of the European Structural and Investment Funds in 2017

May 2018

Budget

budgetary implementation Analysis of the

Print ISBN 978-92-79-77758-5 ISSN 2529-4318 doi:10.2761/290463 KV-AM-18-001-EN-C

PDF ISBN 978-92-79-77759-2 ISSN 2529-4326 doi:10.2761/086586 KV-AM-18-001-EN-N

More information on the European Union is available on the internet (http://europa.eu).Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018

Cover photo: The Derry Peace Bridge in Northern Ireland, co-financed by the ERDF under the PEACE III UK-Ireland operational programme 2007-2013. © spumador-Fotolia

© European Union 2018Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union

Freephone number (*):

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11(*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you).

NOTE: The information contained in this Commission staff working paper (DG Budget) is without prejudice to the content of the official Commission reports on the closure of the accounts and on the European Structural and Investment Funds. Readers should refer in particular to the revenue and expenditure account for the official figures on the 2017 budget out-turn.

Analysis of the budgetary implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds in 2017

May 2018

2

This report covers the 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 programming periods.

For the 2007-2013 programming period the implementation report deals with all the funds under Heading 1b ‘Cohesion policy’ of the financial framework: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF).

For the 2014-2020 programming period the report deals with the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds), namely the ERDF, the CF, the ESF (including the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI)-specific allocation), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). It also covers the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) which is part of Heading 1b but it is not an ESI Fund.

The report does not cover the EAFRD and the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) of Heading 2 ‘Natural resources’ of the 2007-2013 financial framework, which were not Structural Funds during that programming period.

This report displays rounded numbers. When summed they may generate a difference to total numbers.

3

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AB amending budget

CB cross-border cooperation

CEF Connecting Europe Facility

CF Cohesion Fund

CPR Common Provision Regulation

EAFRD European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development

EAGF European Agricultural Guarantee Fund

EAGGF-G European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, guidance section

EFF European Fisheries Fund

EMFF European Maritime and Fisheries Fund

ERDF European Regional Development Fund

ESF European Social Fund

ESI Funds European Structural and Investment Funds

ETC European territorial cooperation

EUSF European Union Solidarity Fund

FEAD Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived

FIFG Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance

H2 Heading 2 of the multiannual financial framework

MFF multiannual financial framework

MS Member State

OP operational programme

PEACE EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation

RAL reste à liquider — outstanding commitments

RCE regional competitiveness and employment

TA technical assistance

YEI Youth Employment Initiative

LIST OF COUNTRY CODES

AT Austria

BE Belgium

BG Bulgaria

CY Cyprus

CZ Czech Republic

DE Germany

DK Denmark

EE Estonia

EL Greece

ES Spain

FI Finland

FR France

HR Croatia

HU Hungary

IE Ireland

IT Italy

LT Lithuania

LU Luxemburg

LV Latvia

MT Malta

NL Netherlands

PL Poland

PT Portugal

RO Romania

SE Sweden

SI Slovenia

SK Slovakia

UK United Kingdom

4

CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 3

LIST OF COUNTRY CODES 3

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 72017 7

Outlook for 2018 8

SECTION 1: LEGAL AND FINANCIAL BACKGROUND 91. 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework 9

2. 2017 budgetary procedure 13

SECTION 2: 2014-2020 PROGRAMMING PERIOD 151. Budget implementation in 2017 15

2. FEAD: reimbursement of initial pre-financing 20

3. Pattern of interim payment applications 20

4. Member States’ payment forecasts for Heading 1b 22

5. Overall implementation for the 2014-2020 programming period 25

6. Annual examination of accounts for the 2014-2020 programming period 30

SECTION 3: 2007-2013 PROGRAMMING PERIOD 321. Budget implementation in 2017 32

2. N + 2/N + 3 and closure decommitments 33

3. Overall implementation for the 2007-2013 programming period 36

ANNEXES 39Annex 1: Economic, social and territorial cohesion — Final 2014-2020 allocations by Member State (current prices) 40

Annex 2: Sustainable growth: natural resources (except EAGF) — Final 2014-2020 allocation by Member State (current prices) 42

Annex 3: Historical analysis of implementation rates of Member States’ payment forecasts 44

Annex 4: Implementation rates of Member States' payment forecasts for Heading 1b in 2017 46

Annex 5: Historical trend in commitments and payments 48

Annex 6: References 50

5

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 1: Heading 1b 2014-2020 commitments following the adjustment of the financial allocations for the cohesion policy in 2016 and 2017 (million EUR — in current prices) 11

Chart 2: Heading 2 2014-2020 commitments by fund (million EUR) 12

Chart 3: Monthly pattern of submission of payment applications for the 2014-2020 programmes (million EUR) 21

Chart 4: Monthly pattern of interim payments made for the 2014-2020 programmes (million EUR) 22

Chart 5: Cumulative execution at the end of 2017 by Member State for the 2014-2020 period (compared to allocations) 27

Chart 6: Outstanding commitments by Member State for the 2014-2020 period at the end of 2017 (million EUR) 28

Chart 7: Rate of project selection in 2016 and 2017 29

Chart 8: Cumulative execution at the end of 2017 by Member State for the 2007-2013 period (compared to allocations after decommitments) 36

Chart 9: Outstanding commitments by Member State for the 2007-2013 period at the end of 2017 (million EUR) 37

Chart 10: Implementation rate of forecasts by Member State — January 2017 submission 46

Chart 11: Implementation rate of forecasts by Member State — July 2017 submission 47

Chart 12: Commitment and payment appropriations entered in the budget from 1994 to 2017 — including transfers and amending budgets, excluding carry-over (million EUR) 48

Chart 13: Implementation of commitment and payment appropriations and the evolution of outstanding commitments from 1994 to 2017 (million EUR) 49

Chart 14: Outstanding commitments by period of origin (million EUR) 49

Table 1: Change in Member States’ allocations following the adjustment of the financial allocations for the cohesion policy (EUR) 10

Table 2: Heading 1b additional commitments following the increase in the specific allocation for the YEI for the 2017-2020 period (EUR — current prices) 11

Table 3: Voted budget for the financial year 2017 (million EUR) 13

Table 4: Payment appropriations available in voted budget 2017 and after amending budgets (ABs) 4/2017 and 6/2017 (million EUR) 14

Table 5: Global transfer and end-of-year transfer amounts (million EUR) 14

Table 6: Out-turn of commitment appropriations for the 2014-2020 period in 2017 by fund, except commitment appropriations generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts (million EUR) 15

Table 7: Out-turn of commitment appropriations in 2017 by fund generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts in 2017 (million EUR) 15

Table 8: Out-turn of payment appropriations for the 2014-2020 programming period in 2017 by fund, except payment appropriations generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts (million EUR) 16

Table 9: Out-turn of payment appropriations for the 2014-2020 programming period in 2017 by fund generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts in 2017 (million EUR) 17

6

Table 10: Available payment appropriations and their implementation in 2017 for the 2014-2020 programming period (million EUR) 19

Table 11: Evolution of the Member States’ payment forecasts for year 2017 (billion EUR) 22

Table 12: Implementation rate of Member States' July forecasts for 2014-2020 programmes in 2017 (million EUR) 23

Table 13: Implementation rate of Member States' July forecasts for 2014-2020 programmes in 2016 and 2017 24

Table 14: Adopted operational programmes and status of the designation of authorities as of 31 December 2017 25

Table 15: Outstanding commitments 2014-2020 at the end of 2017 (million EUR) 27

Table 16: Evolution of unpaid payment applications at year-end for 2014-2020 programmes (billion EUR) 29

Table 17: Out-turn of payment appropriations for the 2007-2013 programming period in 2017 by fund (million EUR) 32

Table 18: Available payment appropriations and their implementation in 2017 for the 2007-2013 programming period (million EUR) 33

Table 19: N + 2/N + 3 decommitments for the 2007-2013 programming period as of 31 December 2017 (million EUR) 34

Table 20: Closure decommitments for the 2007-2013 programming period as of 31 December 2017 (million EUR) 35

Table 21: N + 2/N + 3 and closure decommitments by Member State for the 2007-2013 programming period as of 31 December 2017 (million EUR) 35

Table 22: Outstanding commitments 2007-2013 at the end of 2017 (million EUR) 37

Table 23: Implementation rate of Member States' forecasts for the 2014-2020 CF, ERDF, ESF, YEI and FEAD — January submission (billion EUR) 44

Table 24: Implementation rate of Member States' forecasts for the 2014-2020 CF, ERDF, ESF, YEI and FEAD — July submission (billion EUR) 44

Table 25: Implementation rate of Member States' forecasts for the 2014-2020 EAFRD — July submission (billion EUR) 44

Table 26: Implementation rate of Member States' forecasts for the 2014-2020 EMFF — July submission (billion EUR) 45

7

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2017

‣ An important reprogramming exercise took place in 2017. The financial allocation for the cohesion policy was increased in total by EUR 5.8 billion (EUR 4.6 billion due to the revision of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) and EUR 1.2 billion due to the increase of the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI)). The revised operational programmes of 16 Member States affected by the adjustment of the financial allocations for the cohesion policy according to Article 7 of the MFF regulation (1) and 11 Member States benefiting from the YEI increased allocation (2) were adopted by the end of 2017.

‣ The 2017 budgetary implementation was characterised by improved execution of payment appropriations compared to the previous year. The payments executed in 2017 amounted to EUR 40.9 billion, 1.5 times higher than the 2016 level. Following the EUR 5.9 billion reduction in payments made via amending budget (AB) 6/2017, full implementation of the voted budget was achieved. Moreover, EUR 5.4 billion of assigned revenue generated through the first annual examination and acceptance of accounts procedure was also consumed.

‣ The Commission made a significant effort to reimburse payment applications as quickly as possible, and a normal backlog of only EUR 2.3 billion was observed at the end of the year.

‣ Even though the accuracy of the Member States forecast improved compared to previous years, it remained low. While the implementation rate observed in 2016 was only 52 %, it improved to a level of 80 % in 2017.

‣ As regards the 2014-2020 programmes, 2017 was a breakthrough year when the delays in implementation are compared to those observed in previous years. Significant progress was made in the designation of national authorities (only 4.8 % remained to be notified) and in the rate of project selection on the ground (almost 45 % compared to 20 % in 2016). The level of interim payments made also increased significantly.

‣ The 2007-2013 programmes reached their closure, with Member State closure declarations submitted by 31 March 2017 (3). The cumulative total payments made by the end of 2017 represented around 97 % of the financial allocation for the cohesion policy. The Commission accelerated the pace of the closure process compared to the previous programming periods and as a result a total of EUR 3 billion was paid above the 2017 budget.

(1) Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom.

(2) Belgium, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia.

(3) With the exception of Croatia, for which the deadline is 31 March 2018.

8

Outlook for 2018

‣ Since the implementation of the programmes is now in its fifth year, the challenge for the years ahead is to reach cruising speed in budgetary implementation. In this context, reliable and accurate Member State forecasts are crucial to ensure an orderly progression for the reimbursement of payment applications and to pre-empt the creation of future abnormal backlogs.

‣ While the reste à liquider (RAL) (outstanding commitments) is expected to rise in 2018, since commitments are higher than the payment appropriations in the 2018 budget, the increase is at a slower pace than in previous years.

‣ The Commission will continue with the closure payments for the 2007-2013 programmes, with the majority of the programmes expected to be closed by the end of 2018.

‣ In order to improve implementation, the Commission has proposed a revision of the Financial Regulation and the ‘Omnibus’ regulation which contained important simplification measures for managing authorities and beneficiaries, such as the extended use of simplified cost options and more effective use of financial instruments. The entry into force of these new provisions is expected to accelerate the implementation of the programmes.

