Programme in a nutshell
Concrete examples of achievements
The Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) falls under the 2021-2027 period. There is no link with the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework.
As there is no programming involved for this temporary instrument. It is up to Member States to carry out specific measures and report on these by 30 September 2024. No intermediate reporting from Member States is expected before this date. The instrument is currently in the pre-financing phase.
(million EUR)
Financial programming | 5 470.4 |
NextGenerationEU |
|
Decommitments made available again (*) | N/A |
Contributions from other countries and entities |
|
Total budget 2021-2027 | 5 470.4 |
(*) Only Article 15(3) of the financial regulation.
Rationale and design of the programme
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. The overarching logic behind the BAR is to provide support to the economies of Member States to master the transition from the United Kingdom being an EU Member State to it being a non-EU country.
In that regard, the reserve should support those regions, areas and, where relevant, local communities most adversely affected by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal (due to decreased market share, employment, trade volumes, turnover, etc.), and thus mitigate the related negative impact on economic, social and territorial cohesion.
Since 1 February 2020, the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the EU. The withdrawal of a Member State from the EU is unprecedented. The challenge is to identify and counter the most adverse consequences of Brexit for Member States and specific regions.
In July 2020, the European Council agreed to establish a new special instrument with an allocation of EUR 5.5 billion (in current prices). The regulation establishing the BAR was adopted in October 2021. The BAR is a temporary, targeted instrument, aiming to provide swift support to Member States to address their specific Brexit-related challenges. Support from the reserve can be used for national measures specifically taken between January 2020 and December 2023.
The BAR should support those regions, areas and local communities most adversely affected by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal, and thus mitigate the related negative impact on economic, social and territorial cohesion.
It aims to provide swift support to Member States, allowing them to address their specific Brexit-related challenges while minimising the administrative burden. For this reason, it does not ask for advance programming or planning of measures and provides for flexibility in the implementation in line with the subsidiarity principle.
The regulation leaves it to Member States to decide which sectors, regions or communities are worst affected and require support. It provides a list of indicative measures to counter the adverse consequences of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal. This list is non-exhaustive to allow for the flexible use of funds according to the specific situation of the sectors, regions and local communities in Member States.
To be eligible, each Member State needs to demonstrate several aspects: (1) the adverse consequences of Brexit; (2) the direct link between the measures carried out and the negative consequences of Brexit; (3) fulfilment of the eligibility criteria set out by the regulation.
The BAR is implemented through shared management. In order to minimise the administrative burden, there are neither programming nor national co-financing requirements.
80% of the total BAR allocation will be paid in three tranches of pre-financing in 2021, 2022 and 2023, subject to having received complete notification by the Commission of the designated body or bodies to which the pre-financing will be paid and confirmation that the descriptions of the management and control systems have been drawn up. The remaining amount will be paid in 2025 against the assessment of eligible expenditure.
The EU’s contribution takes the form of reimbursement of eligible costs actually incurred and paid by public authorities in Member States, including payments to public or private entities, for measures carried out and for the benefit of the Member State concerned.
Each Member State must submit an application to the Commission for a financial contribution from the reserve by 30 September 2024. In this application, the Member States will provide information on their expenditure stemming from measures carried out with BAR support, among other areas. Against this background, the Commission will assess and determine eligibility for BAR funds, and will also assess whether additional payments need to be made or whether funds need to be recovered.
The Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy is the lead DG for the implementation of the BAR.
The notification phase is spread out over time as a pre-condition for the first, second and third instalments of pre-financing.
- Decision adoption – the Commission pays the 2021 instalment of pre-financing within 30 days following the adoption of the implementing act. For the second and third instalments, the implementing act is adopted to disburse funds to Member States by April 2022 and April 2023 respectively.
- Pre-financing is subject to a complete notification provided by the Member State; the first instalment of the pre-financing upon complete notification, the second by April 2022 and third by April 2023 (second and third payments only when complete notification is confirmed).
- The implementation phase runs from January 2020 (with retroactivity) to December 2023.
- The application phase covers the submission of Member States’ application reports by 30 September 2024 and the Commission’s assessment, including determining residual payments or recoveries in 2025 and 2026.
- The valuation phase encompasses three points: (i) information provided by the Commission to the Parliament and the Council by June 2024; (ii) evaluation by the Commission by 30 June 2027; (iii) report on implementation by the Commission by 30 June 2028.
The BAR is a new programme under special instruments set up outside the annual ceilings of the multiannual financial framework (Chapter 16). It addresses new types of challenges arising from Brexit.
Programme website:
Impact assessment:
- no impact assessment was carried out for the BAR.
Relevant regulation:
- Regulation (EC) No 2021/1755 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 357, 8.10.2021, p. 1);
- Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1803 (OJ L 362, 12.10.2021, p. 3).
Evaluations:
- not available.
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial programming | 1 697.9 | 1 298.9 | 1 324.9 | 1 148.7 | 5 470.4 | |||
| NextGenerationEU | ||||||||
| Decommitments made available again (*) | N/A | |||||||
| Contributions from other countries and entities | ||||||||
| Total | 1 697.9 | 1 298.9 | 1 324.9 | 1 148.7 | 5 470.4 |
(*) Only Article 15(3) of the financial regulation.
