The co-legislators agreed to support EU-countries using ESF+ funding for skills development in the defence sector and decarbonising industries. Regions bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine will also receive additional support, highlighting their special needs in a tense geopolitical environment.

Under the new rules, EU-countries would receive additional pre-financing of 1.5% based on their amended programme budget if they allocate at least 10% of resources to the new priority skills in civil preparedness and the defence industry, and to decarbonisation. Regions bordering Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine can receive up to 9.5% pre-financing.

In addition to the pre-financing, EU-countries can benefit from a maximum co-financing rate for the dedicated priorities that is 10 percentage points higher than current ones and from 20% exceptional pre-financing.

When amending their existing programmes, EU-countries will have to include obligations to ensure that beneficiaries respect certain…