Regolament dwar il-Fond tal-Pjani ta' Sħubija Nazzjonali u Reġjonali
Opinion factsheet
F’din il-paġna
- Politika ta' Koeżjoni
- Cohesion policy reform
- Fondi Strutturali u ta’ Investiment Ewropej
- Kooperazzjoni transfruntiera u territorjali
- Politika urbana
Objective
The draft Opinion seeks to ensure that the proposed National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) strengthen cohesion policy by embedding a genuinely place-based, multi-level governance model at the heart of the EU’s post-2027 investment framework.
Essential points
The Opinion advocates for:
• A reinforced territorial and cohesion focus, reaffirming economic, social and territorial cohesion as a core Treaty objective and applying a binding “do no harm to cohesion” principle across all NRPP-funded interventions, with continued eligibility for all regions (less developed, transition and more developed), including specific support for outermost regions and northern sparsely populated areas
• Binding multi-level governance and subsidiarity safeguards, to ensure early, structured and meaningful involvement of regional and local authorities in the design, governance, implementation and revision of NRPPs, with the possibility for plans to be rejected where subsidiarity is not respected
• Stronger regional ownership and implementation capacity, through mandatory territorial chapters where sub-national competences exist, designation of regional managing authorities, direct interaction with the Commission, and guaranteed resources for administrative capacity-building at local and regional level
• A clearer and more predictable financial framework, reintroducing EU-level guarantees for cohesion funding shares across all categories of regions, safeguarding the long-term nature of investments, extending decommitment deadlines, and conditioning use of the 25% flexibility margin on respect for partnership, subsidiarity and territorial governance principles
• A stronger place-based delivery logic, including explicit support for territorial just transition strategies, and renewed emphasis on smart specialisation and place-based innovation ecosystems
• Improved accountability, milestones and transparency, with milestones and targets aligned to territorial competences (including qualitative governance and capacity indicators), enhanced monitoring and reporting at regional level, clearer additionality rules, and stronger communication requirements to demonstrate the territorial impact and added value of cohesion investments
Essential points
The Opinion advocates for:
• A reinforced territorial and cohesion focus, reaffirming economic, social and territorial cohesion as a core Treaty objective and applying a binding “do no harm to cohesion” principle across all NRPP-funded interventions, with continued eligibility for all regions (less developed, transition and more developed), including specific support for outermost regions and northern sparsely populated areas
• Binding multi-level governance and subsidiarity safeguards, to ensure early, structured and meaningful involvement of regional and local authorities in the design, governance, implementation and revision of NRPPs, with the possibility for plans to be rejected where subsidiarity is not respected
• Stronger regional ownership and implementation capacity, through mandatory territorial chapters where sub-national competences exist, designation of regional managing authorities, direct interaction with the Commission, and guaranteed resources for administrative capacity-building at local and regional level
• A clearer and more predictable financial framework, reintroducing EU-level guarantees for cohesion funding shares across all categories of regions, safeguarding the long-term nature of investments, extending decommitment deadlines, and conditioning use of the 25% flexibility margin on respect for partnership, subsidiarity and territorial governance principles
• A stronger place-based delivery logic, including explicit support for territorial just transition strategies, and renewed emphasis on smart specialisation and place-based innovation ecosystems
• Improved accountability, milestones and transparency, with milestones and targets aligned to territorial competences (including qualitative governance and capacity indicators), enhanced monitoring and reporting at regional level, clearer additionality rules, and stronger communication requirements to demonstrate the territorial impact and added value of cohesion investments
Essential points
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS (CoR)
- stresses that all European regions should remain eligible for funding and calls for clarification on the percentages of national financial envelopes benefiting less developed, transition and more developed regions in each Member State;
- stresses that the participation of sub-national levels of government must be ensured, with strong and binding legislative safeguards in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the NRPPs. These new legislative safeguards should be enshrined in new articles concerning the ‘multilevel governance assessment’ and the ‘subsidiarity clause’
- calls for a requirement for each Member State to include at least one regional or territorial chapter in its NRPP, in line with the multilevel governance assessment and the subsidiarity clause;
- calls for a minimum target of 20% of national allocations for integrated territorial development strategies […] as a guarantee of a genuinely place-based approach that empowers local communities and stakeholders;
- calls for each Member State to conduct a territorial impact assessment of their NRP Plan […];
- calls on the Commission to assess the plans submitted by Member States against a policy reference framework to identify the specific territorial challenges of each Member State grounded in a solid territorial analysis;
- points out that economic, social and territorial cohesion is a core Treaty objective. The ‘do no harm to cohesion’ principle must therefore be placed at the top of the NRPP Fund’s hierarchy of objectives.