Brussels, 05/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the adoption by the European Commission of proposals on the forthcoming legislative package on the cohesion policy 2014-2020, Danuta Hübner MEP (EPP, Poland) spoke on Wednesday 5 October about the sticking points which will hold up the negotiations to come. The president of the European parliamentary committee on regional development, and former regional policy commissioner (2004-2009), spoke out against the macroeconomic conditions the member states will be obliged to attain in order to receive regional funds (bringing their budgetary deficit under control on pain of having their funds suspended or removed altogether if recommendations are not followed).
“It's hard to find arguments in favour of this measure, it is entirely counter-productive!”, she said, describing these conditions as an “indirect punishment”. “It is about punishment using various policies: if you do not succeed, we will punish you here!” Additionally, the member states will be affected differently by this measure, as it is particularly the less successful ones that will be targeted, which she feels could raise conflict between the member states during negotiations.
She also voiced concerns that the 11 priority themes laid down for the investment of the cohesion funds could possibly lead to side-slipping in the allocation of funds, stating that this will almost certainly be raised by the member states as well. For instance, the emphasis is laid on SMEs, but large businesses could receive funds by stressing their innovative nature; inversely, an SME could receive money if it is active in tourism, although this area is no longer one of the priorities of the package (one of the many exceptions emphasised by Hübner).
As for the obligation for certain transition or more developed regions to invest a certain percentage of the money in innovation (30%), SMEs (30%) and energy efficiency (20%), this could end up going against the national agendas: “obligatory allocation kills flexibility, certain countries have already created their own programmes”, she said, in reference to Germany, for example, and its mass investment in sustainable energy.
She also predicted many discussions on the “ex ante” conditions (the Commission would like the programmes to be funded to undertake first of all to respect conditions in the framework of the thematic areas eligible for the cohesion fund). These already existed in earlier cohesion packages, but were not similarly formalised, she explained. The member states could also be reluctant to put 5% of the budget into “reserve” as an incentive to greater performance, but Hübner has already announced that the Parliament is likely to come out in favour of this initiative.
Generally speaking, the former commissioner for the regions regrets the fact that the draft regulation to reform the structural funds is bypassing its simplification objective: “there is a highly complex world behind all of this, we are creating a monster, which is a very poor signal for Brussels to be sending out (…). We are risking ending up with a highly complicated system and extremely long negotiations” which, she said, will only be concluded under the Cypriot Presidency, in a year's time. (MD/transl.fl)