During the 2021–2027 programming period, the EC has aimed to facilitate complementarity and coordination within the CP. For example, CPR (EU) 2021/1060 grouped eight funds under shared management into a single regulation, strengthening and simplifying the legislative framework and improving synergies between CP, maritime affairs and HOME affairs funds. In addition, the CPR expanded the policy and implementation options to better coordinate these funds and strengthen synergies with other EU funds and instruments, such as the RRF, TSI, CAP (EAFRD), HE, CEF, DEP, InvestEU, LIFE, Erasmus+, EU4Health and EGF.

The study carried out for DG REGIO by t33, in collaboration with OÏR, Spatial Foresight and Oxford Research, assesses the extent to which MAs use these options to create better coordination, greater complementarity and increased synergies.

The study covers 395 regional and national programmes supported by CPR funds, all 27 PAs, all 27 NRRPs supported by the RRF and the EU funds and instruments mentioned above.

The methodological approach consisted of two phases:

• Documentary research to identify policy overlaps, coordination mechanisms and types of synergies between CPR programmes, EU funds and instruments, and the RRF.
• Interviews with 71 programme authorities, mainly MAs, which supplemented the document analysis by providing elements for interpreting the data and identifying good coordination practices and options for implementing synergies.

An innovative methodology was also applied, which made it possible not only to clearly define the concepts of synergy, coordination and complementarity, but also to measure their intensity.
The conclusions highlight that, despite the many options available, MAs have achieved a good level of complementarity between funds, but still encounter difficulties in building systematic synergies between directly managed funds and CP funds. The main critical issues stem from regulatory complexity, the fragmentation of programmes and funds, and limited administrative capacity.

The key message is that complementarity and synergies are built during the programming phase, which is essential for aligning and integrating resources: if the MAs define a clear development vision and a coherent management and implementation model, synergies become natural tools for implementation; without this preliminary exercise, however, they are difficult to achieve.

Finally, the study provides recommendations to both the EC and Member States on how to strengthen complementarity, coordination and synergies through changes to the regulatory framework and through operational and administrative networking tools.

The study is available here.