Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

3. INTEGRATED APPROACH TO AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE USE OF THE ESI FUNDS

3.1 Introduction

1. In accordance with point (a) of Article 15(2) the Partnership Agreement shall indicate an integrated approach to territorial development. Member States shall ensure that the selection of thematic objectives and investment and Union priorities addresses development needs and territorial challenges in an integrated manner in line with the analysis set out in section 6.4. Member States shall seek to make maximum use of the possibilities for ensuring coordinated and integrated delivery of the ESI funds.

2. Member States and, where appropriate in accordance with Article 4(4), regions shall ensure that the interventions supported through the ESI Funds are complementary and are implemented in a coordinated manner with a view to creating synergies, in order to reduce the administrative cost and burden for managing bodies and beneficiaries in accordance with Articles 4, 15 and 27.

3.2 Coordination and complementarity

1. Member States and managing authorities responsible for the implementation of the ESI Funds shall work closely together in the preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Partnership Agreement and programmes. In particular, they shall ensure that the following actions are carried out:

(a)

identify areas of intervention where the ESI Funds can be combined in a complementary manner to achieve the thematic objectives set out in this Regulation;

(b)

ensure in accordance with Article 4(6), the existence of arrangements for the effective coordination of the ESI Funds in order to increase the impact and effectiveness of the Funds including, where appropriate, through the use of multi-fund programmes for the Funds;

(c)

promote the involvement of managing authorities responsible for other ESI Funds and relevant ministries in the development of support schemes to ensure coordination and synergies and to avoid overlaps;

(d)

establish, where appropriate, joint monitoring committees for programmes implementing the ESI Funds, and the development of other joint management and control arrangements to facilitate coordination between authorities responsible for the implementation of the ESI Funds;

(e)

make use of available joint eGovernance solutions, which may assist applicants and beneficiaries, and make the widest possible use of "one-stop shops", including for advice on the opportunities of support available through each of the ESI Funds;

(f)

establish mechanisms to coordinate cooperation activities financed by the ERDF and the ESF with investments supported by the programmes under the Investment for growth and jobs goal;

(g)

promote common approaches between ESI Funds with regard to guidance for the development of operations, calls for proposals and selection processes or other mechanisms to facilitate access to Funds for integrated projects;

(h)

encourage cooperation between managing authorities of different ESI Funds in the areas of monitoring, evaluation, management and control, and audit.

3.3 Encouraging integrated approaches

1. Member States shall, where appropriate, combine the ESI Funds into integrated packages at local, regional or national level, which are tailor-made to address specific territorial challenges in order to support the achievement of the objectives set out in the Partnership Agreement and programmes. This can be done using ITIs, Integrated operations, Joint Action Plans and community-led local development.

2. In accordance with Article 36 to achieve integrated use of thematic objectives, funding from different priority axes or operational programmes supported by the ESF, ERDF and Cohesion Fund may be combined under an ITI. Actions carried out under an ITI may be complemented with financial support from the programmes under the EAFRD or the EMFF respectively.

3. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Fund-specific rules, to increase impact and effectiveness in a thematically coherent integrated approach a priority axis may concern more than one category of region, combine one or more complementary investment priorities from the ERDF, Cohesion Fund and ESF under one thematic objective and, in duly justified cases combine one or more complementary investment priorities from different thematic objectives in order to achieve the maximum contribution to that priority axis.

4. Member States shall promote, in accordance with their institutional and legal framework and with Article 32 the development of local and sub-regional approaches. Community-led local development shall be implemented in the context of a strategic approach to ensure that the 'bottom-up' definition of local needs takes account of priorities set at a higher level. Member States shall therefore define the approach to community-led local development in the EAFRD and, where appropriate, in the ERDF, the ESF or the EMFF in accordance with Article 15(2) and shall indicate in the Partnership Agreement the main challenges to be tackled in this way, the main objectives and priorities for community-led local development, the types of territories to be covered, the specific role to be attributed to local action groups in the delivery of strategies and the role envisaged for the EAFRD and where appropriate for the ERDF, the ESF or the EMFF in implementing community-led local development strategies in different types of territories such as rural, urban and coastal areas and the corresponding co-ordination mechanisms.