On January 19th, the Committee on Regional Development of the European Parliament has given clear backing on the extension of  EU support to greater energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in housing in all EU Member States, as proposed by the European Commission.

At the meeting of the Committee on Regional Development (responsible for drafting the opinion of the Parliament on the European Commission proposal to allow the use of EU funds for energy efficiency and renewable energy operations in existing housing in all EU Member States), the designated rapporteur, Mr. Emanouil Angelakas, announced that he will support the compromise reached by the Member States whithout further amendments.
This means that it is expected that the European Parliament will adopt the compromise during the plenary session of beginning of April.

The compromise (which will modify the regulation 1080/2006 on the ERDF) now says:
"In each Member State, expenditure on energy efficiency improvements and on the use of renewable energy in existing housing shall be eligible up to an amount of 4% of the total ERDF allocation.  Member States shall define categories of eligible housing in national rules […] with the view to supporting social cohesion".

After the adoption by the European Parliament, the Commission will have to issue a guidance note for the national authorities (expected to be ready by the end of May). Then it is up to those national authorities to lay down the rules that will further precise the categories of eligible housing.

First projects could be selected in September 2009.

It is important to remember that:

-    There is no increase of budget for this new measure. It is just a shift of spending towards energy efficiency and use of renewable in existing housing within the current Operational Programmes;

-    It will not be necessary to modify Operational Programmes, since it will be possible to make use of this opportunity under priorities like energy, climate change, environement..., which generally appear in all Operational Programmes;

-    it is up to the managing authorities (in many cases the regions) to decide whether they find it relevant to use this opportunity. Therefore (social) housing organisations must get in contact with the managing authorities and, if needed, work to convince them;

To facilitate the implementation of this measure, CECODHAS, together with the Committee of the Regions and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) shall organise a seminar in Brussels at the end of June. Further information on this event will be soon available on our website here

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