The Commission is proposing further amendments to the Common Provisions Regulation and the FEAD Regulation, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and growing needs.

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The coronavirus pandemic hits the most vulnerable in society disproportionately. It has led to increasing deprivation and it is expected that poverty and social exclusion will rise in the EU.

In April, the Commission took the initiative to amend the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) as part of the the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative Plus CRII+ package. This package introduced more flexibility and liquidity for Member States.

The Commission now proposes further amendments to the Common Provisions Regulation and the FEAD Regulation, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and in view of the growing needs on the ground. These amendments make available for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 additional resources for the FEAD, as part of the increased resources to cohesion policy under the EU budget 2014-2020. Under the new REACT-EU initiative, current cohesion policy programmes will be topped up between now and 2022. It also allows Member States to inject further resources to the FEAD.

The additional resources will provide food and basic material assistance together with accompanying measures, or to dedicated social inclusion measures. To ensure a quick delivery, Member States will receive a substantial pre-financing payment on the additional resources, and are not required to add any national co-financing.