(1)

Council Regulation (EU) 2015/1588 (2) empowers the Commission to declare by means of regulations that certain specified categories of aid are compatible with the internal market and are exempted from the notification requirement of Article 108(3) of the Treaty.

(2)

Centrally-managed EU funds, meaning funds under direct or indirect Union management (to the exclusion of funds under shared management with Member States), increasingly support activities in the common EU interest through financial instruments or budgetary guarantees, and thereby provide a particularly valuable contribution to growth and cohesion. The Commission should be enabled to declare that, under certain conditions, aid granted by Member States, where such aid is channelled through or supported by such centrally-managed financial instruments or budgetary guarantees, is compatible with the internal market and is not subject to the notification requirement. In the Commission's experience, such aid does not give rise to any significant distortions of competition, as it is aligned with the conditions applicable to the relevant financial instruments or budgetary guarantees, as implemented by Union bodies, and clear compatibility conditions can be defined.

(3)

The promotion of European Territorial Cooperation is an important priority of EU cohesion policy. The Commission should be enabled to declare that, under certain conditions, aid for European Territorial Cooperation projects is compatible with the internal market and not subject to the notification requirement. In the Commission's experience, such aid only has limited effects on competition and trade between Member States and clear compatibility conditions can be defined.

(4)

Therefore, the scope of Regulation (EU) 2015/1588 should be extended to include such categories of aid.

(5)

Regulation (EU) 2015/1588 should therefore be amended accordingly,