the social and economic development of all EU regions and cities and to reduce the development disparities within the EU regions (mainly priorities 1 and 2)
The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), to support jobs and create a fair and socially inclusive society in EU countries (focus on priority 4)
The Cohesion Fund (CF), to invest in environment and transport in the less prosperous EU countries (mainly priorities 2 and 3)
The Just Transition Fund (JTF) is a new instrument of the Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 meant to support the regions most affected by the transition towards climate neutrality (dedicated specific objectives – art. 8 of JTF regulation)
The Interreg programmes have the following 2 additional policy objectives at their disposal: “A better cooperation governance” and “A safer and more secure Europe”

Timeline: from Multiannual Financial Framework to reimbursement of costs

The adoption of the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027[1], the agreement on the budget is the first step towards in deciding what’s going to be available for the cohesion policy – 22.12.2020 – Negotiation process of the 2021-2027 long-term EU budget & NextGenerationEU | European Commission (europa.eu)
Cohesion policy legislation – setting the framework and the common rules for governing the use of EU shared management funds in the current programming period – 24.06.2021 – Cohesion Policy legislation 2021-2027 – Regional Policy – European Commission (europa.eu)
Agreements between the European Commission and individual EU countries – ongoing – Partnership Agreements on EU funds 2021-2027 | European Commission (europa.eu)
Approval of individual operational programs – ongoing Programmes – Regional Policy – European Commission (europa.eu)
Managing authorities launch their call for proposals – check the website of different Managing Authorities – Managing authorities – Regional Policy – European Commission (europa.eu)
The project applicants start submitting their proposals
Evaluation of the projects and selections of successful applications
The signature of the grant agreement (between the MA and the beneficiary) and the start of the project
Implementation of the project and report writing
Submitting the claims for reimbursement and reimbursement of funds

[1] jointly decided by the European Council and the European Parliament on the basis of a proposal from the Commission

Priorities for 2021-2027

The Cohesion Policy is the main investment policy of the EU, aiming to respond to diverse development needs across the EU by strengthening economic, social and territorial cohesion in the European Union. Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 is rooted in two of the six priorities of the European Commission, with the European Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights. In 2021-2027 EU cohesion policy has set 5 policy objectives : promoting economic growth, job creation, business competitiveness, sustainable development and environmental protection. Because of the focus on inclusiveness, the cohesion policy funds are relevant for social services.

Partnership Principle

The European Code of Conduct on Partnership adopted for the 2014-2020 period continues to apply. This should enable a wide participation of different stakeholders into the elaboration and monitoring of the programmes. Under the ESF+, all Member States are required to support capacity building of social partners and civil society organisations, by allocating an appropriate amount of their ESF+ resources to this issue. Member States with relevant country-specific recommendations need to allocate at least 0.25%.

Focus on ERDF

ERDF is intended to help to redress the main regional imbalances in the EU (see the EU map of the Cohesion Policy eligibility 2021-2027). ERDF is intended to help to redress the main regional imbalances in the European Union, through support for the development and structural adjustment of regions whose development is lagging and the conversion of declining industrial regions.

The ERDF has two main goals:

Investment for growth and jobs – aiming to strengthen the labor market and regional economies.
European Territorial Cooperation – aiming to strengthen cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation within the EU.

Based on their prosperity, all regions and Member States will concentrate the support on a more competitive and smarter Europe (policy objective 1), as well as greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe (policy objective 2), through the mechanism known as ‘thematic concentration’.

All regions and Member States will concentrate at least 30% of their allocation to policy objective 2
More developed regions or MSs will dedicate at least 85% of their allocation to policy objective 1 and policy objective 2;
Transition regions or MSs at least 40% to policy objective 1;
Less developed regions or MSs at least 25% to policy objective 1.

Focus on ESF+

ESF+ is the main financial instrument with which Europe invests in people, enhancing social cohesion by promoting job creation and skills development and to support a fair and socially inclusive society. ESF+ contributes to policy objective 4: a more social and inclusive Europe. ESF+ provides important contribution to the EU’s employment, social, education and skills policies, including structural reforms in these areas.

