- Fondul European de Dezvoltare Regională
- JASPERS - Joint Assistance in Supporting Projects in European Regions
- JEREMIE - Joint European Resources for Micro to medium Enterprises
- JESSICA, Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas
- ‘Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions’
- A technical assistance partnership to prepare major projects between DG REGIO, EIB and EBRD
- For administrative reasons, JASPERS will be a unit within the EIB but separated from its lending activities
- Objective: increasing the capacity of the beneficiary countries to make the best use of EU funding
- ‘J’ is for ‘joint’: three new ‘J’ new instruments (together with JEREMIE and Urban Development JESSICA) Joint effort between the Commission and IFIs.
- value added: drawing on past experience and expertise of the EIB and the EBRD in a more structured and coordinated way than in the past.
JASPERS Activities
- concentration on priority countries: the 10 ‘new’ member states plus Romania and Bulgaria
- JASPERS concentrates on major projects :
*Transport €50 M >
*Environment and other sectors €25 M >
- JASPERS priorities are :
- large projects supported by the Cohesion Fund and the ERDF (to be interpreted flexibly in the smaller countries)
- other Cohesion Fund projects
- other ERDF projects
- horizontal issues covering more than one country/sector
How will JASPERS operate?
- Assistance can be provided as required from the early stages of a project through to the decision to grant assistance (by the Commission or the Member State depending on the size of project)
- Preparatory work required to deliver a mature project e.g.
*advice on conceptual development and project structuring
*advice on project preparation e.g. cost-benefit analysis, financial analysis, environmental issues, procurement planning.
*review of documentation: feasibility studies, technical design, tender documents.
*advice on compliance with EU law (environmental, competition and others) and conformity with EU policies
JASPERS: free and voluntary
- JASPERS assistance will be provided free of charge to the beneficiary
- There is no obligation on the Member States to use JASPERS
- There is no obligation on a Member State which benefits from JASPERS to borrow from the EIB or the EBRD
- There is no obligation on the EIB or the EBRD to lend to projects prepared using JASPERS
- There is no exclusion of EIB or EBRD lending to projects benefiting from JASPERS
LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- JASPERS does not change existing legal responsibilities
- JASPERS is an input to the preparation of applications for EU funding
- Member States are the 'owners' of the project, not JASPERS; they submit the standard applications as required by the Regulations
- preparation of a project by JASPERS does not guarantee approval of the project by the Commission
- the ultimate legal responsibility to grant assistance will remain with the Commission
ORGANISATION & RECRUITMENT
- Regional hubs for JASPERS:
*North (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania): Warsaw
*Central (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia): Vienna
*South (Romania, Bulgaria): Bucharest
*Malta and Cyprus covered from existing EIB offices in Rome and Athens
- Internally: EIB and EBRD core teams in place
- External recruitment: candidates already interviewed for Luxembourg, Warsaw, Bucharest
- New offices and staff will be fully operational in late 2006/early 2007
Framework consultancy contracts
- Two large framework contracts to support JASPERS in Luxembourg and in the regional offices
- Transport and environment/other sectors
- Teams of expert for assignments ‘on call’
- Preparation of large infrastructure projects and analysis of horizontal issues (e.g. state aid, grant blending etc.)
- Tenders published in May; framework contracts will be operational shortly
ACTION PLANS
- Priorities and objectives of JASPERS will be set out each year in an Action Plan agreed between JASPERS and the beneficiary country
- close coordination of JASPERS operations with DG REGIO country desks
- horizontal issues may also be included in the Action Plan
- Action Plans for the twelve priority countries (the 10 plus Romania and Bulgaria) now agreed
2006 ACTION PLANS
- JASPERS has already provided assistance to some projects e.g. Sofia solid waste
- 112 project actions identified and support requested in wide range of relevant horizontal issues
- Demand in some unexpected sectors (e.g. large energy, broadband telecom, tourism)
Main Horizontal Issues
- PPP+EU grant blending approaches
- Support with state aid in new sectors
- Structuring projects in new sectors (e.g. power, energy efficiency, renewables, urban transport, flood protection, rolling stock)
- Grouping small projects (e.g. energy efficiency, water)
- PPP best practice / model approaches
- Guidance on new Regulations (e.g. eligibility, revenue generating projects, grant rate calculation)
Management of JASPERS
- Managing Authority acts as central co-ordinator for each country
- The Managing Authority in the Member State can request assistance directly from JASPERS in Luxembourg or from the regional offices of JASPERS
- JASPERS will be actively managed by a Steering Committee with members from DG REGIO, EIB and EBRD.
SURSA: Regional Policy - Inforegio
The aim of JASPERS is to offer a service to the Member States, targeting regions covered by the new Convergence Objective for the period 2007-2013. The service will help the authorities in the preparation of major projects for submission to the Commission. In this way, the service will help to improve the quantity, quality and rapidity of projects coming forward for approval, for the benefit not only of the Member States and regions directly concerned but also for growth and convergence in the Union as a whole.