Legal provisions of COM(2020)223 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 as regards the introduction of specific measures for addressing the COVID-19 crisis

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dossier COM(2020)223 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 as regards the introduction of specific measures for addressing the COVID-19 crisis.
document COM(2020)223 EN
date February 10, 2021

Contents

Article 1

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

(1)Article 6(2) is replaced by the following:

‘2.   With the exception of additional resources allocated in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, as referred to in Article 6a, the allocation of the Fund for the period 2014–2020 for every Member State is set out in Annex III. The minimum amount for each Member State shall be EUR 3 500 000 for the whole period.’;

(2)the following article is inserted:

‘Article 6a

Additional resources in response to the crisis associated with the outbreak of COVID-19

1. Where the Member State considers it to be appropriate, the resources referred to in Article 6(1) of this Regulation shall be increased in response to the crisis associated with the outbreak of COVID-19, in accordance with the seventh subparagraph of Article 92b(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*1) and under the relevant conditions laid down in that paragraph. The additional resources shall constitute external assigned revenue as referred to in Article 3(1) of Council Regulation (EU) 2020/2094 (*2) and shall be subject to Article 3(3), (4), (7) and (9) thereof. The additional resources may affect the budget commitments for 2021 and 2022.

2. By way of derogation from Article 7(1), the period for operational programmes benefitting from additional resources in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article shall be until 31 December 2022.

3. By way of derogation from the first paragraph of Article 38 of this Regulation, the budget commitments for the additional resources in respect of each programme shall be made in the years 2021 and 2022.

By way of derogation from Article 59(1) of this Regulation, the budget commitments for the additional resources shall be decommitted in accordance with the rules to be followed for the closure of the programmes.

4. In addition to the pre-financing referred to in Article 44(1), the Commission shall pay a pre-financing amount of 11 % of the additional resources allocated for the year 2021 following the Commission decision approving the amendment to a programme for the allocation of the additional resources.

The amount paid as initial pre-financing as referred to in the first subparagraph shall be totally cleared from the Commission accounts not later than when the programme is closed.

5. By way of derogation from Article 20, a co-financing rate of up to 100 % may be applied to the additional resources under paragraph 1 of this Article.

(*1)  Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 320)."

(*2)  Council Regulation (EU) 2020/2094 of 14 December 2020 establishing a European Union Recovery Instrument to support the recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis (OJ L 433I, 22.12.2020, p. 23).’;"

(3)in Article 27, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

‘4.   At the initiative of Member States, and subject to a ceiling of 5 % of the Fund allocation at the time of the adoption of the operational programme and 5 % of the additional resources referred to in Article 6a(1), the operational programme may finance preparation, management, monitoring, administrative and technical assistance, audit, information, control and evaluation measures necessary for implementation of the Fund, including the preparation and operating costs of voucher schemes where those costs are borne by the managing authority or another public body that is not a partner organisation. The operational programme may also finance technical assistance and capacity building of partner organisations and any other actors involved in the implementation of the Fund, including for fostering crisis response capacity to address the outbreak of COVID-19. The actions referred to in this paragraph may concern the subsequent programming period, including to ensure the continuation of the support by the Fund through other Union funds.’;

(4)the following article is inserted:

‘Article 63a

Applicability

Article 6a shall not apply to or in the United Kingdom. References to Member States in that Article shall be understood as not including the United Kingdom.’.

Article 2

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.