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1. The REACT-EU resources shall be made available under the Investment for growth and jobs goal. By way of derogation from Article 94, Member States shall also jointly allocate part of their REACT-EU resources to cross-border co-operation programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal in which they participate, if they agree that such allocations reflect their respective national priorities. The REACT-EU resources shall be used to implement technical assistance pursuant to paragraph 6 of this Article and the operations implementing the thematic objective referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 9 of this Article.

2. The REACT-EU resources shall be made available for budgetary commitment for the years 2021 and 2022, in addition to the global resources set out in Article 91, as follows:

— 2021: EUR 37 500 000 000 ,

— 2022: EUR 10 000 000 000 . The REACT-EU resources shall also support administrative expenditure up to EUR 18 000 000 in 2018 prices.

Operations to be supported by the REACT-EU resources may be selected for support up to the end of 2023. The phasing provisions set out in a Regulation 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 and Fisheries Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum and Migration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument are applicable to operations supported by the REACT-EU resources.

3. 0,35 % of the REACT-EU resources shall be allocated to technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission, with a special focus on Member States hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic and Member States with lower absorption and implementation rates.

4. The Commission shall adopt a decision, by means of implementing acts, setting out the breakdown of the REACT-EU resources as appropriations from the Structural Funds for 2021 for each Member State in accordance with the criteria and methodology set out in Annex VIIa. That decision shall be revised in 2021 to set out the breakdown of the REACT-EU resources for 2022 based on data available by 19 October 2021.

5. By way of derogation from the first paragraph of Article 76, the budget commitments for the REACT-EU resources in respect of each operational programme concerned shall be made for each Fund for the years 2021 and 2022. The legal commitment referred to in the second paragraph of Article 76 for the years 2021 and 2022 shall enter into force on or after the date referred to in Article 3(3) of Regulation (EU) 2020/2094. The third and fourth paragraphs of Article 76 shall not apply in respect of the REACT-EU resources.

By way of derogation from Article 14(3) of the Financial Regulation, the de-commitment rules set out in Chapter IV of Title IX of Part II and in Article 136 of this Regulation shall apply to the budgetary commitments based on the REACT-EU resources. By way of derogation from point (c) of Article 12(4) of the Financial Regulation, the REACT-EU resources shall not be used for a succeeding programme or action. By way of derogation from Articles 86(2) and 136(1) of this Regulation, the commitments for the REACT-EU resources shall be decommitted in accordance with the rules to be followed for the closure of the programmes. Each Member State shall allocate the REACT-EU resources available for programming under the ERDF and the ESF to operational programmes or to cross-border cooperation programmes, involving local and regional authorities, as well as relevant bodies representing civil society and social partners, in accordance with the partnership principle.

By way of derogation from Article 92(7), a part of the REACT-EU resources shall also be proposed to be used, if the Member State concerned considers it appropriate, to increase the support for the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (‘FEAD’), in order to address the situation of those who have been hit to an unprecedented degree by the COVID-19 crisis. A part of the REACT-EU resources may also be used to increase the support for the YEI. In both cases, the increase may be proposed before or at the same time as the allocation to the ERDF and the ESF. Following their initial allocation, the REACT-EU resources may, at the request of a Member State for amendment of an operational programme pursuant to Article 30(1), be transferred between the ERDF and the ESF, irrespective of the percentages referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 92(1), keeping the overall operational strength of the ESF at Union level. This subparagraph shall not apply to ERDF resources allocated to cross-border cooperation programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal.

Article 30(5) shall not apply to the REACT-EU resources. Those resources shall be excluded from the basis of calculation for the purposes of the ceilings established in that paragraph. For the purposes of the application of point (f) of Article 30(1) of the Financial Regulation, the condition that appropriations are to be for the same objective shall not apply in respect of such transfers. Such transfers may only apply to the ongoing year or to future years in the financial plan. The requirements laid down in Article 92(4) of this Regulation shall not apply to the initial allocation or the subsequent transfers of the REACT-EU resources. The REACT-EU resources shall be implemented in accordance with the rules of the Fund to which they are allocated or transferred.

6. Up to 4 % of the total REACT-EU resources under the ERDF and the ESF may be allocated to technical assistance at the initiative of the Member States, under any existing operational programme supported from the ERDF or the ESF or a new operational programme or programmes referred to in paragraph 10.

Up to 6 % of the additional ERDF resources allocated to a cross-border cooperation programme under the European territorial cooperation goal pursuant to the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 may be allocated to technical assistance.

7. By way of derogation from Articles 81(1) and 134(1), the initial pre-financing to be paid following the Commission decision adopting an operational programme or approving the amendment to an operational programme for the allocation of the REACT-EU resources shall be 11 % of the REACT-EU resources allocated to programmes for the year 2021. In addition to the initial pre-financing set out in the first subparagraph, the Commission shall pay 4 % of the REACT-EU resources allocated to programmes for the year 2021 as additional initial pre-financing in 2022. For programmes in Member States which have had a level of arrivals of persons from Ukraine greater than 1 % of their national population between 24 February 2022 and 23 March 2022, that percentage shall be increased to 34 %.

When submitting the final implementation report required under Article 50(1) and Article 111, Member States shall report on the use made of the additional initial pre-financing provided for in the second subparagraph of this paragraph to address the migratory challenges faced as a result of the military aggression by the Russian Federation and the contribution of that additional initial pre-financing to the recovery of the economy. For the purpose of applying Article 134(2) to the annual pre-financing in the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, the amount of the support from the Funds for the whole programming period to the operational programme shall include the REACT-EU resources. Where the Commission decision approving the operational programme or the amendment to the operational programme allocating the REACT-EU resources for 2021 was adopted after 31 December 2021 and the related pre-financing not paid, the amount of initial pre-financing referred to in the first and second subparagraphs of this paragraph shall be paid in 2022.

The amount paid as initial pre-financing referred to in the first and second subparagraphs of this paragraph shall be totally cleared from the Commission accounts not later than when the operational programme is closed.

8. The REACT-EU resources not allocated to technical assistance shall be used under the thematic objective referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 9 to support operations that foster crisis repair in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its social consequences and prepare a green, digital and resilient recovery of the economy. Member States may allocate the REACT-EU resources either to one or more separate priority axes within an existing operational programme or programmes under the Investment for growth and jobs goal or within an existing cross-border cooperation programme or programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal, or to a new operational programme or programmes referred to in paragraph 10 of this Article under the Investment for growth and jobs goal. By way of derogation from Article 26(1), the programme shall cover the period until 31 December 2022, subject to paragraph 4 of this Article.

For the ERDF, the REACT-EU resources shall be used primarily to support investments in products and services for health services or in social infrastructure, to provide support in the form of working capital or investment support to SMEs’ investments in sectors with a high job creation potential, to support investments contributing to the transition towards a digital and green economy, to support investments in infrastructure providing basic services to citizens, and to support economic support measures in the regions which are most dependent on sectors most affected by the COVID-19 crisis.