S E C T I O N 1 : L E G A L A N D F I N A N C I A L B A C K G R O U N D 9

SECTION 1:LEGAL AND FINANCIAL BACKGROUND

1. 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework

The multiannual financial framework for the 2014-2020 programming period was laid down by Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 (4) (the MFF regulation), which allocated EUR 325.1 billion (2011 prices) to ‘Economic, social and territorial cohesion’ (Heading 1b of the budget) and EUR 373.2 billion (2011 prices) to ‘Sustainable growth: natural resources’ (Heading 2 of the budget). This last figure includes also ‘Market related expenditure and direct payments’ (EUR 277.8 billion), which is not the object of this report.

Allocations in Heading 1b for the 2014-2020 programming period

The figure of EUR 325.1 billion allocated by the MFF regulation to Heading 1b has been adjusted as follows.

‣ The amounts in 2011 prices are converted into current prices with a fixed deflator of 2 % per year (5).

‣ In line with the European Council conclusions of June 2013 (6), additional allocations of EUR 200 million (current prices) for Cyprus were added partly through a mobilisation of the Flexibility instrument in 2014 and 2015.

‣ Adjustments between categories of regions have been made following some Member States’ requests (such transfers are permitted for up to 3 % of the total appropriations of the reduced category of region (7)).

‣ Adjustments have been made to the financial allocations for the cohesion policy in line with the MFF regulation, which establishes that, to take account of the particularly difficult situation of Member States suffering from the crisis, in 2016 the Commission should review all Member States’ total allocations under the ‘investment for growth and jobs’ goal of cohesion policy for the years 2017 to 2020 (8). The methods and results of this adjustment are presented in the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament COM(2016) 311 of 30 June 2016.

ɑ The ceiling for the commitment appropriations of Heading 1b in the years 2017-2020 is increased by EUR 4 642 million (current prices). The ceiling for payment

(4) Later amended by Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2015/623 of 21 April 2015.

(5) In accordance with Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial frame-work for the years 2014-2020, Article 6(2).

(6) Conclusion of European Council 27/28 June 2013; Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on the mobilisation of the Flexibility instrument (2014/97/EU).

(7) In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013, Article 93(2).

(8) Regulation (EU) No 1311/2013, Article 7.

S E C T I O N 1 : L E G A L A N D F I N A N C I A L B A C K G R O U N D10

appropriations has also been modified, with an increase of EUR 1 367 million (current prices) in the years 2017-2020 (9).

ɑ In 2017, under the adjustment of the financial allocations for the cohesion policy, the 16 Member States affected, after having decided how to distribute the financial impact of the change among their operational programmes (OPs) and priorities, submitted revised versions of the OPs concerned to the Commission. The Commission assessed the OP amendments and, where necessary, made observations. Agreement on the allocation of the resources was reached on all the OPs concerned and Commission implementing decisions were adopted for these revised programmes. All the additional appropriations could thus be committed in 2017.

ɑ The table below shows the change in Member States’ allocations following the adjustment of the financial allocations for the cohesion policy in line with Article 7 of the MFF regulation.

Table 1: Change in Member States’ allocations following the adjustment of the financial allocations for the cohesion policy (EUR)

Member State Amount added/deducted

BE Belgium 10 960 907

CY Cyprus 36 582 074

CZ Czech Republic – 114 979 627

DK Denmark 6 408 424

EE Estonia – 35 357 621

EL Greece 970 757 458

ES Spain 2 131 774 567

FI Finland 5 782 506

HR Croatia – 49 790 327

IE Ireland 3 647 834

IT Italy 1 645 185 308

NL Netherlands 5 928 950

SE Sweden – 20 496 377

SI Slovenia 56 025 157

SK Slovakia – 68 835 160

UK United Kingdom 58 005 958

Total 4 641 600 031

‣ Following the extension of the YEI to 2020 and the increase in the specific allocation for the YEI for the 2017-2020 period (10), the financial allocations for the cohesion policy have been adjusted by a total of EUR 1.2 billion in current prices. Heading 1b was therefore provided with EUR 500 million of additional commitment appropriations in AB 3/2017 for the YEI as set out by the European Parliament and the Council in their agreement on the 2017 budget. The amendment of the common provisions regulation (CPR) (11) and the reprogramming exercise to incorporate the additional appropriations linked to the reinforcement of the YEI were fully completed by the end of 2017. 82 % of the total YEI increase concerns Spain, Italy and France. The allocation by Member State is presented in the following table.

(9) Given that most of the payments related to the increase in commitments are expected to occur post-2020, the increase in the payment ceiling in the years 2017-2020 remains limited.

(10) Regulation (EU) 2017/2305 of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.

(11) Regulation (EU) 1303/2013 of 17 December 2013.

S E C T I O N 1 : L E G A L A N D F I N A N C I A L B A C K G R O U N D 11

Table 2: Heading 1b additional commitments (*) following the increase in the specific allocation for the YEI for the 2017-2020 period (EUR — current prices)

Member State 2017 2018 2019 2020 Total

BE 8 524 538 3 978 118 3 978 118 3 978 118 20 458 892

EL 32 876 567 15 342 398 15 342 398 15 342 398 78 903 761

ES 174 235 182 81 309 751 81 309 751 81 309 751 418 164 435

FR 67 213 724 31 366 404 31 366 404 31 366 404 161 312 936

HR 14 632 462 6 828 482 6 828 482 6 828 482 35 117 908

IT 142 925 430 66 698 534 66 698 534 66 698 534 343 021 032

CY 2 735 288 1 276 468 1 276 468 1 276 468 6 564 692

PL 6 824 942 3 184 973 3 184 973 3 184 973 16 379 861

PT 26 078 181 12 169 818 12 169 818 12 169 818 62 587 635

RO 18 801 785 8 774 166 8 774 166 8 774 166 45 124 283

SK 5 151 901 2 404 221 2 404 221 2 404 221 12 364 564

Total 500 000 000 233 333 333 233 333 333 233 333 333 1 199 999 999

(*) Data is valid for the current state of play of the CPR.

The chart below shows the new H1b breakdown of commitments (EUR 372.8 billion in current prices) among funds and categories of regions (12), taking into account all the above-listed adjustments.

Chart 1: Heading 1b 2014-2020 commitments following the adjustment of the financial allocations for the cohesion policy in 2016 and 2017 (million EUR — in current prices)

Less-developed regions

Transition regions

More-developed regions

European territorial cooperation10 108

CF

YEI4 411

FEAD3 814

TA and urban innovative action1 648

Outermost and northern sparsely populated regions1 555

CEF-CF11 306

TOTAL: 372 828

181 135

63 28357 615

37 953

(12) The ‘More-developed’, ‘Transition’ and ‘Less-developed’ categories of regions can be financed by both the European Regional Develop-ment Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), while the ‘Outermost and northern sparsely populated’ category is covered by the ERDF only.

S E C T I O N 1 : L E G A L A N D F I N A N C I A L B A C K G R O U N D12

Allocations in Heading 2 for the 2014-2020 programming period

As from 2014, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) are part of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds).

The total allocation for these two funds amounts to EUR 106 billion in current prices. The chart below presents the current share of these two funds vis-à-vis the total Heading 2 envelope, the major component of which is the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), which is not part of the ESI Funds and therefore is not covered by this report.

With respect to the initial amounts allocated by the MFF regulation to the funds concerned, the figures presented in the charts below have been converted into current prices with a fixed deflator of 2 % per year. In addition, the amount for the EAFRD (pillar 2 of the common agricultural policy) of EUR 95 577 million has been increased to EUR 100 318 million to take into account the transfers and flexibility from the EAGF (13) (pillar 1 of the common agricultural policy).

Chart 2: Heading 2 2014-2020 commitments by fund (million EUR)

EAGF ‘Market related expenditure and direct payments’

EAFRD after EAGF transfers100 318

EMFF5 749

307 994

Annual breakdowns of allocations

The annual breakdowns of allocations for the ESI Funds and FEAD are laid down by the following legal bases.

‣ Commission Implementing Decision C(2014) 2082, as last amended by Commission Implementing Decision C(2016) 6909, for Heading 1b funds.

‣ Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013, as last amended by Commission Delegated Regulations (EU) Nos 2015/791, 2016/142, 2017/2393 and 2018/162 for the EAFRD.

‣ Commission Implementing Decision C(2014) 3781 for the EMFF.

The annual breakdown by heading is provided in Annex 1 (Heading 1b) and Annex 2 (Heading 2).

(13) Article 7(2) and Article 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 637/2008 and Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009.

S E C T I O N 1 : L E G A L A N D F I N A N C I A L B A C K G R O U N D 13

2. 2017 budgetary procedure

For the 2014-2020 programming period, the adopted budget for 2017 for ESI Funds followed the financial programming for commitment appropriations, while for payment appropriations it provided EUR 44.5 billion in total. The payment appropriations were intended to cover the 2017 instalment of the annual pre-financing and an increased level of interim payments, while taking account of the assigned revenue to be generated by the first annual examination and acceptance of accounts, as explained in more detail in Chapter 6.

For the 2007-2013 programming period, the budget for cohesion policy was EUR 2.6 billion in payment appropriations intended to cover residual interim payments to reach the 95 % ceiling and the first closure payments. No commitment appropriations were included in the budget as this programming period ended in 2013.

Table 3: Voted budget for the financial year 2017 (million EUR) (*)

Fund Commitment appropriations Payment appropriations

ERDF 29 209 18 753

ESF 12 914 8 606

CF 9 084 5 679

YEI 0 600

FEAD 546 441

EAFRD 14 360 9 926

EMFF 826 488

Total 2014-2020 66 940 44 493

ERDF 0 1.567

ESF 0 701

CF 0 329

Total 2007-2013 0 2 597

(*) Figures include operational lines and technical assistance.

AB 3/2017 covered the additional EUR 500 million in commitment appropriations provided for the YEI, in line with the conciliation agreement for the 2017 EU budget and the proposed reinforcement of the YEI as part of the MFF mid-term review adopted by the European Parliament and the Council.

AB 4/2017 accompanied the mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for an amount of EUR 1.2 billion to provide assistance to Italy further to a series of earthquakes that took place in 2016 and 2017 in the regions of Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria. As regards ESI Funds, AB 4/2017 covered the redeployment of payment appropriations for a total of EUR 1.2 billion from the 2007-2013 programmes to cover the budgetary needs of this mobilisation and to replenish the negative reserve linked to the previous mobilisation of the EUSF.

After the under-implementation of 2016, when EUR 4.3 billion of the surplus for the year was attributable to Heading 1b despite the adjustment in AB 4/2016, the Commission observed equally slow progression in applications for payments in the first semester of 2017. The Commission noted that the July 2017 submission of the Member States’ forecast showed a reduction of almost EUR 6 billion compared to the January 2017 submission and of more than EUR 10 billion compared to the July 2016 submission. Moreover, there continued to

S E C T I O N 1 : L E G A L A N D F I N A N C I A L B A C K G R O U N D14

be no regulatory incentive to accelerate the submission of payment applications due to the more relaxed automatic cancelling (‘decommitment’) rules (low ‘N + 3’ pressure).

As the reliability of the Member States’ forecasts has decreased significantly in the last few years, the Commission undertook an analysis at programme level, taking into account the state of play of the designation of national authorities and applying a correction rate of 25 %.

As a consequence, the Commission proposed the AB 6/2017, which decreased the level of payment appropriations for the ESI Funds by EUR 5.9 billion.

