EU Funds - Peer 2 Peer continues until 2020
Peer 2 Peer instrument has been given the green light to continue until 2020. 
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Based on the great demand and the positive feedback from users, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy decided to prolong Peer 2 Peer to cover the entire current programming period.
Peer 2 Peer is a simple-to-use and demand-driven tool designed to share expertise between bodies that manage funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund. Coordinated by the Commission, it helps public officials involved in the management of these funds meet their counterparts from other Member States and exchange knowledge, good practice and practical solutions to specific problems.
The instrument was originally launched as a pilot in March 2015 by Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Creţu as part of one of her priority initiatives, aimed at helping Member States improve the way they invest and manage EU funds. Indeed, by boosting administrative capacity they can achieve better results for the EU budget and citizens altogether.
Regarding the results achieved so far, the numbers speak for themselves. In 1,5 year, we have received 150 applications, of which 100 were approved and 74 already implemented. The range of topics covered in these exchanges is very broad. The ones that feature most often are management and control issues, financial instruments, urban development, public procurement, smart specialisation, etc. As regards geographical coverage, so far 24 EU Member States have been involved, either as beneficiaries or as providers of expertise. The most active countries applying for exchanges are Lithuania, Czech Republic and Croatia. Among those who are most active in sharing their experience are Polish, Romanians, Dutch and Lithuanians.
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