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

Article 15 U.K. Content of the Partnership Agreement

1. The Partnership Agreement shall set out:

(a) arrangements to ensure alignment with the Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth as well as the Fund-specific missions pursuant to their Treaty-based objectives, including economic, social and territorial cohesion, including:

(i)

an analysis of disparities, development needs and growth potential with reference to the thematic objectives and the territorial challenges, and taking account of the National Reform Programme, where appropriate, and relevant country-specific recommendations adopted in accordance with Article 121(2) TFEU and relevant Council recommendations adopted in accordance with Article 148(4) TFEU;

(ii)

a summary of the ex ante evaluations of the programmes, or key findings of the ex ante evaluation of the Partnership Agreement, where the latter evaluation is undertaken by the Member State at its own initiative;

(iii)

selected thematic objectives, and for each of the selected thematic objectives a summary of the main results expected for each of the ESI Funds;

(iv)

the indicative allocation of support by the Union by thematic objective at national level for each of the ESI Funds, as well as the total indicative amount of support envisaged for climate change objectives;

(v)

the application of the horizontal principles referred to in Articles 5, 7 and 8 and policy objectives for the implementation of the ESI Funds;

(vi)

the list of the programmes under the ERDF, the ESF and the Cohesion Fund, except those under the European territorial cooperation goal, and of the programmes of the EAFRD and the EMFF, with the respective indicative allocations by ESI Fund and by year;

(vii)

information on the allocation related to the performance reserve, broken down by ESI Fund and, where appropriate, by category of region, and on the amounts excluded for the purpose of calculating the performance reserve in accordance with Article 20;

(b) arrangements to ensure effective implementation of the ESI Funds, including:

(i)

arrangements, in line with the institutional framework of the Member States, that ensure coordination between the ESI Funds and other Union and national funding instruments and with the EIB;

(ii)

the information required for ex ante verification of compliance with the rules on additionality as they are defined in Part Three;

(iii)

a summary of the assessment of the fulfilment of applicable ex ante conditionalities in accordance with Article 19 and Annex XI at national level and, in the event that the applicable ex ante conditionalities are not fulfilled, of the actions to be taken, the bodies responsible and the timetable for implementation of those actions;

(iv)

the methodology and mechanisms to ensure consistency in the functioning of the performance framework in accordance with Article 21;

(v)

an assessment of whether there is a need to reinforce the administrative capacity of the authorities involved in the management and control of the programmes and, where appropriate, of beneficiaries as well as, where necessary, a summary of actions to be taken for that purpose;

(vi)

a summary of the actions planned in the programmes, including an indicative timetable for achievement of a reduction in the administrative burden on beneficiaries;

(c) arrangements for the partnership principle as referred in Article 5;

(d) an indicative list of the partners referred to in Article 5 and a summary of the actions taken to involve them in accordance with Article 5 and of their role in the preparation of the Partnership Agreement and the progress report as referred to in Article 52.

2. The Partnership Agreement shall also indicate:

(a) an integrated approach to territorial development supported by the ESI Funds or a summary of the integrated approaches to territorial development based on the content of the programmes, setting out:

(i)

the arrangements to ensure an integrated approach to the use of the ESI Funds for the territorial development of specific subregional areas, in particular the implementation arrangements for Articles 32, 33 and 36 accompanied by the principles for identifying the urban areas where integrated actions for sustainable urban development are to be implemented;

(ii)

the main priority areas for cooperation under the ESI Funds, taking account, where appropriate, of macro-regional strategies and sea basin strategies;

(iii)

where appropriate, an integrated approach to addressing the specific needs of geographical areas most affected by poverty or of target groups at highest risk of discrimination or social exclusion, with special regard to marginalised communities, persons with disabilities, the long term unemployed and young people not in employment, education or training;

(iv)

where appropriate, an integrated approach to address the demographic challenges of regions or specific needs of geographical areas which suffer from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps as referred to in Article 174 TFEU;

(b) arrangements to ensure efficient implementation of the ESI Funds, including an assessment of the existing systems for electronic data exchange, and a summary of the actions planned to gradually permit all exchanges of information between beneficiaries, and authorities responsible for management and control of programmes, to be carried out by electronic data exchange.