The withdrawal of a Member State from the EU is an unprecedented situation both for the EU as a whole and for its Member States. BREXIT will affect all Member States but in different ways. Some Member States, regions, sectors or local communities will be more affected than others. This is why the proposal is designed to support all Member States while ensuring a strong concentration on those most affected. The design of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve acknowledges these particular circumstances: it does not ask for advance programming or planning of measures and provides for flexibility in the implementation and in line with the subsidiarity principle.
The Regulation entered into force in October 2021.
BAR Transfer to REPowerEU
- On 1 February 2023, The European Commission issued a Commission Notice Guidance on Recovery and Resilience Plans in the context of REPowerEU on changes deriving from the amended Recovery and Resillience Facility (RRF) regulation and its new REPowerEU component, which allows for a voluntary BAR transfer to REPowerEU.
By 1 March 2023, Member States may submit to the Commission a reasoned request to transfer to the Recovery and Resillience Facility (RRF) all or a part of its provisional allocation under the BAR, to finance the investments and reforms of its REPowerEU chapter, for the exclusive benefit of the Member State concerned. Once the Commission receives this type of information, the payment of the 2023 pre-financing tranche will be put on hold.
For BAR related elements, please refer to a sub-chapter dedicated to Brexit Adjustment Reserve (pages 8-9) of the respective guidance and Annex III related to the transfer of funds from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR ) to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
The maximum amount available for the Reserve will be EUR 5.4 billion. All amounts on this page are expressed in “current prices” (i.e. including the indexation of annual amounts over the period). A special temporary instrument outside the EU budget ceilings of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 was set up for this purpose.
The maximum amount was provisionally allocated among Member States and will be disbursed in two allocation rounds. The first round (80%) will be activated in the form of pre-financing, paid in three instalments of around EUR 1.7 billion in 2021, and EUR 1.3 billion by April 2022 and EUR 1.3 billion by April 2023; the remaining amount of EUR 1.1 billion – will be paid in 2025 to reimburse eligible costs actually incurred and paid by Member States in implementing measures eligible for support.
The financial contribution from the reserve to a Member State will be implemented under shared management, with the contribution used.
According to Regulation, three factors will be used to calculate how much money each EU country will receive from the Reserve:
Member states that depend significantly on fisheries will have to direct a specific percentage of their national allocation to small-scale coastal fisheries and local and regional communities dependent on fishing activities
The Reserve will support measures specifically set up in relation to the withdrawal of the UK from the Union. They can include the following:
The reference period for the expenditure starts with retroactivity on 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023. The expenditure is eligible for a financial contribution from the Reserve also for measures carried over before the reference period but incurred and paid by authorities in the Member States, at national, regional or local level during the reference period.
The withdrawal of the UK from the EU poses specific risks to the fisheries sector in terms of less favourable access to the UK waters and of other changes ensuing from Brexit. Therefore, a part of the contribution from the reserve will be earmarked for the most concerned Member States (above 10 million of contribution from the fishery criteria in the allocation method). At least 50% of this amount or 7% of their provisionally allocated amount, whichever is lower, should be spent on measures to support local and regional coastal communities, including the fisheries sector in particular the small scale coastal fisheries sector dependent on fishing activities. The scope will concern measures to support regional and local communities and organisations, including the small scale coastal fisheries, dependent on fishing activities in the United Kingdom waters in the waters of its territories with special status or in the waters covered by fisheries agreements with coastal states where fishing opportunities for EU fleets have been reduced as a result of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union. If the earmarking threshold is not completely met, 50% of the earmarked amount which is unused shall be deducted in the calculation of the total accepted amount.
European Commission
DG Regional and Urban Policy
REGIO-E1-BAR@ec.europa.eu
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
Stefan APPEL
(Head of Unit)
Stefan.Appel@ec.europa.eu
Dominika CHROSZCZ-KOCZERGA
Dominika.CHROSZCZ@ec.europa.eu
phone: +32 229-69869