Table 4: Payment appropriations available in voted budget 2017 and after amending budgets (ABs) 4/2017 and 6/2017 (million EUR)

Fund Voted budget AB 4/2017 and AB 6/2017 Budget after AB 4/2017 and AB 6/2017

ERDF 18 753 – 4 701 14 052

ESF 8 606 – 1 150 7 456

CF 5 679 0 5 679

YEI 600 0 600

FEAD 441 0 441

EAFRD 9 926 0 9 926

EMFF 488 0 488

Total 2014-2020 44 493 – 5 851 38 642

ERDF 1 567 – 981 586

ESF 701 0 701

CF 329 – 256 73

Total 2007-2013 2 597 – 1 237 1 360

Additionally, a number of transfers aimed at meeting the payment needs of different policy areas, in particular the global transfer adopted on 9 November 2017 and the end-of-year transfer.

In this last case, a reinforcement was carried out to cover the payment needs of the EAFRD 2014-2020 programmes linked to higher-than-expected October 2017 quarterly declarations, while the 2014-2020 ESI Funds programmes did not need reinforcement.

Table 5: Global transfer and end-of-year transfer amounts (million EUR) (*)

Fund Global transfer (Dec. 20/2017) End-of-year transfer (Dec. 34/2017)

ERDF – 14 0

ESF 0 0

CF 0 0

YEI 0 0

FEAD 0 – 150

EAFRD 0 568

EMFF – 141 – 21

Total 2014-2020 – 156 397

(*) Figures include only operational lines.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 15

SECTION 2:2014-2020 PROGRAMMING PERIOD

1. Budget implementation in 2017

Implementation of commitment appropriations

Table 6: Out-turn of commitment appropriations for the 2014-2020 period in 2017 by fund, except commitment appropriations generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts (million EUR)

Fund Voted budget

Transfers, amending budgets, additional appropriations

Total commitment appropriations

Out-turn %

ERDF 29 209 126 29 335 29 312 99.9

ESF 12 914 11 12 925 12 920 100.0

CF 9 084 – 109 8 975 8 975 100.0

YEI 0 500 500 500 100.0

FEAD 546 0 546 546 99.9

EAFRD 14 360 13 14 373 14 355 99.9

EMFF 826 0 826 826 100.0

Total 2014-2020 66 940 540 67 480 67 433 99.9

Table 7: Out-turn of commitment appropriations in 2017 by fund generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts in 2017 (million EUR)

Fund Additional appropriations Out-turn %

ERDF 3 549 3 549 100.0

ESF 1 607 1 607 100.0

CF 1 242 1 242 100.0

YEI 56 56 100.0

FEAD 6 6 100.0

EMFF 133 133 100.0

Total 2014-2020 6 593 6 593 100.0

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D16

In line with Article 76 of the CPR, budgetary commitments in respect of each programme are made in annual instalments for each fund during the period between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2020.

The majority of additional appropriations were linked to the recommitment operations on assigned revenues generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts in 2017.

In 2017, all commitments were used, except for the technical assistance (TA). For the latter the implementation is on an upward trend — it has increased from 76 % (2014) to 85 % (2017) of the total TA allocation.

This increase in TA implementation is linked on the one hand to the acceleration of implementation of the OPs (e.g. more need for assistance in project preparation and appraisal, including for major projects via Jaspers) but also, on the other hand, to the reinforcement of communication actions, peer-to-peer exchanges, actions linked to the EU urban agenda, broadband competence offices and the post-2020 preparatory activities, such as information technology (IT), evaluations and studies. The Commission expects that the implementation of TA expenditure will further increase in the years 2018-2020.

Implementation of payment appropriations

Table 8: Out-turn of payment appropriations for the 2014-2020 programming period in 2017 by fund, except payment appropriations generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts (million EUR)

Fund Voted budget

Transfers, amending budgets, additional appropriations

Total payment appropriations

Out-turn %

ERDF 18 753 – 7 590 11 163 11 154 100.0

ESF 8 606 – 1 915 6 691 6 682 100.0

YEI 600 – 131 469 469 100.0

CF 5 679 – 209 5 470 5 467 100.0

FEAD 441 – 150 292 291 100.0

EAFRD 9 926 1 166 11 092 11 070 100.0

EMFF 488 – 171 317 315 100.0

Total 2014-2020 44 493 – 9 000 35 493 35 449 100.0

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 17

Table 9: Out-turn of payment appropriations for the 2014-2020 programming period in 2017 by fund generated through the annual examination and acceptance of accounts in 2017 (million EUR)

Fund Additional appropriations Out-turn % Amounts carried-over to 2018

ERDF 3 549 3 549 100.0 0

ESF 1 607 551 34.3 1 055

YEI 56 54 97.3 1

CF 1 242 1 242 100.0 0

FEAD 6 0 0.0 6

EMFF 133 4 3.2 129

Total 2014-2020 6 593 5 401 81.9 1 192

After a very slow start, the financial implementation of the ESI Funds is picking up towards reaching cruising speed.

The payments executed in 2017 amounted to EUR 41 billion, 1.5 times the 2016 amount. EUR 10 billion (25 %) was pre-financing and EUR 31 billion (75 %) interim payments.

The implementation of payment appropriations for the ESI Funds and FEAD advanced at a slower pace than initially envisaged during the preparation of the budget. Following the reduction of appropriations via AB 6/2017 and the use of transfers, the voted budget was fully consumed. In addition, most of the assigned revenue generated by the annual examination and acceptance of accounts procedure was also consumed (EUR 5.4 billion out of EUR 6.6 billion). The remaining amount of assigned revenue was carried forward automatically to 2018 (around EUR 1.1 billion under the ESF and EUR 0.1 billion under the EMFF). This amount could have been largely consumed if all payment applications had been submitted before 26 December.

For Heading 1b funds, the Commission paid EUR 29.4 billion, 96 % of the total available resources (including assigned revenue). After a slow progression in terms of submission from the Member States until the end of November 2017, payment applications for a total of EUR 11 billion for Heading 1b were received in the month of December 2017, representing 44 % of the overall payment applications. At the end of 2017 the total backlog of unpaid payment applications amounted to EUR 2.3 billion, consisting of EUR 0.5 billion in suspended payment applications and EUR 1.8 billion in payment applications which arrived after 26 December 2017 (a ‘normal’ backlog).

As for Heading 2 funds, EAFRD programmes fully executed their budget after the reinforcement of EUR 1.2 billion of the voted budget with EUR 11 billion paid, while for EMFF the implementation was EUR 0.3 billion, 71 % of the available resources.

The new process for the designation of managing and certifying authorities experienced significant delays at national level, which impacted the pace of financial implementation throughout this programming period. During 2017 significant progress was made in the designation of national authorities, where authorities for only 27 OPs (4.8 %, related mainly to European territorial cooperation (ETC) programmes) remained to be notified as designated (compared to 31 % at the end of 2016).

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D18

Another contributing factor to the delays observed until now is the lower regulatory pressure on automatic decommitments due to the generalised ‘N + 3’ rule, meaning that 2017 was the first year in which programmes were facing the risk of decommitments.

In order to improve implementation, the Commission has proposed a revision of the Financial Regulation and the ‘Omnibus’ regulation which contained important simplification measures, such as the extended use of simplified cost options and more effective use of financial instruments.

The entry into force of these new provisions is expected to provide additional simplification for managing authorities and beneficiaries, such as:

‣ simplifying the rules and reducing paperwork for beneficiaries and implementing authorities;

‣ making it easier to combine existing programmes, management modes and instruments;

‣ providing them with a solid framework on financial instruments.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 19

Table 10: Available payment appropriations and their implementation in 2017 for the 2014-2020 programming period (million EUR)

Budget item

Title Initial budget

Amending budgets

Other additional appropriations (*)

Transfers Total available Total execution

04 01 04 01 ESF — Expenditure on adm. management 15 0 5 0 19 11

04 02 60 ESF — Less-developed regions 4 980 – 667 911 – 640 4 583 3 848

04 02 61 ESF — Transition regions 1 110 – 149 228 – 53 1 136 1 048

04 02 62 ESF — More-developed regions 2 490 – 334 468 – 81 2 544 2 312

04 02 63 01 ESF — Operational TA 11 0 0 1 12 12

04 02 63 02ESF — Operational TA managed by the Commisison at the request of an MS

1 0 0 3 3 3

04 02 64 Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) 600 0 476 – 551 525 524

Total ESF 9 206 – 1 150 2 088 – 1 321 8 823 7 75704 01 04 05 FEAD — Non-operational TA 0 0 0 0 1 0

04 06 01 FEAD 440 0 6 – 150 296 290

04 06 02 FEAD — Operational TA 1 0 0 0 1 1

Total FEAD 441 0 7 – 150 298 29105 01 04 04 EAFRD — Expenditure on adm. management 5 0 1 0 6 4

05 04 60 01EAFRD — Rural development programmes 2014-2020

9 902 0 124 1 044 11 070 11 052

05 04 60 02 EAFRD — Operational TA 19 0 0 – 3 16 15

05 04 60 03EAFRD — Operational TA managed by the Commisison at the request of an MS

0 0 0 0 0

Total EAFRD 9 926 0 125 1 041 11 092 11 07011 01 04 01 EMFF — Expenditure on adm. management 4 0 0 0 4 3

11 06 60 EMFF — Sustainable and competitive fisheries 480 0 133 – 171 441 313

11 06 63 01 EMFF — Operational TA 4 0 0 0 4 4

11 06 63 02EMFF — Operational TA managed by the Commisison at the request of an MS

0 0 0 0 0 0

Total EMFF 488 0 133 – 172 449 32013 01 04 01 ERDF — Expenditure on adm. management 11 0 6 0 17 10

13 03 60 ERDF — Less-developed regions 12 458 – 3 411 2 412 – 1 284 10 144 10 144

13 03 61 ERDF — Transition regions 2 204 – 492 314 – 554 1 472 1 472

13 03 62 ERDF — More-developed regions 3 043 – 510 735 – 915 2 352 2 352

13 03 63 ERDF — Outermost and sparsely populated regions 140 0 35 – 14 161 161

13 03 64 01 ERDF — European territorial cooperation (ETC) 783 – 257 53 – 112 467 467

13 03 65 01 ERDF — Operational TA 69 0 0 – 22 48 47

13 03 65 02ERDF — Operational TA managed by the Commisison at the request of an MS

1 0 0 6 7 6

13 03 66ERDF — Innovative actions in the field of sustainable urban development

42 0 0 0 42 42

13 03 67ERDF — European strategy for the Baltic Sea region — Technical assistance

0 0 0 0 0 0

13 03 68ERDF — European Union strategy for the Danube region — Technical assistance

1 0 0 – 1 0 0

Total ERDF 18 753 – 4 701 3 555 – 2 896 14 711 14 70313 01 04 03 CF — Expenditure on adm.. management 4 0 2 0 6 4

13 04 60 CF 5 652 0 1 242 – 207 6 687 6 687

13 04 61 01 CF — Operational TA 22 0 0 – 6 17 16

13 04 61 02CF — Operational TA managed by the Commisison at the request of an MS

1 0 0 1 2 2

Total CF 5 679 0 1 245 – 212 6 712 6 709

TOTAL 44 493 – 5 851 7 153 – 3 709 42 086 40 850

(*) Carry-over (for non-differentiated appropriations), assigned revenue and appropriations made available again.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D20

2. FEAD: reimbursement of initial pre-financing

The Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) is part of Heading 1b, but it is not an ESI Fund.

Not being covered by the CPR, FEAD has its own regime of pre-financing (14), with no annual pre-financing and an initial pre-financing corresponding to 11 % of the fund’s overall contribution to the OP, paid immediately after the adoption of the OP.

According to Article 44(3) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, the total amount paid as pre-financing is to be reimbursed to the Commission if no payment application (15) for the OP concerned is sent within 24 months of the date on which the pre-financing has been paid.

Out of the 28 FEAD programmes, only two did not meet this requirement (Ireland and the United Kingdom) and had to reimburse the entire pre-financing received (EUR 2.5 million and EUR 434 million respectively). The two recovery orders were issued by the Commission in 2017.

These recoveries do not constitute a financial correction and do not reduce the support from the fund.

3. Pattern of interim payment applications

While most of the commitments for the OPs under the ESI Funds and FEAD are typically made at the beginning of the year in accordance with the legal basis, payments are spread across the year, with a recurrent concentration observed in the last 2 months.

The two following charts illustrate the monthly pattern in the submission of interim payment applications by Member States and in the execution of payments by the Commission (16).

Monthly pattern in the submission of interim payment applications

Chart 3 presents the payment applications as submitted by the Member States, without adjustments to take into account the 10 % retention amount set in Article 130 CPR.

There is a clear difference in the pattern of submission of payment applications for the two headings: while EAFRD programmes have mandatory deadlines for the submission of quarterly declarations (in January, April, July and November), the other funds do not have any timing constraints.

In 2017, EUR 11.2 billion in payment applications were submitted for Heading 2, with peaks corresponding to the deadline for EAFRD quarterly declarations.

(14) Article 44 of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 of 11 March 2014 on the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived.

(15) Unlike the additional pre-financing for the YEI and Greece, in the case of FEAD, the submission of a payment application of any amount is sufficient to fulfil the legal requirement.

(16) The figures in this chapter refer to claims and payments for ERDF, CF, ESF, YEI, FEAD, EMFF and EAFRD OPs, not including TA.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 21

Heading 1b totalled EUR 24.9 billion in payment applications, with a significant concentration in the last 2 months of the year: November (EUR 2.4 billion, 10 % of the overall payment applications) and December (EUR 10.9 billion, 44 % of the overall payment applications). The year-end concentration can be also explained by the fact that 2017 was the first year in which the ‘N + 3’ automatic decommitment rule applied for the 2014-2020 programmes.

Chart 3: Monthly pattern of submission of payment applications for the 2014-2020 programmes (million EUR)

2 000

0

4 000

6 000

8 000

10 000

12 000

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

H1b claims H2 claims

Monthly pattern in the execution of interim payments

In 2017 the Commission made the payment of the annual pre-financing by 30 June, within the regulatory deadlines (17), and interim payments regularly followed the submission of payment applications.

The total amount of interim payments made for Heading 1b was EUR 19.7 billion (out of which EUR 1 billion of payments were made to settle the normal backlog from 2016, with the rest corresponding to payment applications received in 2017), while for Heading 2 the figure was EUR 11.1 billion.

For Heading 1b, the Commission made significant efforts to reimburse the payment applications as swiftly as possible and faster than the regulatory deadline of 60 days, meaning that payments were also concentrated in the last two months of the year, with EUR 1.8 billion (9 % of the total) paid in November and EUR 8.5 billion (43 % of the total) paid in December, in line with the submission of interim payment applications by Member States.

For the EAFRD, payments were concentrated in the months following the quarterly declaration deadlines.

(17) Article 134 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D22

Chart 4: Monthly pattern of interim payments made for the 2014-2020 programmes (million EUR)

2 000

0

4 000

6 000

8 000

10 000

12 000

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

H1b payments H2 payments

4. Member States’ payment forecasts for Heading 1b

Every year, by 31 January and 31 July, Member States are to transmit to the Commission a forecast of the payment applications they expect to submit during the current and the subsequent financial years, for each OP (18).

The table below presents the evolution of the payment forecasts related to 2017 (2016 and 2017 submissions).

Table 11: Evolution of the Member States’ payment forecasts for year 2017 (billion EUR)

Payment forecasts for year 2017

Submission date Payment applications

actually submitted in 2017

January 2016 July 2016 January 2017 July 2017

Heading 1b 38.1 41.5 37.0 31.1 24.9

Member States progressively reduced their expectations on interim payment applications to be submitted to the Commission in 2017, with a decrease of more than EUR 10 billion between the July 2016 and the July 2017 submissions (from EUR 41.5 billion to EUR 31.1 billion). The payment applications actually submitted in 2017 totalled EUR 24.9 billion.

The following table presents the implementation rate for the payment forecasts submitted by 31 July 2017. The implementation rate is the ratio between the actual payment applications submitted by a Member State in 2017 and its forecasts for the same year (19).

(18) Article 112(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 for the CF and the Structural Funds. Payment forecasts on FEAD are submitted on a voluntary basis.

(19) The figures presented in the table are the amounts as submitted by Member States, without any adjustment. The table is related to Heading 1b funds: ERDF, CF, ESF, YEI and FEAD.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 23

Table 12: Implementation rate of Member States' July forecasts for 2014-2020 programmes in 2017 (million EUR)

2014-2020 period

Year 2017

(a) Payment forecasts

(b) Interim payments

applications

(c) = (b) – (a) Difference

(d) = (b)/(a) Implementation

rate

AT Austria 55 76 21 139 %

BE Belgium 204 169 – 35 83 %

BG Bulgaria 601 530 – 70 88 %

CY Cyprus 139 107 – 33 77 %

CZ Czech Republic 1 722 1 632 – 90 95 %

DE Germany 2 317 1 573 – 744 68 %

DK Denmark 38 37 0 99 %

EE Estonia 387 310 – 77 80 %

EL Greece 2 106 1 151 – 956 55 %

ES Spain 2 974 1 469 – 1 505 49 %

FI Finland 166 158 – 9 95 %

FR France 1 469 1 379 – 90 94 %

HR Croatia 416 456 40 110 %

HU Hungary 2 434 2 361 – 72 97 %

IE Ireland 166 26 – 140 16 %

IT Italy 1 888 1 483 – 406 79 %

LT Lithuania 623 510 – 113 82 %

LU Luxembourg 5 6 0 109 %

LV Latvia 301 219 – 82 73 %

MT Malta 40 41 1 103 %

NL Netherlands 113 119 5 105 %

PL Poland 6 050 5 851 – 199 97 %

PT Portugal 2 299 2 041 – 258 89 %

RO Romania 1 542 1 309 – 233 85 %

SE Sweden 150 159 9 106 %

SI Slovenia 331 132 – 199 40 %

SK Slovakia 936 754 – 182 81 %

UK United Kingdom 1 203 565 – 638 47 %

CB 437 266 – 171 61 %

TOTAL 31 113 24 888 – 6 225 80 %

The overall implementation rate was 80 %, with the actual payment applications submitted in 2017 EUR 6.2 billion lower than the July forecast (20).

The situation varied widely across Member States, though with the common trend of overestimation: only six Member States (Austria, Croatia, Luxembourg, Sweden, Netherlands and Malta) had forecasts lower than the payment applications actually submitted in 2017, while the other Member States overestimated their needs.

(20) Annex 3 provides historical data on the implementation rate of forecasts over the last few years.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D24

Looking at the accuracy of the forecasts, in relative terms the more reliable Member States were Denmark (1 % error rate), Poland, Hungary and Malta (all with 3 % error rate), while the Member States with the highest gap between forecasts and payment applications actually submitted were Ireland (84 % error rate), Slovenia (60 % error rate), the United Kingdom (53 % error rate) and Spain (51 % error rate).

In absolute terms, the countries with the highest overestimation were Spain, Greece, Germany and the United Kingdom (EUR 1.51 billion, EUR 0.96 billion and EUR 0.74 billion and EUR 0.64 billion overestimation respectively), while the countries with the lowest discrepancy between the amounts forecast and claimed were Luxembourg and Denmark (a difference of only EUR 0.5 million each).

A comparison between the 2016 and 2017 levels of accuracy for the forecast shows improvement for most Member States. Nonetheless, nine Member States and the cross-border programmes are below the average implementation rate of 80 %. The latter represents an improvement compared to the implementation rate of 52 % observed at the end of 2016.

Table 13: Implementation rate of Member States' July forecasts for 2014-2020 programmes in 2016 and 2017

Member State 2016 implementation rate 2017 implementation rate

AT 8 % 139 %

BE 38 % 83 %

BG 73 % 88 %

CY 24 % 77 %

CZ 74 % 95 %

DE 46 % 68 %

DK 10 % 99 %

EE 82 % 80 %

ES 25 % 49 %

FI 87 % 95 %

FR 20 % 94 %

EL 66 % 55 %

HR 7 % 110 %

HU 19 % 97 %

IE 100 % 16 %

IT 20 % 79 %

LT 86 % 82 %

LU 61 % 109 %

LV 72 % 73 %

MT 69 % 103 %

NL 0 % 105 %

PL 101 % 97 %

PT 60 % 89 %

RO 2 % 85 %

SE 61 % 106 %

SI 37 % 40 %

SK 73 % 81 %

UK 17 % 47 %

CB 23 % 61 %

EU-28 52 % 80 %

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 25

The July 2017 update was one of the elements used by the Commission in the preparation of the AB 6/2017 and the global transfer exercise. The Commission’s analysis was made at programme level and concluded that the overall level of interim payments in 2017 for the 2014-2020 OPs under Heading 1b would be lower than initially provided for. Taking this into account, a reduction of EUR 5.9 billion in payment appropriations was proposed for the ESI Funds under Heading 1b in AB 6/2017.

Annex 4 shows the implementation rates of forecasts as sent in January and July 2017, by Member State.

5. Overall implementation for the 2014-2020 programming period

While the previous chapters are focused on 2017, this chapter provides an overview of the implementation of the programmes since the beginning of the programming period up to 31 December 2017.

One of the factors explaining the low payment implementation for most of the Member States was the delay in the notification of the designation of national authorities. Except for the EAFRD, where the continuation of existing accredited paying agencies allowed interim payments to take place as soon as the related programme was adopted (21), for the other ESI Funds and FEAD the designation of the national authorities is a precondition for the submission of interim payment applications. However, during 2017 significant progress was made on the designation of national authorities, where authorities for only 27 OPs (4.8 % of 564) remained to be notified as designated (compared to 176 and 31 % at the end of 2016). The programmes for which the designation of authorities has not yet been notified mostly concern territorial cooperation, which further explains the slow implementation observed until now for these programmes.

Table 14: Adopted operational programmes and status of the designation of authorities as of 31 December 2017

Fund Total number of programmes Number of designated authorities

ERDF

315 (*) 312CF

ESF

YEI

FEAD 28 27

ETC 76 57

EAFRD 118 118

EMFF 27 23

Total 564 537

(*) Due to high ratio of multi-fund programmes, they are not assigned to an individual fund to avoid double counting.

(21) Article 65(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 (the rural development regulation) requires Member States to designate, for each rural development programme, the managing authority, the accredited paying agency and the certification body. However, this requirement is not linked to the submission of the first application for interim payment to the Commission.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D26

The cumulative financial implementation at the end of 2017 (the fourth year of the programming period) reached 16.4 % of the allocation (5.3 % pre-financing and 11.1 % interim payments), compared to 9.2 % observed at the end of 2016. The YEI, FEAD and the EAFRD were the funds with the fastest implementation and the EMFF the slowest due to the delayed adoption of the legislative framework.

As concerns the pre-financing, by the end of 2017 all Member States had received the entire initial pre-financing (on average, 3.6 % of the total financial allocation) and the 2016 and 2017 tranches of annual pre-financing (on average, 1.7 % of the total financial allocation, after taking into account the results of the first annual examination and acceptance of accounts procedure).

Chart 5 presents the cumulative execution of Member State allocations (22), broken down by payment type.

The Member States with the highest absorption rates were Finland, Austria and Ireland, with overall absorption rates above 30 %. The fact that more than 85 % of the payments made for these countries were interim payments is an additional indication that the implementation on the ground is progressing rapidly (23).

Five Member States had an absorption rate of between 20 % and 30 %, 20 Member States between 20 % and 10 % and only territorial cooperation had an absorption rate lower than 10 %. The pre-financing was higher than the interim payments only for territorial cooperation. In 2016 this was also the case for 17 Member States.

