Regulation (EU) 2024/3236 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2024 amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1057 and (EU) 2021/1058 as regards Regional Emergency Support to Reconstruction (RESTORE)
Regulation (EU) 2024/3236 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 19 December 2024amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1057 and (EU) 2021/1058 as regards Regional Emergency Support to Reconstruction (RESTORE)THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 164, Article 175(3) and Article 178, thereof,Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social CommitteeOpinion of 4 December 2024 (not yet published in the Official Journal).,Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the RegionsOpinion of 21 November 2024 (not yet published in the Official Journal).,Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedurePosition of the European Parliament of 17 December 2024 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 18 December 2024.,Whereas:(1)The recent floods and wildfires in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe have had a devastating effect on the populations living in these regions. Extensive reconstruction works will be required in many cities, towns and villages to repair damaged infrastructure and equipment. Immediate measures are needed to alleviate the social and economic consequences of those natural disasters. In addition, people are in immediate need of basic material assistance. Moreover, support for job maintenance is needed to help employees and self-employed people to retain their jobs for a limited period of time where they are not able to access their usual place of employment due to the occurrence of a natural disaster. In order to tackle the devastating effect of natural disasters on people’s health, access to healthcare including for people who are not in imminent socio-economic vulnerability should also be possible. Evidence suggests that the occurrence of natural disasters is likely to increase in the future. Therefore, it is appropriate to create a temporary framework that provides for flexibility and financial support while preserving the long-term strategic nature of cohesion policy investments.(2)In order to quickly alleviate the burden on the budgets of the Member States concerned and mitigate the risk of new territorial disparities, effective support from the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2021/1057 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1296/2013 (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 21, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/1057/oj)., as well as from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund regulated by Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2021/1058 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 on the European Regional Development Fund and on the Cohesion Fund (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 60, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/1058/oj)., should be provided to Member States, regions, local authorities and people severely affected by such natural disasters, in addition to the resources available from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 of 11 November 2002 establishing the European Union Solidarity Fund (OJ L 311, 14.11.2002, p. 3)..(3)In order to provide additional flexibility to Member States affected by natural disasters, a new specific objective under the Investment for jobs and growth goal should be provided to channel the financial support of the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund for reconstruction in response to such disasters.(4)Policy objective 2, which promotes a greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe by promoting clean and fair energy transition, green and blue investment, the circular economy, climate change mitigation and adaptation, risk prevention and management, and sustainable urban mobility, as referred to in Article 5(1), point (b), of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, p. 159, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/1060/oj)., under which the new specific objective should be introduced, directly supports the objectives of the European Green Deal. The Commission Communication of 24 February 2021 entitled "Forging a climate-resilient Europe - the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change" aims to develop adaptation measures to manage risks associated with disasters resulting from climate change, such as floods, wildfire or droughts. The continuity and reinforcement of planned investments in disaster prevention and preparedness, as well as climate adaptation, should be ensured, in order to mitigate the impact of the increasingly frequent natural, including climate-induced, disasters. Reconstruction efforts should not come at the expense of investment in structural long term disaster prevention and preparedness. The application of climate proofing and the "do no significant harm" principle should be ensured when investing in infrastructure to enhance the resilience of Union funded infrastructure in the face of future, more frequent and severe climate-induced disasters.(5)In accordance with the scope of support from the ERDF as set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1058, support for reconstruction in response to natural disasters under the new specific objective may cover the restoration of damaged or destroyed infrastructure, such as public infrastructure or investment in fixed capital for businesses and equipment, including at a different location or in a format that is not identical to the original, if necessary, in a resilient and sustainable manner. Furthermore, the restoration of natural areas, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including on Natura 2000 sites, may be supported. This may include relevant reforestation related measures. The Cohesion Fund may also provide support for the new specific objective insofar as it is in line with the scope of support from the Cohesion Fund set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1058.(6)In the context of reconstruction in response to natural disasters, operations based on the "build back better" principle should be prioritised in the selection process. That principle entails the use of the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction phases after a disaster to increase the resilience of communities through integrating disaster risk reduction measures, as indicated in the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. At the same time, support to the selected operations should remain proportionate and present the best relationship between the amount of support and the objective of ensuring disaster resilience. Furthermore, if a Member State is eligible for support from the EUSF to finance essential emergency and recovery operations restoring infrastructure to its condition prior to the occurrence of the natural disaster, the support from the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund may be used in a complementary manner with the EUSF to improve the functionality of the infrastructure affected in order to enhance its capacity, sustainability and resilience to withstand future natural disasters. The purpose of the support from the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund is to increase resilience and risk preparedness.(7)In order to exclude overpayment, Member States should ensure that support covered by the ESF+, the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund does not overlap with support received from another Union instrument, from a national instrument or from a private insurance scheme.(8)In order to respond to the impact of natural disasters, Member States should be allowed, through dedicated priorities, to provide focused, fast and immediate help to alleviate the negative socio-economic consequences of such disasters. In addition, Member States should be able to support, either within or outside the dedicated priority, temporary measures for people directly affected by natural disasters in the form of food and/or basic material assistance without the obligation to provide accompanying measures. Member States should also, where strictly necessary and justified, provide for short-time work schemes to enable employees and self-employed persons affected by the consequences of natural disasters to retain their jobs without providing active measures, unless those measures are imposed by national law, as well as measures to ensure access to healthcare including for people who are not in imminent socio-economic vulnerability. Therefore, it is appropriate to provide for flexibilities for such temporary measures for a limited period of time under Regulation (EU) 2021/1057.(9)The resources to support the response to natural disasters should be programmed under one or more dedicated priorities with a co-financing rate of up to 95 %. Member States are able to make use of the existing possibilities for transferring allocations between cohesion policy funds provided for in Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 in order to increase resources available under those dedicated priorities. They are also able to reallocate resources from any of the policy objectives while respecting applicable rules.(10)The overall resources programmed under the dedicated priorities should be limited to a maximum of 10 % of the initial total national allocation of the Member State for the ESF+ and the ERDF. It should be possible to program those resources through more than one programme amendment and link them to more than one disaster. The principle that payments by the Commission are to be made in accordance with budget appropriations and subject to available funding should continue to apply.(11)In order to provide immediate support for investments for reconstruction in response to natural disasters as well as to alleviate the negative socio-economic consequences of such natural disasters, an additional amount of exceptional pre-financing should be provided with respect to the dedicated priorities. The rules applicable to those amounts of exceptional pre-financing should be consistent with the rules applicable to pre-financing provided for in Regulation (EU) 2021/1060.(12)In order to enable Member States to fully address the consequences of natural disasters that occur between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2025, their managing authorities should be allowed to select for support operations that have been physically completed or fully implemented before the application for the funding under the programme is submitted to the managing authority, provided that the operation is in response to such a natural disaster.(13)Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to alleviate, in light of the recent floods and wildfires in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, the negative socio-economic consequences of natural disasters by amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1057 and (EU) 2021/1058, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.(14)Regulations (EU) 2021/1057 and (EU) 2021/1058 should therefore be amended accordingly.(15)In view of the devastating effects of recent natural disasters and the urgency to provide immediate support to Members States, it is considered necessary to use the exception to the eight-week period referred to in Article 4 of Protocol No 1 on the role of national Parliaments in the European Union, annexed to the Treaty on European Union, to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community.(16)Given the urgency of the situation related to the natural disasters, it is appropriate that this Regulation enters into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: