Workshop on the topic Use of EU funds: what we learned

News

Slovak National Centre for Human Rights organized a workshop on the topic Use of EU funds in respect and promotion of fundamental rights: a guide to applying the new conditionality on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on 30.10.2023

During the workshop the participants were introduced to the application of the new EU Charter of Fundamental Rights conditionality that has to be adhered to when implementing the EU Funds pursuant to the new Common Provisions Regulation[1] (regulation). With the adoption of the regulation, entities involved in the process of implementing EU funds have become obliged to ensure and implement all measures necessary for the implementation of the EU Charter in the 2021-2027 programming period. Failure to comply with this conditionality may lead to accountability and sanctions against the state under EU law.

The workshop thus focused on ways and tools in which managing authorities, public authorities, national human rights institutions, civil society organisations or other relevant actors can help to ensure that the EU Charter conditionality is not limited to administrative ticking of boxes, but actual respect to the fundamental rights develops within the funding cycle. Participants were trained on:

  1. EU Charter of Fundamental Rights itself;
  2. the rules on the new conditionality; 
  3. the entities responsible for the compliance with the conditionality and the coordination between them;
  4. the mechanism for checking compliance with the conditionality and the consequences of non-compliance;
  5. and the key points to focus on so the conditionality is applied.

The workshop was organised under  the project “Supporting National Human Rights Institutions in Monitoring Fundamental Fights and Human Rights aspects of the Rule of Law”, which is funded by the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.

[1] Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy available at: eur-lex.europa.eu.
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