The European Parliament and the EU-27 Member States adopted in April an amendment to the regulation on the European Regional Development Fund which enables all Member States and regions in the European Union to use EU funding to invest in energy-efficiency and renewable energy measures in housing, with the view to support social cohesion 

What does this new measure mean in practice?
In concrete terms, from now on Structural Funds (European Regional Development Fund) could co-finance, for example, national, regional or local schemes for insulation of walls, roofing and windows (double-glazing), solar panels, and replacement of old boilers for more energy-efficient ones in existing residential buildings. The European Commission encourages Managing authorities  to undertake these types of investments in the framework of already existing schemes set up by the national public authorities at the appropriate level ( for instance a subsidized loan or direct grant programme, a public works programme at large scale…) in order to use EU funding as leverage effect and to avoid fragmented actions. 

Are there any further conditions for this measure?
Yes. There are mainly 2 conditions/limitations:
First, a Member State will be allowed to use up to 4% of its total ERDF allocation for the whole period 2007-2013. For example, if a country received 30 billion € from the ERDF for the whole period 2007-2013, it would be allowed to use up to 1,2 billion € for investment in energy efficiency improvement and greater use of renewable energy in existing housing.
Secondly, this measure is thought to support social cohesion. However, it is up to the Member States to decide which housing category will be eligible and under which existing schemes the new measure will be used to ensure that it will support social cohesion. The proposal was indeed meant to pay a special attention to the most vulnerable households who too often suffer from energy poverty.

Does this proposal apply to all Member States?
Yes, this is a major breakthrough.  The new measure (new article 7.1a of the ERDF regulation) allows the whole EU-27 Member States to benefit from ERDF support for energy efficiency and renewable energy investment in existing housing. However this has slightly different implications between the EU-12 and EU-15.
For the EU-12, the new measure means that along with the already existing possibilities that were granted from 2007 on to invest up to 2% of total ERDF allocation per country in the field of housing (refurbishment of the common parts of the building, energy-efficiency operations, transformation of buildings owned by non-for profit or public bodies into affordable housing), there will be a further opportunity to invest up to 4% of total ERDF allocation on energy efficiency and renewable energy in existing housing.
 In other words, a country from the EU-12 can now use:
-    the possibilities given by the unchanged article 7.2 of the ERDF regulation : up to 2% of ERDF allocation for refurbishment of common parts of multi-family housing (within the framework of integrated urban plans)
And
-    the opportunities given by the new article 7.1a of the ERDF regulation: up to 4% of ERDF allocation on efficiency and renewable energy in existing housing (with the view to support social cohesion)

Does it mean an increase of EU funding? 
No, the new ERDF measure is mostly about shifting priorities within the same budget and this does not mean more money from the European Union. Nevertheless the European Commission is also proposing to increase pre-financing and intermediate payments. That might be an incentive for organisations to start projects.
Three new types of costs will be eligible for ERDF grants:
    - Indirect costs (up to 20% of the direct costs of an operation);
    - Flat-rate costs calculated using standard national scales;
    - Lump sums (up to €50,000).
This change is meant to simplify the declaration of expenditure, and enable public authorities to prepare projects and measures faster and more efficiently

Will the EU-27 Member States really use this measure?

That is a challenge indeed since it is up to the Member States to decide whether they find it relevant to use this opportunity or not.
National and regional authorities will have to discuss with local stakeholders (including social and cooperative housing providers) to identify the needs in terms of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the potential in terms of CO2 emissions, jobs creation and reduction of energy poverty.
From a European perspective, it seems absolutely necessary to use this opportunity as it will have a positive impact on regional economies, on their ecological performance but also on the fight against energy poverty that hits too many households in Europe.

Will Member States or regions have to change their operational programmes if they want to use the new measure?
Not necessarily. If they decide to do it, in some few cases they will have to change their operational programmes (if those programmes are too narrowly written to allow the integration of the housing dimension).  But we believe that in the majority of the cases, Managing Authorities will be able to work with the same Operational Programmes but this time allowing projects for energy efficiency and renewable energy in housing to be co-financed (through the usual mechanisms : calls for projects, bidding rounds…). Therefore it might occur that some projects that had been rejected in the past could now be accepted under this new regulation.
For example, a region that has within its Operational Programme a priority axis around the issue of energy, environment or climate can keep the OP and still make use of the measure.

What about Managing Authorities which claim that they have already allocated all the funding for the whole period?

The allocation of funding is done per priority and not per specific measure. Therefore, a region that has allocated all the funding for the whole period but has within its Operational Programme a priority axis around the issue of energy, environment or climate can keep its OP and still make use of the measure.