For the 2021-2027 programming period, the ESF+ will invest in three main areas:

Employment: to boost the adaptability of workers by helping them acquire new skills and that of companies by promoting new ways of working
Education and training: Improving access to employment, supporting young students in their transition to the world of work, or training less qualified job seekers to improve their job prospects
Social Inclusion: helping people from disadvantaged groups to find work (such us people with disabilities…). This contributes to reinforcing “social inclusion”, since employment plays a crucial role in social integration and in everyday life.

The ESF+ is the result of combining the following funds:

Funds

Type of management

Brief description

The previous European Social Fund (ESF)

Helps supporting jobs, helping people get better jobs and ensuring fairer job opportunities for all EU citizens

The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI)

Shared Management

Supports young people in regions where unemployment is higher than 25%

The Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD)

Supports EU countries’ actions to provide food and/or basic material assistance to the most deprived

The Employment and Social Innovation Programme (EaSI)

Managed directly by the Commission

Promotes a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social protection, combating social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions

This new architecture is meant to provide a simplified framework for beneficiaries, increasing the impact of programs and projects in the social sector. Additionally, the new Regulation includes a dedicated article on the link between the ESF+ and the Charter of Fundamental Rights [1]. Regarding the budget, the share of the ESF+ from the overall Cohesion policy budget increased from 23% of the Structural Funds to 27%.

[1] Especially relevant for countries struggling with the rule of law, separation of power and human rights

The ESF+ will also support Member States to achieve progress on the 2030 EU targets on jobs, skills and poverty reduction set by the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. Each Member State sets its priorities (and respective allocation of funds) based on country-specific recommendations of the European Semester.

Thematic concentration:

Member States must also allocate at least 25% of to fostering social inclusion;
Member States must also allocate at least 3% to fight material deprivation;
At least 12.5% of their ESF+ resources to support youth employment and the “Not in Education, Employment or Training” or NEET (only those concerned by the recommendations)
At least 5% of their ESF+ resources to address child poverty (only those concerned by the recommendations).
At least 0,25% of their ESF+ resources should be affected to strengthening the capacity of social partners and civil society and to enforcing the social dialogue (only those concerned by the recommendations).

The European Commission consults the ESF+ Committee that focuses on issues relevant to the implementation of the ESF+ programmes. The Committee is chaired by the Commission and made of 3 representatives per Member States (one government representative, including the ESF+ Head of Mission, one representative of the workers’ organisations, and one representative of the employers’ organisations) and one representative from each of the organisations representing workers’ organisations and employers’ organisations at Union level.

Useful links

2021-2027 Cohesion policy EU budget allocations – 2021-2027 – EU allocations available for programming | Data | European Structural and Investment Funds (europa.eu)
Progress, achievements, aggregated data by thematic, country or fund under the 2014-2020 programming period Open Data Portal for the European Structural Investment Funds – European Commission | Data | European Structural and Investment Funds (europa.eu)
Myths and facts 10 Myths and Facts about EU Cohesion policy – Regional Policy – European Commission (europa.eu)
Glossary Glossary – Regional Policy – European Commission (europa.eu)
More on ESIF – European structural and investment funds | European Commission (europa.eu)
Training resources – Training on Cohesion Policy for EU Member State Experts – Regional Policy – European Commission (europa.eu)
Simplifications pdf (europa.eu) Final conclusions and recommendations of the High Level Group on Simplification for post 2020 (europa.eu)
Data for research Data for research – Regional Policy – European Commission (europa.eu)
All EU publications Publications – Regional Policy – European Commission (europa.eu)
Beneficiaries of EU funds: Kohesio (europa.eu)
Example of social services programme funded by the EU: Des services sociaux et de santé essentiels mis en place pour les plus vulnérables à Bruxelles, en Belgique-Projets – Politique régionale – Commission européenne (europa.eu)
The fi-compass web portal – provides support to managing authorities, learning tools on financial instruments, and how they can provide additional support to the grants to provide further sustainability, supported by the EIB.
Transnational cooperation platform – for their work on specific thematics, recommendations and events
ESF+ for practitioners | European Social Fund Plus (europa.eu)
Leaflet “ESF Plus”
Website of the EU Commission: ESF Plus

HELPDESK Support

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.