Finland, Cyprus, Austria, Denmark and France are the five Member States that increased their implementation rate the most, and by more than 10 percentage points compared to 2016 (+ 12.5, + 11.3, + 11.0, + 11.0 and + 10.3 respectively). At the other end of the scale, Croatia, Italy, Spain and territorial cooperation increased their implementation rate by less than 5 percentage points (+ 4.4, + 4.3, + 3.2 and + 3.0 respectively).

(22) Allocation for OPs; TA is not included.

(23) Unlike pre-financing, interim payments need to be justified by certified expenditure claimed by the Member State; the Commission can pay only after the receipt of a valid payment application from the Member State.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 27

Chart 5: Cumulative execution at the end of 2017 by Member State for the 2014-2020 period (compared to allocations)

FIATIE

LUELPTSEEELTDKCYFRUKHULVDE

EU-28NLROBGBEPLCZSKSIESMTHRIT

CB

3.9 %3.5 %4.3 %3.8 %

10.3 %5.6 %

4.6 %4.9 %4.9 %

3.9 %6.0 %

4.7 %4.5 %5.1 %5.0 %4.5 %5.3 %4.4 %5.7 %5.0 %5.3 %5.2 %5.1 %5.1 %4.8 %5.0 %5.0 %5.1 %5.1 %5.6 %

33.9 %26.7 %25.8 %

23.6 %14.4 %

16.5 %17.5 %16.3 %

15.0 %15.4 %

13.3 %14.3 %

13.1 %12.2 %12.2 %12.5 %11.1 %12.0 %10.4 %10.9 %10.4 %10.4 %9.6 %9.0 %8.9 %

6.8 %6.3 %5.7 %5.5 %

2.7 %

0 % 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 % 100 %

Cumulative execution advance payments as of the end of 2017Cumulative execution interim payments as of the end of 2017

The level of outstanding commitments (RAL) has been increasing over the years, though it slowed down in 2017 and reached EUR 178.2 billion at the end of 2017, from EUR 145.1 billion at the end of 2016 (23 % growth compared to 40 % in 2016).

Table 15: Outstanding commitments 2014-2020 at the end of 2017 (*) (million EUR)

Outstanding commitments at the end of 2016 145 060

Decommitments in 2017 on outstanding commitments at the end of 2016 0

Payments in 2017 on outstanding commitments at the end of 2016 – 40 332

(1) Total outstanding commitments from before 2017 104 729

New commitments made in 2017 (**) 73 809

Payments on 2017 commitments – 338

(2) Total outstanding commitments from 2017 73 471

(1) + (2) Total outstanding commitments at the end of 2017 178 200

(*) Only operational lines.(**) Includes assigned revenue.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D28

The three Member States with the highest RAL were Poland, Italy and Spain (EUR 33.2 billion, EUR 20.3 billion and EUR 17.5 billion respectively), which are also the three countries with the largest financial allocations.

In relative terms, the Member States with the highest RAL were Cyprus, Italy and Malta, with 48 %, 46 % and 44 % of RAL compared to the total financial allocations. The Member States with the lowest ratios were Finland, Austria and Ireland, where RAL accounted respectively for 19 %, 26 % and 27 % of the total financial allocations.

Chart 6: Outstanding commitments by Member State for the 2014-2020 period at the end of 2017 (million EUR)

PL IT ES RO DE FR CZ HU PT EL UK SK HR BG CB LT LV SI EE AT SE BE IE NL FI DK CY MT LU

33 1

76

20 2

87

17 5

12

11 9

24

10 7

81

10 1

28

9 81

9

9 52

9

8 81

7

6 49

5

6 36

1

6 16

6

4 70

8

3 87

4

3 07

6

2 93

6

2 09

8

1 65

0

1 44

7

1 30

7

1 27

6

1 11

7

926.

2

724.

6

700.

4

488.

5

445.

2

368

41.7

7

0

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

30 000

35 000

Another important element is the evolution of the year-end backlog, referring to the payment applications still pending at the end of the year.

A ‘normal’ backlog is composed of interim payment applications submitted too late to be paid during the same year. As a general rule these payment applications are paid at the beginning of the following year. Moreover, the ‘normal’ backlog also includes the payment applications suspended and interrupted at the end of the year.

Payment applications which are pending due to lack of payment appropriations constitute an ‘abnormal’ backlog. In 2017 there was no ‘abnormal’ backlog.

The table below shows the evolution of the year-end backlog for the 2014-2020 programmes, starting with 2015 (24). At the end of 2017 the total backlog amounted to EUR 2.3 billion, consisting of EUR 0.5 billion in suspended payment applications and EUR 1.8 billion in payment applications which arrived after 26 December 2017, therefore too late to be paid still in 2017.

(24) Due to the lack of interim payment claims there was no backlog in 2014.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 29

Table 16: Evolution of unpaid payment applications at year-end for 2014-2020 programmes (billion EUR)

Fund 2015 2016 2017

ESF + YEI 0.1 0.3 1.1

ERDF 0.4 0.4 1.0

CF 0.0 0.2 0.2

FEAD 0.0 0.0 0.1

Total H1b 0.5 1.0 2.3

EMFF 0.0 0.0 0.0

EAFRD 0.0 0.0 0.0

Total H2 0.0 0.0 0.0

Total 0.5 1.0 2.3

2017 was the first year in which the risk of ‘N + 3’ automatic decommitment applied in accordance with Article 136 of Regulation EU (No) 1303/2013. Following the examination of the payment applications received, the maximum amount at risk of decommitment is around EUR 50 million, concerning a limited number of programmes from France, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. The actual level of decommitments to be made will be confirmed during the contradictory procedure (25) with the Member States concerned in the course of 2018.

While the improved level of financial implementation observed in 2017 confirms the positive effect of actions to remove the identified bottlenecks, an additional element which points to the programmes reaching cruising speed is the level of project selection reported (26) by the Member States at the end of October 2017.

The table below shows the rate of project selection by Member State for the ERDF, CF, ESF and YEI combined, which has reached almost 45 %, while the total number of projects selected for funding was almost 560 000. The total value of selected projects has more than doubled compared to 2016.

Chart 7: Rate of project selection in 2016 and 2017

Rate of project selection Oct. 2017Rate of project selection Oct. 2016

0 %

10 %

20 %

30 %

40 %

50 %

60 %

70 %

80 %

90 %

100 %

AT BE BG CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR EL HR HU IE IT LT LU LV MT NL PL PT RO SE SI SK TC UKEU

-28

(25) Article 88 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.

(26) Article 112 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D30

This report focuses on budgetary implementation. For more details on the implementation on the ground, please refer to COM(2017) 755 (Strategic report 2017 on the implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds) and to the ESI Funds open data platform (https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/), which presents details on the financial volume of project selection and the forecasts and achievements for common indicators.

6. Annual examination of accounts for the 2014-2020 programming period

The CPR set out a new procedure (27) for the annual examination and acceptance of accounts based on accounting years which start on 1 July and end on 30 June of the following year. Member States may submit interim payments to the Commission for the given accounting year until 30 June and, in addition, they have to send a final payment claim for the accounting year by 31 July.

For each year from 2016 up to and including 2025, Member States are to submit the following documents by 15 February (or under exceptional conditions by the end of February (28)), for the preceding accounting year: (a) accounts; (b) management declaration and annual summary; (c) audit opinion and control report (29).

The accounts cover the previous accounting year and include, at the level of each priority and, where applicable, fund and category of regions:

(a) total eligible expenditure declared by beneficiaries (until 30 June) and included in payment applications submitted to the Commission up to 31 July, the corresponding public expenditure incurred and corresponding payments made to beneficiaries;

(b) amounts withdrawn/recovered/to be recovered, and irrecoverable amounts;

(c) contributions paid to financial instruments and advances under state aid schemes;

(d) reconciliation between the expenditure declared under (a) and the one declared in payment applications, accompanied by an explanation of any differences (30).

By 31 May of the year following the end of the accounting period, the Commission must inform the Member States of the outcome of its assessment of the accounts, i.e. as to whether it accepts that the accounts are complete, accurate and true. The examination and acceptance of accounts is an accounting process not covering the legality and regularity of the underlying expenditure (the legality and regularity is assessed on the basis of the remaining documents, i.e. the management declaration and annual summary, and the audit opinion and control report). Therefore this process does not interrupt the treatment of interim payment applications or lead to payment suspensions.

In the case of acceptance of the accounts by the Commission (accounts are complete, accurate and true) the amounts chargeable to the fund for the accounting year are calculated. The Commission takes into account:

(27) For the ERDF, CF, ESF, YEI and EMFF (Part IV of the CPR). FEAD applies the same procedure (Articles 48-50 of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014).

(28) Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation.

(29) Article 138 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.

(30) Article 137 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.

S E C T I O N 2 : 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 2 0 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 31

(a) the amount of the accounts to which the co-financing rate is applied;

(b) the total amount of payments made by the Commission during the given accounting year, consisting of the amount of annual pre-financing and interim payments.

The Commission therefore clears the respective tranche of annual pre-financing and either pays any additional amount (31) or issues a recovery order. The latter is executed, where possible, by offsetting against amounts due to the Member States under subsequent payments to the same programme. In 2017, the majority of Member States requested that the Commission offset the recoveries resulting from the acceptance of their annual accounts against the 2017 annual pre-financing. Such recoveries do not constitute a financial correction and do not reduce support from the funds to the programme. The amounts recovered constitute assigned revenue (32).

The assigned revenue generated by the first annual examination and acceptance of accounts procedure, which took place in 2017, and its use are presented in tables 7 and 9 above.

(31) Within 30 days of the acceptance of accounts.

(32) Article 177(3) of the Financial Regulation.

S E C T I O N 3 : 2 0 0 7 - 2 0 1 3 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D32

SECTION 3:2007-2013 PROGRAMMING PERIOD

1. Budget implementation in 2017

Table 17: Out-turn of payment appropriations for the 2007-2013 programming period in 2017 by fund (million EUR)

Fund Voted budget

Transfers, amending budgets, additional appropriations

Total payment appropriations

Out-turn %

ERDF 1 567 546 2 113 2 113 100.0

ESF 701 1 339 2 039 2 039 100.0

CF 329 1 231 1 560 1 560 100.0

TOTAL 2007-2013 2 597 3 116 5 713 5 713 100.0

In order for the Commission to pay the final balance (5 % of the financial allocation, with the exception of Greece, for which Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 allowed the payment of the entire financial allocation before the closure), the Member States had to submit a closure ‘package’ by 31 March 2017 (33) including the following documents (34):

‣ an application for payment of the final balance and a statement of expenditure;

‣ the final implementation report for the OP;

‣ a closure declaration assessing the validity of the application for payment of the final balance and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions covered by the final statement of expenditure.

Failure to send any of the above documents would have automatically resulted in the decommitment of the final balance. The part of the commitments not covered by an acceptable payment application by 31 March 2017 should also be automatically decommitted.

Subject to available funding, the Commission would pay the final balance within 45 days of either the date on which it accepts the final report or the date on which it accepts the closure declaration, whichever is later.

(33) With the exception of Croatia, for which the deadline is 31 March 2018.

(34) Article 89 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006.

S E C T I O N 3 : 2 0 0 7 - 2 0 1 3 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 33

The Commission made significant progress with the closure procedure, at a faster pace than in previous programming periods. Out of a total of 509 programmes, 141 were closed. As a result, the financial implementation was higher than initially envisaged during the preparation of the budget. This also meant that a transfer of EUR 3 billion from the 2014-2020 budget items was needed in order to be able to cover the corresponding payment needs.

