European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): support to the Investment for growth and jobs goal, 2014-2020

The European Parliament adopted by 605 votes to 34, with 54 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific provisions concerning the European Regional Development Fund and the Investment for growth and jobs goal and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006.

Parliament’s position adopted at first reading of the ordinary legislative procedure amended the Commission proposal as follows:

Scope of support: the scope of support of ERDF has been extended to:

• productive investment, irrespective of the size of the enterprise (in research and innovation, information and communication technologies (ICT),  and promoting a low carbon economy, if it involves cooperation between large enterprises and SMEs);
• investment in business, research and innovation;
• investment in the development of endogenous potential through fixed investment in equipment and small-scale infrastructure and sustainable tourism infrastructure, services to enterprises, support to research and innovation bodies and investment in technology and applied research in enterprises;
• networking, cooperation and exchange of experience between competent regional, local, urban and other public authorities, economic and social partners, and bodies representing civil society.

Parliament forbade investment in airport infrastructure unless the investment is related to environmental protection.

Under the European Territorial Cooperation goal, the ERDF may also support the sharing of human resources and facilities and all types of infrastructure across borders in all regions.

Thematic concentration: Parliament was in favour of increased flexibility in this regard. The most important amendment was the inclusion of an additional thematic objective in the obligatory ones and the introduction of a separate mechanism for the concentration for the category of transition regions.

Moreover, new derogations were included in the resolution, in particular concerning specific needs of regions designated with the phasing-out status in the 2007-2013 period and NUTS 2 level regions consisting solely of islands, as well as the derogation for the northern sparsely populated regions.

There was also a derogation for productive investments in enterprises in the outermost regions, irrespectively of their size.

Investment priorities: Parliament added several new elements to the list of priorities regarding investments:

• the addition of “eco-innovation” to the thematic objective on strengthening research, technological development and innovation;
• supporting the adoption of emerging technologies and networks for the digital economy; strengthening ICT applications for e-culture;
• supporting the creation and the extension of advanced capacities for product and service development;
• supporting the capacity of SMEs to engage in growth in regional, national and international markets, and in innovation processes;
• supporting energy efficiency, smart energy management, including in public buildings;
• promoting research in, innovation in and adoption of low-carbon technologies and the use of high-efficiency co-generation of heat and power based on useful heat demand;
• investing in the waste sector and the water sector;
• revitalisation of cities and promotion of noise-reduction measures;
• promoting green growth;
• developing and rehabilitating comprehensive, high quality and interoperable railway system, and promoting noise-reduction measures;
• improving energy efficiency and security of supply through the development of smart energy distribution, storage and transmission systems and through the integration of distributed generation from renewable sources;
• promoting social inclusion through improved access to social, cultural and recreational services;
• support for physical, economic and social regeneration of deprived communities in urban and rural areas;
• investments undertaken in the context of Community-led local development strategies.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt a delegated act to amend the list of common output indicators, in order to make adjustments, where justified to ensure effective assessment of progress in programme implementation.

Sustainable urban development: actions should be undertaken not only through Integrated Territorial Investments but also through a specific operational programme, or a specific priority axis.

Taking into account its specific territorial situation, each Member State must establish in its Partnership Agreement the principles for the selection of urban areas where integrated actions for sustainable urban development are to be implemented.

At least 5% of the ERDF resources allocated at national level under the Investment for Growth and Jobs goal will be allocated to integrated actions for sustainable urban development where cities and urban authorities shall be responsible for tasks relating at least to the selection of operations. 

The Commission shall establish an urban development network to promote capacity-building, networking and exchange of experience at Union level between urban authorities responsible for implementing sustainable urban development strategies and innovative actions in the field of sustainable urban development.