Two years ago, DG Regional and Urban Policy launched a new instrument for Member States called TAIEX-REGIO PEER 2 PEER. PEER 2 PEER is a simple-to-use tool designed to help Member States administrations meet more easily and share their experience on various topics related to the management of the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund (ERDF/CF), as part of Commissioner Creţu's priority to improve the way EU funds are invested and managed. 

Started as a pilot project, it has since gone from strength to strength. In 2 years, the Commission has received 155 requests for exchanges and has implemented more than half of them. A number of events are in the pipeline. The range of topics covered in these exchanges is very broad, from management and control issues to financial instruments, urban development, smart specialisation, public procurement, etc. As regards the geographical coverage, more than 1,300 participants in 24 EU Member States have been involved in exchanges, either as beneficiaries or as providers of expertise. The most active Member States making use of the instrument are Lithuania, Czech Republic and Croatia. The most active in sharing their experience are Polish, Dutch and Lithuanians. In their feedback, Member States say the instrument is helpful, easy to use and non-bureaucratic. Information about all exchanges that have taken place is available on Inforegio website.

Given a clear interest from Member States in the initiative and the positive feedback from exchanges, it has been decided to continue running the instrument until 2020. Member States administrations and officials are warmly welcome to make good use of the TAIEX-REGIO PEER 2 PEER tool and share their knowledge with colleagues in other EU countries. Together let's build communities of cohesion policy practitioners across the EU!