Implementation of measures

provided by the European

Union to support employment

Executive summary

2022 Annual Public Report

2

Faced with the covid 19 pandemic, from mid-March 2020, the European Union offered

Member States employment and economic support measures intended to reinforce their

response to emergency of the crisis then to recovery challenges.

Timeline of the measures taken by the European Union to deal with the health crisis

up to August 2021

Source: Court of Accounts

3

Rapid appropriation by the ministry of labour of emergency measures

put in place by the European Union

From March 2020, in coordination with the Secretariat General for European Affairs and

the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, the Ministry of Labour played an active role in

ensuring that the measures announced at European level were quickly implemented. However,

despite the flexibility measures granted by the European Commission (such as temporary

authorisation for 100% funding, retroactive co-funding of investments to strengthen crisis

response capacities, transfer of resources between cohesion policy funds and between

regions), this first phase was marked by persistent management difficulties. The Ministry will

have to overcome those difficulties to benefit fully from the future resources of the Recovery

Plan.

The Court's audit also showed that France had redirected budgetary resources from the

European Social Fund (ESF) to measures to support workers and vulnerable groups

proportionately less than its EU partners (the former redirecting €146 million, including around

€30 million directly allocated to support employment; the latter, €4.1 billion for all Member

States).

France also stood out due to a dispersion of funding to a multitude of measures and

project owners, which complicates the management and audit of the corresponding funds.

Strong challenges for the future in coordinating and evaluating the

Recovery Plan

Under the Next Generation EU European recovery package, France could benefit from

€43.3 billion under "REACT

-

EU" (€3.9 billion

provided in 2021 and 2022) and the Recovery

and Resilience Facility (€39.4 billion over the 2021

-2026 period). The European financial

resources allocated as regards the Facility contribute up to 40% for the financing of

“

France

Relance

”

Recovery Plan (amounting to

€100 billion).

Around 18% of the corresponding amount

(i.e. €7.1 billion)

is financing measures in favour of employment, young people, people with

disabilities and vocational training.

4

18% of European Union financing for NRPP is intended to support jobs

Source: Court of Accounts

During the 2021-2026 period, this significant European financial contribution will have to

be managed according to a particularly tight schedule, requiring rigorous coordination and

monitoring of projects. The temporary flexibility in the use of the funds in the emergency of the

crisis, the overlapping of programming periods and the multiplication of new funding schemes,

all add to the complexity of management, and generate additional workload for the various

departments, while risk management culture remains weak within the Ministry of Labour. The

Ministry will have to organise itself to avoid difficulties in management, coordination and

capacity to absorb funds.

Monitoring and evaluation of the 15 measures within its remit in the National Recovery

and Resilience Plan also constitute major challenges, European financial resources being

conditional on fulfilment of qualitative objectives and quantitative targets negotiated between

France and the European Commission.