The payments executed in 2017, including a significant level of closure payments, amounted to EUR 5.7 billion, i.e. 100 % of the available appropriations.

Table 18: Available payment appropriations and their implementation in 2017 for the 2007-2013 programming period (million EUR)

Budget item

Title Initial budget

Amending budgets

Other additional appropriations (*)

Transfers Total available

Total execution

04 02 17 ESF — Convergence 510 0 4 1 179 1 692 1 692

04 02 18 ESF — PEACE p.m. 0 0 p.m.

04 02 19 ESF — Regional competitiveness and employment 190 0 15 142 346 346

04 02 20 ESF — Operational TA 1 0 0 0 1 1

Total ESF 701 0 18 1 321 2 039 2 03913 03 16 ERDF — Convergence 1 368 – 915 0 1 158 1 610 1 610

13 03 17 ERDF — PEACE 0 0 0 0 0 0

13 03 18 ERDF — Regional competitivess and employment 130 – 23 0 281 388 388

13 03 19 ERDF — European territorial cooperation 68 – 43 0 90 115 115

13 03 20 ERDF — Operational TA 2 0 0 – 2 0 0

13 03 31 ERDF — Operational TA Baltic Sea strategy 0 0 0 – 0 0 0

Total ERDF 1 567 – 981 0 1 527 2 113 2 11313 04 02 Cohesion Fund 2007-2013 329 – 256 0 1 487 1 560 1 560

Total CF 329 – 256 0 1 487 1 560 1 560TOTAL 2 597 – 1 237 18 4 335 5 713 5 713

(*) Carry-over (for non-differentiated appropriations), assigned revenue and appropriations made available again.

2. N + 2/N + 3 and closure decommitments

For the programming period 2007-2013, N + 2/N + 3 decommitments are regulated by Article 93 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 and its amendments (35).

The total of decommitments resulting from the N + 2/N + 3 rules was EUR 1.6 billion, or 0.5 % of the total commitments for the 2007-2013 period.

As concerns the breakdown by fund, in absolute terms ERDF was the principal fund concerned by N + 2/N + 3 decommitments with EUR 796.9 million, i.e. approximately 0.4 % of the total commitments for the 2007-2013 period. The ESF was the fund most affected by decommitments in relative terms, with total cumulative decommitments of EUR 624.8 million, i.e. approximately 0.8 % of the total commitments for the 2007-2013 period. The CF lost EUR 204.5 million, approximately 0.3 % of the total commitments for the 2007-2013 period.

(35) For further details on the legislation governing the N+2/N+3 decommitments, please refer to Analysis of the budgetary implementa-tion of the European Structural and Investment Funds in 2015, Section 3.4.1.

S E C T I O N 3 : 2 0 0 7 - 2 0 1 3 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D34

Table 19: N + 2/N + 3 decommitments for the 2007-2013 programming period as of 31 December 2017 (million EUR)

N + 2/N + 3 decommitments

Decommitment year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 TOTALAs % of initial

allocation

ESF 7.5 2.5 5.9 203.6 129.2 276.1 624.8 0.8

ERDF 2.2 18.7 183.5 223.5 369.0 0.0 796.9 0.4

CF 0.0 0.0 30.2 174.2 0.0 0.0 204.5 0.3

Total 9.6 21.2 219.6 601.4 498.2 276.1 1 626.2 0.5

A total of EUR 2.8 billion in decommitments were made in 2017 for the 2007-2013 ESI Funds programmes as a result of the analysis of the closure packages submitted by 31 March 2017.

The ERDF lost EUR 1.7 billion, approximately 0.9 % of the total commitments for the 2007-2013 period. For the ESF EUR 260 million was decommitted, representing approximately 0.3 % of the total commitments for the 2007-2013 period. The CF lost EUR 790 million, approximately 1.1 % of the total commitments for the 2007-2013 period.

The Member States most affected by decommitments at closure were Romania (EUR 1.2 billion), Slovakia (EUR 0.3 billion), Germany (EUR 0.3 billion) and the United Kingdom (EUR 0.2 billion).

With regard to the particular cases of Romania, Slovakia, Germany and the United Kingdom, the following additional information is relevant.

‣ Romania and Slovakia were exempt from the general ‘N + 2’ automatic decommitment rule and kept the ‘N + 3’ rule, however the pace of the implementation of the programmes did not accelerate. The Commission took note of the issue of a lack of administrative capacity in eight Member States, including Romania and Slovakia, and in 2014 established a task force for better implementation which undertook stocktaking and a country-by-country analysis, leading to a tailored action plan being drawn up for each Member State concerned, including Romania and Slovakia. However, the final payment applications submitted by Romania and Slovakia did not cover the whole of the allocation, leading to significant automatic decommitments in 2017.

‣ For Germany, around 86 % of the decommitments made concern three of the biggest programmes. The reasons are that some grants were given to enterprises which then went into insolvency, and there were general delays in the programmes’ implementation.

‣ For the United Kingdom, 6 out of 16 programmes were concerned by automatic decommitments at closure or during the programme implementation. The reasons are linked to general delays in the implementation, and also to exchange rate fluctuations.

S E C T I O N 3 : 2 0 0 7 - 2 0 1 3 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 35

Table 20: Closure decommitments for the 2007-2013 programming period as of 31 December 2017 (million EUR)

Decommitments at closure

Decommitment year 2017 TOTAL As % of initial allocation

ESF 260.2 260.2 0.3

ERDF 1 708.6 1 708.6 0.9

CF 790.1 790.1 1.1

Total 2 758.9 2 758.9 0.8

Looking at the entire programming period, the total amount decommitted up to the end of 2017 was EUR 4.4 billion, or 1.3 % of the total commitments for the 2007-2013 period. Fifteen Member States are concerned by N + 2/N + 3 and closure decommitments, plus some territorial cooperation programmes. The size of decommitments ranges from EUR 0.4 million for Poland to EUR 1.6 billion for Romania.

Table 21: N + 2/N + 3 and closure decommitments by Member State for the 2007-2013 programming period as of 31 December 2017 (million EUR)

Member State

Decommitments

N + 2/N + 3 Closure Total

AT Austria 34.3 19.3 53.6

BE Belgium 4.6 2.3 6.9

BG Bulgaria 78.6 164.1 242.7

CZ Czech Republic 720.8 166.5 887.3

DE Germany 30.6 275.6 306.2

ES Spain 156.8 69.8 226.6

FI Finland 0 4.9 4.9

FR France 3.7 27.5 31.2

HU Hungary 28.2 0 28.2

IT Italy 55.3 165.9 221.2

PL Poland 0 0.4 0.4

RO Romania 431.5 1 212.9 1 644.4

SE Sweden 0 25.4 25.4

SK Slovakia 15.6 238.7 254.3

UK United Kingdom 13.2 208.4 221.6

CB 53.0 177.5 230.5

Grand total 1 626.2 2 758.9 4 385.1

S E C T I O N 3 : 2 0 0 7 - 2 0 1 3 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D36

3. Overall implementation for the 2007-2013 programming period

This chapter gives an overview of the implementation of the 2007-2013 cohesion policy programmes since the beginning of the programming period up to 31 December 2017.

Chart 8 presents the cumulative execution of Member States’ allocations (after decommitments), broken down by payment type (36), reflecting the fact that the cohesion policy programmes reached their closure. By the end of 2017, EUR 331.5 billion had been paid in total, including EUR 30 billion in pre-financing (8.8 % of the EU-28 financial allocation). The average cumulative absorption rate of the financial allocation at EU-28 level was 96.6 %.

The Member State with the lowest absorption rate is Croatia. This is explained by the fact that it acceded to the EU in July 2013, in the last year of the 2007-2013 programming period, and that its final claim can be submitted by 31 March 2018. The absorption of the funds is therefore delayed in comparison to the other countries.

Chart 8: Cumulative execution at the end of 2017 by Member State for the 2007-2013 period (compared to allocations after decommitments)

7.5 %7.5 %7.5 %7.5 %7.5 %8.2 %7.6 %

9.7 %9.2 %

7.5 %9.9 %

7.5 %7.6 %7.7 %

9.6 %7.8 %

12.0 %8.8 %

7.5 %10.8 %9.5 %10.7 %

7.5 %7.5 %

9.5 %9.5 %10.6 %10.8 %

7.6 %22.6 %

92.5 %92.5 %92.5 %92.3 %

91.2 %90.3 %90.6 %

88.3 %88.7 %

90.0 %87.6 %

89.8 %89.7 %89.5 %87.4 %

89.0 %84.7 %

87.8 %88.4 %

85.0 %86.2 %85.0 %

87.7 %87.7 %

85.5 %85.5 %84.4 %83.2 %

85.0 %60.6 %

0.0 %0.0 %0.2 %1.3 %1.5 %1.8 %2.0 %2.1 %2.5 %2.6 %2.7 %2.7 %2.8 %3.0 %3.1 %3.3 %3.4 %4.1 %4.3 %4.3 %4.4 %4.8 %4.8 %5.0 %5.0 %5.0 %

6.0 %7.4 %

16.8 %

0 % 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 % 100 %

ELDKLUFI

NLCBSECZPLIE

BGPTDEUKSKATRO

EU-28BELTMTLVESFRCYSIEEHUIT

HR

Cumulative execution advance payments as of the end of 2017Cumulative execution interim payments as of the end of 2017Not executed

(36) As concerns Croatia, the chart refers to execution of the H1b envelope assigned upon accession, including the settlement of pre-accession assistance. As Croatia’s accession took place towards the end of the 2007-2013 programming period, special arrangements were set out for the implementation of EU assistance: the expenditure incurred by Croatian OPs until 31 December 2016 is eligible for a contribution from the Structural and Cohesion Funds and the deadline for the submission of closure documents is 31 March 2018.

S E C T I O N 3 : 2 0 0 7 - 2 0 1 3 P R O G R A M M I N G P E R I O D 37

In 2017, RAL has decreased by 42 % (EUR 8.5 billion), reaching EUR 11.7 billion at the end of the year. This is in line with the downward trend which started in 2014 and consistent with the progress of the closure process. The reasons for the decrease were twofold: additional payments made and significant decommitments made in the closure exercise.

Table 22: Outstanding commitments 2007-2013 at the end of 2017 (*) (million EUR)

Outstanding commitments at the end of 2016 20 187

Decommitments in 2017 on outstanding commitments at the end of 2016 (**) – 2,758

Payments in 2017 on outstanding commitments at the end of 2016 – 5 711

(1) Total outstanding commitments from before 2017 11 718

New commitments made in 2017 0

Payments on 2017 commitments 0

(2) Total outstanding commitments from 2017 0

(1) + (2) Total outstanding commitments at the end of 2017 11 718

(*) Only operational lines (incl. CF TA).(**) Including transfer of Croatian pre-accession RAL to cohesion policy lines.

The four Member States with the highest RAL were Italy, Spain, Hungary and Poland (EUR 2 billion, EUR 1.6 billion, EUR 1.5 billion and EUR 1.4 billion respectively).

In relative terms, the Member States with the highest RAL were Croatia, Italy and Hungary, for which RAL accounted for 16 %, 7 % and 6 % of the total financial allocations. The Member States with no RAL were the ones that achieved 100 % in payments: Denmark, Luxembourg and Greece, the latter in line with the exception granted by Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 allowing the payment of the entire financial allocation before the programme closure.

Chart 9: Outstanding commitments by Member State for the 2007-2013 period at the end of 2017 (million EUR)

IT ES HU PL DE FR RO PT CZ SK LT UK SI LV EE BG CB HR BE MT AT CY SE NL IE FI EL DK LU

2 05

9

1 65

4

1 48

3

1 41

6

672.

4

649.

6

582

570.

7

501.

3

335.

4

288.

1

271.

1

205.

1

197.

4

170.

2

165.

7

121.

1

117.

7

83.4

36.4

1

36.0

5

30.6

2

28.2

1

21.9

2

18.7

7

2.93

3

0 0 00

500

1 000

1 500

2 000

2 500

A N N E X E S 39

ANNEXES

Annex 1: Economic, social and territorial cohesion — Final 2014-2020 allocations by Member State (current prices) 40

Annex 2: Sustainable growth: natural resources (except EAGF) — Final 2014-2020 allocation by Member State (current prices) 42

Annex 3: Historical analysis of implementation rates of Member States' payment forecasts 44

Annex 4: Implementation rates of Member States' payment forecasts for Heading 1b in 2017 46

Annex 5: Historical trend in commitments and payments 48

Annex 6: References 50

A N N E X E S40

Mem

ber S

tate

Tota

l num

ber

of O

Ps (*

*)

Num

ber o

f OPs

w

ith d

esig

nate

d au

thor

ities

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

TOTA

L

AT3

313

7 15

3 36

016

4 96

4 50

116

6 04

9 89

919

0 58

1 93

419

4 39

5 37

119

8 28

5 01

520

2 25

2 22

91

253

682

309

BE8

830

2 76

5 07

732

9 35

5 31

631

4 40

3 78

335

3 57

3 15

235

5 93

1 40

436

2 97

4 05

337

0 15

7 08

32

389

159

868

BG9

964

8 54

7 57

91

410

339

055

1 13

2 48

2 05

21

163

112

564

1 20

5 46

3 44

71

248

734

402

1 29

0 78

5 21

78

099

464

316

CY3

320

1 99

6 44

319

5 71

3 32

484

851

548

88 3

57 1

7086

742

326

86 6

74 6

0686

117

137

830

452

554

CZ9

911

3 47

8 01

46

048

454

289

3 30

3 09

2 49

23

285

857

954

3 35

1 60

3 58

23

418

657

404

3 48

7 06

1 19

423

008

204

929

DE33

332

490

550

747

2 61

2 56

9 65

92

667

601

360

2 80

0 56

4 39

22

856

608

769

2 91

3 77

2 96

92

972

076

264

19 3

13 7

44 1

60

DK3

354

360

116

63 1

07 2

6369

708

216

91 3

58 1

2593

185

883

95 0

50 1

7896

951

682

563

721

463

EE2

245

9 54

2 06

348

9 03

8 95

253

0 53

4 31

953

5 09

9 26

255

6 99

7 22

957

9 80

2 33

260

2 98

3 10

13

753

997

258

EL19

192

204

884

622

2 27

7 28

5 26

82

272

525

045

2 59

5 70

8 82

52

626

459

697

2 67

8 70

0 59

02

731

989

973

17 3

87 5

54 0

20

ES46

462

206

243

121

6 29

8 54

3 72

53

923

637

422

4 75

2 45

0 03

14

745

187

827

4 83

8 51

3 49

74

933

699

384

31 6

98 2

75 0

07

FI4

318

3 51

5 54

819

3 74

7 46

520

2 39

4 03

922

4 12

3 43

622

5 57

2 73

223

0 08

6 50

123

4 69

0 24

61

494

129

967

FR41

412

193

368

875

2 31

4 84

0 98

42

207

813

734

2 41

1 72

5 03

72

422

177

675

2 47

0 01

9 99

72

518

815

750

16 5

38 7

62 0

52

HR3

31

040

563

037

1 21

4 30

5 76

91

281

425

489

1 31

4 21

3 52

61

356

681

643

1 41

1 66

3 86

91

468

607

209

9 08

7 46

0 54

2

HU8

82

860

994

647

3 20

2 81

1 71

73

266

117

190

3 29

6 56

0 29

23

380

989

762

3 47

8 91

8 84

83

588

399

403

23 0

74 7

91 8

59

IE4

317

4 50

3 82

917

8 98

6 40

615

3 81

8 53

317

1 69

3 36

017

5 12

8 98

417

8 63

3 26

418

2 20

7 40

81

214

971

784

IT52

512

091

719

220

7 24

5 79

4 27

44

566

321

419

5 29

9 49

6 09

25

320

339

259

5 42

5 46

7 55

95

532

691

162

35 4

81 8

28 9

85

LT2

289

9 83

2 09

595

2 56

5 62

21

018

058

815

1 04

1 57

0 88

81

078

179

897

1 11

7 74

7 95

41

157

745

504

7 26

5 70

0 77

5

LU3

35

851

433

8 43

0 69

58

174

897

10 0

01 6

7410

201

787

10 4

05 8

9810

614

083

63 6

80 4

67

LV2

258

9 51

1 83

162

6 16

6 49

866

7 03

2 36

368

5 62

8 24

471

2 47

3 13

174

1 43

2 88

777

1 22

2 78

64

793

467

740

Annex 1: Economic, social and territorial cohesion — Final 2014-2020 allocations by Member State (current prices) (*)

A N N E X E S 41

Mem

ber S

tate

Tota

l num

ber

of O

Ps (*

*)

Num

ber o

f OPs

w

ith d

esig

nate

d au

thor

ities

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

TOTA

L

MT

44

99 2

54 8

6210

3 98

8 46

210

9 66

1 57

511

0 40

5 03

211

2 56

3 45

611

4 81

5 40

811

7 11

2 72

276

7 80

1 51

7

NL6

614

8 66

9 13

017

5 63

3 37

718

2 84

7 59

722

0 06

5 83

922

4 46

8 99

222

8 96

0 15

023

3 54

0 89

81

414

185

983

PL23

239

912

152

288

10 5

69 8

87 7

2411

460

700

504

11 7

65 3

20 6

7012

292

857

984

12 8

29 7

19 4

5813

363

296

362

82 1

93 9

34 9

90

PT13

133

012

617

081

3 06

9 32

7 95

53

111

037

190

3 17

1 85

7 53

93

220

860

839

3 28

5 06

4 60

43

350

553

891

22 2

21 3

19 0

99

RO8

897

4 79

6 60

55

061

059

965

3 43

6 77

7 06

03

579

632

220

3 73

0 00

8 02

23

890

404

597

4 04

3 26

8 32

924

715

946

798

SE12

1226

9 23

1 32

128

5 54

6 73

227

7 11

6 36

430

6 34

7 90

431

2 02

2 64

131

8 26

6 10

932

4 63

4 05

12

093

165

122

SI2

242

6 36

4 88

944

3 93

6 29

046

3 59

5 86

347

9 71

3 89

148

9 31

2 10

949

9 10

1 33

050

9 08

7 62

73

311

111

999

SK8

81

812

585

830

1 92

6 15

7 93

32

057

837

993

2 09

9 86

1 63

52

192

256

413

2 29

4 39

5 91

62

350

405

171

14 7

33 5

00 8

91

UK13

1255

3 31

4 74

22

685

236

661

1 59

7 02

7 92

01

714

413

981

1 74

8 72

1 69

01

783

714

924

1 81

9 40

5 56

411

901

835

482

Inte

rregi

onal

44

5 73

7 76

957

031

424

53 2

02 0

2496

667

763

98 6

01 1

1810

0 57

3 14

010

2 58

4 60

451

4 39

7 84

2

Urba

n in

nova

tive

actio

nsN/

AN/

A50

028

377

51 0

28 9

4552

049

523

53 0

90 5

1454

152

324

55 2

35 3

7156

340

079

371

925

133

Tech

nica

l ass

istan

ce:

Com

miss

ion

N/A

N/A

123

450

275

122

921

535

130

602

622

156

777

693

177

732

268

188

499

930

193

830

529

1 09

3 81

4 85

2

Tech

nica

l ass

istan

ce:

MS

to C

omm

issio

nN/

AN/

A15

500

000

200

000

30 0

00 0

000

00

045

700

000

TOTA

L H1

b34

734

336

263

084

826

60 3

78 9

77 7

8550

798

498

850

54 0

65 8

30 6

3955

407

878

261

57 0

74 2

92 7

6058

703

126

642

372

691

689

763

(*) 2

014-

2017

am

ount

s ar

e ac

tual

com

mitm

ents

mad

e. 2

018

amou

nts

are

thos

e in

clud

ed in

the

final

EU

bud

get,

whi

le 2

019-

2020

am

ount

s co

rresp

ond

to m

axim

um fi

nanc

ial a

lloca

tions

pro

vide

d fo

r. (**

) Exc

ept f

or in

terre

gion

al p

rogr

amm

es, E

TC O

Ps a

re n

ot in

clud

ed a

s th

ey c

anno

t be

assi

gned

to o

ne s

ingl

e M

embe

r Sta

te. I

n to

tal t

here

are

76

OPs

, out

of

whi

ch 5

7 ha

d th

eir a

utho

ritie

s de

sign

ated

by

31 D

ecem

ber 2

017.

A N N E X E S42

Annex 2: Sustainable growth: natural resources (except EAGF) — Final 2014-2020 allocation by Member State (current prices) (*)

