Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 as regards certain provisions relating to financial management for certain Member States experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability and to the decommitment rules for certain Member States

The sustained financial and economic crisis has put national financial resources under pressure as Member States pursue necessary policies of fiscal consolidation. In this context, ensuring a smooth implementation of cohesion policy programmes is of particular importance for investment in growth and jobs.

Programme implementation is often challenging, not least as a result of the liquidity problems resulting from fiscal consolidation. This is particularly the case for those Member States which have been most affected by the crisis and have received financial assistance under an adjustment programme. To date, seven countries have received financial assistance and have agreed a macro-economic adjustment programme with the Commission. These countries are Cyprus, Hungary, Romania, Latvia, Portugal, Greece and Ireland, hereafter called "programme countries". Hungary, Romania and Latvia are no longer under an adjustment programme.

To ensure that these Member States (and any other Member State which may benefit from such assistance programmes in the future) continue to implement cohesion policy programmes on the ground and continue to disburse funds to projects, the current proposal contains provisions that would allow the Commission to make increased payments to these countries for the period they are under the support mechanisms, without modifying their overall allocation under cohesion policy for the period 2007-2013. This will provide additional financial resources to the Member States at a critical juncture and will facilitate the continued implementation of programmes on the ground.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)301: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:301:FIN

ESO: Background information: Cohesion Policy: getting the most from EU Funds for growth and jobs - Commission moves to help http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-cohesion-policy-getting-the-most-from-eu-funds-for-growth-and-jobs-commission-moves-to-help/

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