Use of the ERDF, the ESF+, the Cohesion Fund and the EMFAF delivered through the InvestEU Programme

1.   Member States may allocate, in the Partnership Agreement, an amount of up to 2 % of the initial national allocation for the ERDF, the ESF+, the Cohesion Fund and the EMFAF, respectively, to be contributed to the InvestEU Programme and delivered through the EU guarantee and the InvestEU Advisory Hub in accordance with Article 10 of the InvestEU Regulation. Member States, with the agreement of the managing authority concerned, may further allocate an amount of up to 3 % of the initial national allocation of each of those Funds after 1 January 2023 through one or more programme amendment requests.
Such amounts shall contribute to the achievement of the policy objectives selected in the Partnership Agreement or the programme and shall support investments essentially in the category of contributing regions.
Such contributions shall be implemented in accordance with the rules established in the InvestEU Regulation and shall not constitute transfers of resources under Article 26.
2.   Member States shall determine the total amount contributed for each year by Fund and by category of region, where applicable. For the Partnership Agreement, resources of the current and future calendar years may be allocated. Where a Member State requests an amendment of a programme, only resources of future calendar years may be allocated.
3.   The amounts referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be used for the provisioning of the part of the EU guarantee under the Member State compartment and for the InvestEU Advisory Hub upon conclusion of the contribution agreement in accordance with Article 10(3) of the InvestEU Regulation. The budgetary commitments of the Union in respect of each contribution agreement may be made by the Commission in annual instalments during the period between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2027.
4.   Notwithstanding Article 12 of the Financial Regulation, where a contribution agreement, as set out in Article 10(2) of the InvestEU Regulation, has not been concluded within 4 months of the date of the Commission decision adopting the Partnership Agreement, for an amount referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article allocated in the Partnership Agreement, the corresponding amount shall be allocated to a programme or programmes within the contributing Fund and category of region, where relevant following a request by the Member State.
The contribution agreement for the amounts referred to in paragraph 1 allocated in the request of the amendment of a programme shall be concluded simultaneously with the adoption of the decision amending the programme.
5.   In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 10(4) of the InvestEU Regulation, where a guarantee agreement has not been concluded within 9 months from the conclusion of the contribution agreement, the contribution agreement shall be terminated or prolonged by mutual agreement.
Where the participation of a Member State in the InvestEU Fund is discontinued, the amounts concerned paid into the common provisioning fund as a provisioning shall be recovered as internal assigned revenue pursuant to Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation. The Member State concerned shall submit a request for one or more programme amendments to use the amounts recovered and the amounts allocated to future calendar years according to paragraph 2 of this Article. The termination or amendment of the contribution agreement shall be concluded simultaneously with the adoption of the decisions amending the programme or programmes concerned.
6.   In accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 10(4) of the InvestEU Regulation, where a guarantee agreementhas not been duly implemented within 4 years from the conclusion of the guarantee agreement, the contribution agreement shall be amended. The Member State may request that amounts contributed to the EU guarantee under paragraph 1 of this Article and committed in the guarantee agreement but not covering underlying loans, equity investments or other risk bearing instruments be treated in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Article.
7.   Resources generated by or attributable to the amounts contributed to the EU guarantee shall be made available to the Member State in accordance with point (a) of Article 10(5) of the InvestEU Regulation and shall be used for support under the same objective or objectives in the form of financial instruments or budgetary guarantees.
8.   For the amounts to be reused in a programme in accordance with paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of this Article, the decommitment time limit as set out in Article 105(1) shall start in the year in which the corresponding budgetary commitments are made.