EURoma Technical Secretariat took part in the latest meeting of the European Commission’s Structured Dialogue with European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds)’s partners group of experts held on 28 February in Brussels.
Formally established in 2014, this expert group brings together European Commission’s Directorate-Generals (DG) in charge of the different ESI Funds (DG Regional and Urban Policy, DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, DG Agriculture and Rural Development and DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) together with relevant partners at EU level related to the funds, including the EURoma Network.
This group aims to establish an open, frank and informal dialogue between European Commission’s DGs and relevant EU level partners with a view to:
- Bring ESI Funds closer to civil society;
- Assisting the European Commission in the development of the Cohesion Policy, building on the knowledge and expertise of the actors in the different fields;
- Discuss on the implementation of the ESI Funds.
The 10th expert group meeting focused on the following developments:
- The current state-of-play and next steps on the negotiations of the post-2020 ESI Funds legislative package, including the Common Provisions Regulations (CPR), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the INTERREG interregional cooperation programme;
- The alignment between the Cohesion Policy and the European Semester;
- The 2018 ESI Funds Summary report, published on 19 December 2018. This report provides the third annual overview of the implementation of the more than 530 shared management (national and regional) programmes. It is based on the annual implementation programme reports received in mid-2018 and summarises available performance information covering implementation in the years 2014 to 2017;
- The ESI Funds Open Data Platform, which gathers data on financing and achievements in the framework of ESI Funds 2014-2020;
- The new policy objective 5, aimed to bring Europe closer to citizens, by supporting locally-led development strategies and sustainable urban development across the EU.
For further information, see dedicated website on European Commission’s Structured Dialogue with European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds)’s partners group of experts https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/communication/structured-dialogue-with-partners/
