Regulation 2020/2221 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 as regards additional resources and implementing arrangements to provide assistance for fostering crisis repair in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its social consequences and for preparing a green, digital and resilient recovery of the economy (REACT-EU) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 437/30

Member States have been affected by the crisis resulting from the economic, social and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in an unprecedented manner. The crisis hampers growth in Member States, which in turn aggravates the serious liquidity shortages which are due to the sudden and significant increase in public investments needed in Member States’ health systems and other sectors of their economies. The crisis has also exacerbated the situation of people at risk of poverty, thus reducing the social cohesion in Member States. In addition, the closure of internal borders has had a severe impact on economic cooperation, in particular in border areas, affecting the commuting of workers and the viability of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This has created an exceptional situation which needs to be addressed with specific, immediate and extraordinary measures that reach the real economy quickly.

In order to respond to the impact of the crisis, Regulations (EU) No 1301/2013 (4) and (EU) No 1303/2013 (5) of the European Parliament and the Council were amended by Regulation (EU) 2020/460 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) in order to allow for more flexibility in the implementation of operational programmes supported by the European Regional Development Fund (the ‘ERDF’), the European Social Fund (the ‘ESF’) and the Cohesion Fund (collectively ‘the Funds’) and by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (the ‘EMFF’). However, as the serious negative effects on Union economies and societies worsened, both Regulations were amended again by Regulation (EU) 2020/558 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7). Those amendments have provided exceptional additional flexibility to enable the Member States to concentrate on the necessary response to the unprecedented crisis by enhancing the possibility to mobilise non-utilised support from the Funds and by simplifying procedural requirements linked to programme implementation and audits.

On 23 April 2020, the European Council endorsed the ‘Roadmap for recovery’ in order to redress huge shocks to the economy and to mitigate, on the one hand, the social and economic consequences for the Union stemming from the exceptional restrictions put in place by Member States to contain the spread of COVID-19 and, on the other, the risk of an asymmetric recovery, stemming from the different national means available in different Member States, which has, in turn, had a serious impact on the functioning of the internal market. The Roadmap for recovery has a strong investment component and calls for the establishment of the European Recovery Fund. In addition, and as restated in the conclusions of the European Council of 21 July 2020, it mandates the Commission to analyse the needs so that the...