When does JESSICA come into force?

The EU Structural Funds’ legislative package for the programming period 2007 to 2013 provides the JESSICA operating framework. Operational procedures are being drawn up and will take effect once Operational Programmes have been formally agreed with the European Commission.

To qualify to use JESSICA, Member States must include an urban agenda in their Operational Programmes and, ideally, should also include a statement on the potential use of JESSICA in delivering this agenda. Member States will then need to decide what proportion of their Structural Funds they would like to channel using JESSICA.

JESSICA is not a new source of funding for Member States, but rather a new way of using existing Structural Fund grant allocations to support urban development projects.