Two-stage process:
- pre-financing phase 2021, 2022, 2023 (80%);
- final payment (20%) against the assessment of sufficient eligible expenditure.
NB: For 2024, submission of the application by Member States for the financial contribution from the reserve; 2026 left blank due to unused commitment and payment appropriations that will be automatically carried over and may be used until 2026; 2027 left blank for possible delays in payments / financial corrections.
Based on the provisions of the Recovery and Resilience Facility regulation as amended by the REPowerEU regulation, which entered into force in March 2023, Member States have the possibility to request transfers from the BAR to the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
Budget performance – implementation
Multiannual cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR):
| Implementation | 2021-2027 Budget | Implementation rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commitments | 2 951.2 | 5 470.4 | 53.35% |
| Payments | 2 951.2 | 53.95% |
Annual voted budget implementation (million EUR) (1):
| Commitments | Payments | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voted budget implementation | Initial voted budget | Voted budget implementation | Initial voted budget | |
| 2021 | 407.2 | 0.0 | 407.2 | 0.0 |
| 2022 | 1 253.2 | 1 298.9 | 1 253.2 | 1 298.9 |
(1) Voted appropriations (C1) only.
- Member States will receive their first pre-financing instalment as soon as they submit the complete notification to the Commission. As of December 2022, 24 Member States had notified the Commission and received their 2021 and 2022 pre-financing instalments. This represents 98.5%, with the remaining 1.5% of the total allocation for the first and second instalments that has not yet been paid out relating to Czechia (1%), Finland (0.4%) and Slovenia (0.1%). Member States currently design and implement their measures under their own responsibility and will report to the Commission in 2024. The Commission assists Member States in helping them identify eligible measures in informal dialogues. In line with shared management rules, the Commission does not provide written confirmation in advance on the eligibility of measures considered by Member States for support under the BAR.
- The regulation does not provide for any form of penalty in the case of delayed notifications.
The current increase in inflation and the war in Ukraine has affected the implementation and performance of the BAR. Several Member States have experienced delays in implementation and are calling for an extension of the deadline. The war and the intertwined energy crisis have further aggravated the situation. As a consequence, the possibility of transfers from the BAR to the REPowerEU plan was introduced in the amended Recovery and Resilience Facility regulation. Member States were to notify the Commission by 1 March 2023 of any intention to transfer BAR funds (part or all) to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (even retroactively). As a result, 23 Member States took the opportunity to transfer to the Recovery and Resilience Facility all or part of the amounts of the provisional allocation set out in the implementing acts (10 called for full transfer and 13 for a partial transfer). The total requests for transfer amount to over EUR 2 billion and represent 37% of the total BAR allocation.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
Green budgeting
Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):
| Implementation | Estimates | Total contribution | % of the 2021–2027 budget | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | |||
| Climate mainstreaming | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% |
| Biodiversity mainstreaming | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% |
| Clean air | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% |
- Given the very specific and targeted purpose of the BAR, there is no pre-established requirement for Member States regarding the level of contributions to achieve climate objectives.
Gender
Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):
| Gender score | 2021 | 2022 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 407.2 | 1 253.2 | 1 660.4 |
(*) Based on the applied gender contribution methodology, the following scores are attributed at the most granular level of intervention possible:
- 2: interventions the principal objective of which is to improve gender equality;
- 1: interventions that have gender equality as an important and deliberate objective but not as the main reason for the intervention;
- 0: non-targeted interventions (interventions that are expected to have no significant bearing on gender equality);
- 0*: score to be assigned to interventions with a likely but not yet clear positive impact on gender equality.
- Due to its specific nature, the BAR does not contribute to gender equality. However, the objectives of the reserve should be pursued in line with the principles set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights, including the inherent contribution to the elimination of inequalities and to the promotion of gender equality and gender mainstreaming, while ensuring respect for fundamental rights.
Digital
Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):
| 2021 | 2022 | Total | % of the total 2021-2027 implementation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital contribution | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% |
- Due to its specific nature, the BAR does not contribute to the digital transition.
Budget performance – outcomes
- The BAR was established in October 2021, and pre-financing will be paid to Member States in three instalments up to 2023. The Commission will only assess and determine eligibility for BAR funds once Member States have submitted an application for a financial contribution from the reserve, by 30 September 2024. In this application, the Member States will provide information on their expenditure stemming from measures carried out with BAR support, among other areas. Against this background, the achievements stemming from the BAR’s implementation can only be examined after 2024.
- Indicators to measure performance will become available as output indicators through the reports.
- The Commission has provided and continues to provide support to Member State authorities through bilateral meetings, written replies, a website and seminars on the clarification of practicalities behind the BAR regulation and the preparation of their potential measures.
- The Commission will then carry out an evaluation of the reserve in 2027 and will submit a report to the Parliament and the Council in 2028.
Sustainable development goals
Contribution to the sustainable development goals
The objectives of the reserve will be pursued in line with the objective of promoting sustainable development as set out in Article 11 TFEU, taking into account the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement and the ‘do no significant harm’ principle.
As there is no programming involved for this particular temporary instrument, it is up to Member States to carry out specific measures and report on these by 30 September 2024. No intermediate reporting from Member States is expected before this date.
Therefore, the Commission will assess the contribution of the measures to the sustainable development goals based on the information made available by Member States in the final report on the implementation of the reserve.