Cohesion Policy

Andor Urmos

European CommissionDirectorate General for Regional and Urban Policy

Competence Center for Inclusive Growth

2

EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020: 1/3 of the EU budget

Cohesion Policy

Cohesion Policy 2014-2022 (eligibility simulation)

3 categories

of regions

Regional GDP figures: 2006-07-08

GNI figures: 2007-08-09

© EuroGeographics Association for the administrative boundaries

< 75% of EU averageGDP/capita*

*index EU27=100

75-90% > 90%

Canarias

Guyane

Réunion

Guadeloupe/

Martinique

Madeira

Açores

Malta

Less developed regions

Transition regions

More developed regions

€ 351,8 billion for 7 years:

4

Budget allocations per Member State

(2014-2020)Total EU allocations of cohesion policy 2014-2020* (billion €, current prices)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

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

* breakdown by category of allocations subject to transfers between categories at the request of the Member States

Cohesion Policy

Why engage in shift to community-based services (DI)?

• Prevalence of institutional care in Europe

• Political commitment at the European and international level

• Social inclusion objectives of Europe 2020 Strategy –reducing poverty, extending employment, promoting active inclusion, providing decent housing and overcoming discrimination

• Human rights violations in institutional care

• Damaging effects of institutionalisation on children and adults (especially at age 0 – 3)

• Better use of resources

Cohesion Policy

Evidence-based approach to DI

• The majority of children, once they reach adulthood, are transferred to institutions for adults

• The most common reason for leaving institutional care is death

• Severely reduced life chances for adults who spent their childhood in institutions: 20% with criminal record, 14% in prostitution, 10% committed suicide (Russia)

• Young women raised in institutions 10 times more likely to be trafficked (Moldova)

Cohesion Policy

Holistic approach to DI

• Development of high-quality, individualised services in the community, including those aimed at preventinginstitutionalisation and the transfer of resources from institutions to the new services

• Planned closure of long-stay residential institutions, including a moratorium on the building of new institutions

• Making mainstream services accessible and available to individuals with a variety of support needs

Cohesion Policy

European Semester

Annual Growth Survey 2014 "broad access to affordable and high-quality services"; "more personalised

services"

Country Specific Recommendations 2013

RO: "Speed up the transition from institutional to alternative care for children deprived of parental care."

BG: "Improve the accessibility and effectiveness of social transfers and services, in particular for children and older people." (reference to DI in the Staff Working Document)

Challenge: comparable and regular data collection, no surveys carried out in institutions;

Cohesion Policy

Social Investment Package - Reframing our approach to social policy

• Policy package adopted in 2013:

• guides EU countries in using their social budgets more efficiently and effectively to ensure adequate and sustainable social protection;

• seeks to strengthen people’s current and future capacities, and improve their opportunities to participate in society and the labour market;

• focuses on integrated packages of benefits and services that help people throughout their lives and achieve lasting positive social outcomes;

• stresses prevention rather than cure, by reducing the need for benefits;

• calls for investing in children and young people to increase their opportunities in life

Cohesion Policy

Recommendation on "Investing in Children"

• Enhance family support and the quality of alternative care settings Strengthen child protection and social services in the field of prevention; help families develop parenting skills in a non-stigmatising way, whilst ensuring that children removed from parental care grow up in an environment that meets their needs:

• Ensure that poverty is never the only justification for removing a child from parental care; aim at enabling children to remain in or return to the care of their parents by, for example, tackling the family’s material deprivation;

• Ensure adequate gate-keeping to prevent children being placed in institutions and provide for regular reviews in the event of such placements;

• Stop the expansion of institutional care settings for children without parental care; promote quality, community-based care and foster care within family settings instead, where children’s voice is given due consideration;

• Ensure that children without parental care have access to quality services (both mainstream and specific services) related to their health, education, employment, social assistance, security and housing situation, including during their transition to adulthood;

• Provide appropriate support to children left behind when one or both parents migrate to another country to work, as well as to their replacement carers.

Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage (2013/112/EU)

Cohesion Policy

Programming period 2007-2013

ERDF investments

•Social infrastructures: education-, health-, childcare-, housing infrastructure (17,9 billion EUR)

•E-inclusion (infrastructures & e-services, including e-health) (5,3 billion EUR)

Challenges

• Sustainability of investments

• Non-reformed health systems

• Alignment with the most important trends and needs

• Demographic change

• Territorial inequalities

•Shift to the community-based care

Cohesion Policy

European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020

Some Key Features

• Contributing to Europe 2020 strategy and objectives for smart sustainable an inclusive growth

• Concentration

• Integrated approach

• Ex-ante conditionality for effectiveness

• Result orientation

• Alignment with Country Specific recommendations

Cohesion Policy

The European Structural and Investment Funds cycle and DI

Programming - involves negotiations between the European Commission and the Member States’ national and regional authorities on the planning documents for a period of seven years

Implementation - consists of the allocation and spending of the funds, normally through the selection and execution of projects

Monitoring and evaluation - run in parallel with the first two stages, with the aim to ensure their quality, effectiveness and consistency

Cohesion Policy

Position papers 2012

Reinforcing the shift to community based care

•Health infrastructure

• PL, RO, BG, PT, HU, EE, LV, AT, SI, LI

• Reform is a condition for further financing (BG, SK)

•Childcare infrastructure

• BG, RO, CZ, SK, GR, IT, AT

Position paper - Romania

"Support the transition from institutional to community-based careservices for children, people with disabilities and mental healthproblems and the elderly, including targeted infrastructureinvestment."

Cohesion Policy

European Social Fund (ESF) and shift to community-based services

European Social Fund (ESF) support:

• Development of services, including early intervention, family support, foster care, personal assistance, rehabilitation, community-based residential support, independent living schemes and supported employment

• Management of the change process

• Development of a qualified workforce, including retraining institutional care staff

Cohesion Policy

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and shift to community-based services

European Regional Development Fund support:

•Social, health, education and housing infrastructure• Small group homes• Assisted housing• Accessibility measures (access to high-quality services in

the community)

Targeted investments in existing large residential institutions can be justified only as transitional measures within the context of a strategy oin shiuft to community-based services

Cohesion Policy

Programming tools

• Problem analysis• Identification and addressing needs of target groups at highest risk of

discrimination or social exclusion (including persons with disabilities)

-> Identification of the underlying causes of institutionalisation such as poverty, lackof services in the community, etc.

• Expected results • Development of community-based alternatives to institutional care as a result

expected for the objective “promoting social inclusion and combating poverty”

• Horizontal principles• CPR, Art. 7 - The Member States and the Commission shall take appropriate steps

to prevent any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability….

• CPR, Art. 96 - ….specific actions to promote equal opportunities and prevent discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability….

• CPR, Art. 96 - ….requirements to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities;

• CPR, 5.4. – accessibility (horisontal, and direct investments)

Cohesion Policy

Relevant ex-ante conditionalities

General ex-ante conditionality

•Anti-discrimination

Administrative capacity for the implementation and application of EU antidiscrimination law and policy in the field of ESI Funds

•Disability

Administrative capacity for the implementation and application of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in the field of ESI Funds

Thematic conditionality for Social inclusion, combating poverty and discrimination

•National strategic policy framework for poverty reduction

… depending on the identified needs, includes measures for the shift from institutional to community based care.

Cohesion Policy

Partnership

• European level

• Cooperation with the European umbrella organisations

• European Expert Group on Deinstitutionalisation (EEG)

• Guideline and Toolkit (ESI Funds)

• Structural dialogue (Eurochild, European Network for Independent Living, etc.)

• National level

• Across the planning and implementation of the programmes

• Code of Conduct on Partnership

Cohesion Policy

Support for the European Expert Group

• 2009: ad hoc group established: across-interest groups

• Report outlining basic principles for transition from institutional to community based-care

• 2014: support for "Joint Action" – funding the activities of the Expert Group

• Training seminars in the Member States

• Data collection and analysis

Cohesion Policy

2014-2020 programs

Ongoing discussions on the priorities (some programs are to be adopted by the edn of December 2014)

Some identified challenges:

• Not sufficient data on institutionalisation of children, disabled persons, elderly, etc.

• Needs assessment of disabled persons

• Focus on the size of the institution

• Conditions for independent living

• Link to labour market integration

Cohesion Policy

Thank you for your attention!