Mem

ber S

tate

Tota

l num

ber

of O

Ps

Num

ber o

f OPs

w

ith d

esig

nate

d au

thor

ities

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

TOTA

L

AT2

255

8 76

1 19

656

0 29

6 80

256

1 85

9 19

256

3 45

9 28

656

5 09

9 39

056

6 73

4 91

956

8 30

6 21

23

944

516

997

BE3

340

855

562

108

760

616

115

669

998

103

118

067

103

147

481

109

035

574

108

956

512

689

543

810

BG2

20

527

104

128

517

357

310

352

947

208

352

794

994

352

439

969

352

139

979

2 45

4 78

3 58

8

CY2

20

39 2

98 5

4033

908

829

24 5

48 6

8124

677

829

24 7

14 1

0724

811

600

171

959

586

CZ2

20

478

726

192

507

488

426

348

937

633

347

565

092

327

804

638

326

260

030

2 33

6 78

2 01

1

DE15

1566

4 60

1 90

31

558

825

041

1 71

6 33

7 35

41

435

335

152

1 43

2 91

6 18

01

430

122

674

1 42

7 37

8 02

29

665

516

326

DK2

290

287

658

147

652

301

165

586

252

174

529

668

183

476

932

182

926

865

182

699

434

1 12

7 15

9 11

0

EE2

210

3 62

6 14

413

1 50

7 85

812

5 33

7 29

113

7 23

9 29

814

0 26

1 26

214

2 08

6 43

314

4 25

3 69

092

4 31

1 97

6

EL2

20

1 01

4 31

9 92

71

062

200

717

758

817

889

758

354

225

757

064

827

756

312

122

5 10

7 06

9 70

7

ES19

190

2 10

0 65

0 63

11

943

134

913

1 35

0 92

2 01

21

353

636

650

1 35

3 82

2 75

51

356

842

749

9 45

9 00

9 71

0

FI3

334

5 63

7 95

334

7 26

1 06

934

8 87

8 00

235

0 59

9 71

035

2 43

0 57

235

4 10

9 52

535

5 88

4 67

52

454

801

506

FR30

304

353

019

2 49

8 35

7 04

42

445

938

120

1 74

9 48

2 78

21

753

957

251

2 07

1 00

0 32

62

075

534

880

12 5

98 6

23 4

22

HR2

10

518

128

212

483

819

027

318

308

920

319

145

821

319

397

474

320

066

184

2 27

8 86

5 63

8

HU2

10

753

637

550

742

576

981

494

186

454

493

722

622

493

136

579

492

500

600

3 46

9 76

0 78

6

IE2

20

510

355

995

490

402

003

334

020

112

334

393

335

334

413

024

334

609

663

2 33

8 19

4 13

2

IT24

230

2 37

1 70

6 07

32

306

864

799

1 56

9 86

5 16

41

573

848

258

1 57

7 37

3 68

31

581

985

349

10 9

81 6

43 3

26

LT2

223

0 39

2 97

524

7 91

2 69

423

9 31

8 10

723

9 48

1 93

323

9 71

2 76

225

6 51

7 15

427

3 26

2 83

71

726

598

462

LU1

10

21 3

85 4

6821

432

133

14 3

66 4

8414

415

051

14 4

64 0

7414

511

390

100

574

600

LV2

215

7 49

4 38

217

0 38

0 28

617

2 65

5 36

817

5 04

6 09

917

7 60

6 54

917

9 88

3 89

618

2 37

0 94

41

215

437

524

A N N E X E S 43

Mem

ber S

tate

Tota

l num

ber

of O

Ps

Num

ber o

f OPs

w

ith d

esig

nate

d au

thor

ities

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

TOTA

L

MT

22

3 10

1 54

024

046

269

24 0

48 5

6617

136

180

17 1

89 2

3117

195

250

17 2

37 2

8411

9 95

4 32

0

NL2

210

1 03

3 86

610

1 09

7 06

813

2 71

8 97

613

2 81

0 16

213

3 01

4 95

816

2 99

8 13

316

3 13

5 44

192

6 80

8 60

4

PL2

11

569

517

638

1 32

2 14

9 21

51

267

847

591

1 26

7 64

9 94

01

267

973

540

1 26

7 01

7 53

41

266

620

812

9 22

8 77

6 27

0

PT4

457

7 03

1 07

068

6 17

8 21

763

3 89

7 17

663

5 68

0 45

463

7 89

5 83

463

9 20

2 67

264

1 06

0 41

54

450

945

838

RO2

20

1 76

9 72

6 59

91

775

207

562

1 21

0 52

0 71

11

209

259

852

1 16

6 62

7 83

61

165

075

213

8 29

6 41

7 77

3

SE2

20

420

093

982

394

985

861

266

491

612

267

055

611

267

334

177

267

760

011

1 88

3 72

1 25

4

SI2

211

8 67

8 07

212

5 85

1 48

612

2 81

7 69

612

3 21

5 97

212

3 64

7 16

412

4 02

3 49

412

4 42

5 03

386

2 65

8 91

7

SK2

227

1 15

4 57

521

7 45

6 91

821

7 81

4 37

421

7 60

3 80

621

7 40

5 89

821

7 15

9 37

721

6 88

1 89

61

575

476

844

UK5

547

5 53

1 54

491

5 52

3 17

288

4 92

0 72

378

9 18

3 40

678

9 81

8 39

879

1 10

3 18

679

2 47

6 49

95

438

556

928

Tech

nica

l as

sista

nce

ECN/

AN/

A21

294

086

24 2

74 9

1532

517

008

36 0

39 0

8841

815

964

41 7

37 3

4641

788

973

239

467

380

TOTA

L H2

(e

xcep

t EAG

F)14

213

85

333

353

183

19 7

12 6

64 2

6819

487

540

355

15 1

91 5

43 8

8315

226

238

706

15 1

81 2

80 5

0115

199

438

449

106

067

936

345

(*) 2

014-

2017

am

ount

s ar

e ac

tual

com

mitm

ents

mad

e. 2

018

amou

nts

are

thos

e in

clud

ed in

the

final

EU

bud

get,

whi

le 2

019-

2020

am

ount

s co

rresp

ond

to m

axim

um fi

nanc

ial a

lloca

tions

pro

vide

d fo

r.

A N N E X E S44

Annex 3: Historical analysis of implementation rates of Member States’ payment forecasts

The tables below give an overview of the aggregate results of the forecasting exercise in the last two years.

The implementation rate of forecasts is determined by comparing the actual payment applications submitted by the Member States during a given year and the payment forecasts for the same year. Please note the following.

‣ No adjustment has been applied, either to interim payment applications or to payment forecasts. The tables present the amounts as submitted by Member States.

‣ The payment forecasts in the tables are the ones submitted by the last deadline of the year (for the 2014-2020 programming period, this is 31 July for all the ESI Funds). For Heading 1b funds only, the tables also provide figures for the payment forecasts submitted by the first deadline (31 January), in view of the significant variance historically experienced between the two submissions.

Table 23: Implementation rate of Member States' forecasts for the 2014-2020 CF, ERDF, ESF, YEI and FEAD — January submission (billion EUR)

Year(a)

Forecasts as sent by Member States

(b) Claims sent by Member

States

(c) = (b) – (a) Difference

(d) = (b)/(a) Implementation rate of

forecasts

2016 21.1 9.6 – 11.5 46 %

2017 37.0 24.9 – 12.1 67 %

Table 24: Implementation rate of Member States' forecasts for the 2014-2020 CF, ERDF, ESF, YEI and FEAD — July submission (billion EUR)

Year(a)

Forecasts as sent by Member States

(b) Claims sent by Member

States

(c) = (b) – (a) Difference

(d) = (b)/(a) Implementation rate of

forecasts

2016 18.4 9.6 – 8.8 52 %

2017 31.1 24.9 – 6.2 80 %

Table 25: Implementation rate of Member States' forecasts for the 2014-2020 EAFRD — July submission (billion EUR)

Year(a)

Forecasts as sent by Member States

(b) Claims sent by Member

States

(c) = (b) – (a) Difference

(d) = (b)/(a) Implementation rate of

forecasts

2016 12.4 8.9 – 3.5 72 %

2017 16.0 11.6 – 4.4 73 %

A N N E X E S 45

Table 26: Implementation rate of Member States' forecasts for the 2014-2020 EMFF — July submission (billion EUR)

Year(a)

Forecasts as sent by Member States

(b) Claims sent by Member

States

(c) = (b) – (a) Difference

(d) = (b)/(a) Implementation rate of

forecasts

2016 0.2 0.0 – 0.2 6 %

2017 0.7 0.2 – 0.5 30 %

A N N E X E S46

Annex 4: Implementation rates of Member States' payment forecasts for Heading 1b in 2017

Chart 10: Implementation rate of forecasts by Member State — January 2017 submission

Implementation rateJanuary submission

80 % 60 % 40 % 20 % 0 %100 %

EL (39 %)

RO (68 %)

SE (60 %)

SI (38 %)

SK (63 %)

UK (15 %)

CB (96 %)

AT (85 %)

BE (77 %)

BG (80 %)

CZ (94 %)

CY (69 %)

DE (58 %)

DK (56 %)

EE (80 %)

ES (38 %)

FI (80 %)

FR (79 %)

HU (92 %)HR (111 %)

IE (16 %)

IT (56 %)

LT (65 %)

LV (73 %)

MT (65 %)

PT (79 %)

PL (91 %)LU (86 %)

NL (84 %)

A N N E X E S 47

Chart 11: Implementation rate of forecasts by Member State — July 2017 submission

AT (139 %)BE (83 %)

BG (88 %)

CY (77 %)

CZ (95 %)

DE (68 %)

DK (99 %)

ES (49 %)

FI (95 %)

FR (94 %)

EL (55 %)

HR (110 %)

HU (97 %)EE (80 %)

IT (79 %)

LT (82 %)

LU (109 %)

LV (73 %)

MT (103 %)

NL (105 %)

IE (16 %)

SK (81 %)

UK (47 %)

PL (97 %)

PT (89 %)

RO (85 %)

SE (106 %)

SI (40 %)

80 % 60 % 40 % 20 % 0 %100 %

Implementation rateJuly submission

CB (61 %)

A N N E X E S48

Annex 5: Historical trend in commitments and payments

The three charts in this annex provide an overview of the cohesion policy budgetary implementation in the last decades. Therefore the funds covered vary according to the programming period considered.

As regards the 2000-2006 programming period, the charts include the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, guidance section (EAGGF-G) and the Financial Instrument for Fisheries and Guidance (FIFG). Moreover, the pre-2007 projects funded by the CF are excluded.

During the 2007-2013 programming period the EAFRD and the EFF were not Structural Funds and thus they are not included in the charts. The CF followed the same rules as the Structural Funds and it is included.

As regards the 2014-2020 programming period, the charts include all the ESI Funds (ESF, YEI, ERDF, CF, EAFRD and EMFF) and FEAD.

Comparisons between pre-2007 years and the years from 2007 onwards should therefore be treated with caution.

Chart 12 illustrates the evolution of the budget and its execution from 1994 to 2017.

Since the accession of 10 Member States in 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013, the budget for commitments has increased considerably. After an exceptional increase in 2015, due to the combined effect of the reprogramming exercise (37) (EUR 16.3 billion) and the carry-over (EUR 10.5 billion), commitments in 2016 were back to the profile designed by MFF for the 2014-2020 programming period.

As regards payment appropriations, although the medium-term trend also points upwards, the short-term evolution is more irregular due to variations in payment execution, especially during the start-up phase of new programmes.

Chart 12: Commitment and payment appropriations (*) entered in the budget from 1994 to 2017 — including transfers and amending budgets, excluding carry-over (million EUR)

010 00020 00030 00040 00050 00060 00070 00080 00090 000

Commitment Payment Rebudgetisation

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

(*) Only operational lines.

(37) In line with Article 19 of the MFF regulation.

A N N E X E S 49

Chart 13 shows the evolution of the RAL for Structural Funds / ESI Funds (all periods combined) since 1994. Following the reduction observed in 2014 (for a combination of lack of commitments for the 2007-2013 programmes and limited new commitments for the 2014-2020 programmes), the RAL resumed its upward trend as the level of new commitments for the 2014-2020 programmes exceeded significantly that of payments.

Chart 13: Implementation of commitment and payment appropriations and the evolution of outstanding commitments from 1994 to 2017 (million EUR)

50 000

0

100 000

150 000

200 000

250 000

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

RALCommitment Payment

Chart 14 shows the evolution of the RAL since 1993, broken down by programming period. In 2017 the RAL for the new programmes increased by 23 %, while for the 2007-2013 period it decreased by 42 %.

Chart 14: Outstanding commitments by period of origin (million EUR)

20 000

0

40 000

60 000

80 000

100 000

120 000

140 000

160 000

180 000

200 000

mill

ion

EUR

Pre-2000 period 2000-2006 period 2007-2013 period 2014-2020 period

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

A N N E X E S50

Annex 6: References

This report is also available in PDF format on the DG Budget website: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/biblio/publications/publications_en.cfm

More information about the ESI Funds in general, along with their recent implementation, can be found on the Europa site at the following addresses.

General information

‣ ESI Funds open data platform: https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/

‣ ERDF and CF: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.cfm

‣ ESF: http://ec.europa.eu/esf/home.jsp?langId=en

‣ YEI: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1176

‣ FEAD: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=1089

‣ EAFRD: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rural-development-2014-2020/index_en.htm

‣ EMFF: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/emff_en

‣ Initiative ‘EU budget focused on results’: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/budget4results/index_en.cfm

‣ EU expenditure and revenue 2014-2020: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/figures/interactive/index_en.cfm

Legal bases

‣ Overview of regulations for 2014-2020: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/legislation/regulations/

‣ Overview of regulations for 2007-2013: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/legislation/regulations/2007-2013/

‣ Overview of documents on the 2014-2020 financial framework: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/biblio/documents/fin_fwk1420/fin_fwk1420_en.cfm

Reports

The annual reports on the Structural Funds / ESI Funds are available at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/information/reports/index_en.cfm

The Strategic report 2017 on the implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds is available at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/reports/strat_rep_2017/strat_rep_2017_en.pdf

Find out more about the EU’s financial programming and budget by visiting our website regularly: http://ec.europa.eu/budget

If you want to be informed about any of our publications and get the latest publication news, please subscribe by sending an email to: BUDG-budget-inbox@ec.europa.eu

FOLLOW US ON:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EUBudget

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EU_Budget/

Google+: http://goo.gl/wXZrq