Brussels, 23/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The rapporteur of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) on the cohesion fund appears to be highly sceptical over the contribution of this fund to the interconnection mechanism in Europe. Romeo Stavarache (ALDE, Romania) is currently drafting the CoR's opinion on the cohesion fund for the programming period 2014-2020. He briefly detailed his current position in a consultation of stakeholders at the coal face of cohesion, this Monday 23 January.
He is likely to make strict recommendations concerning the new European financial instrument (€50 billion), which aims to improve the connections between the energy, telecoms and transport infrastructures across the Union, by reinforcing the cross-border corridors, which are often neglected in national investments. Stavarache is believed to have voiced reservations on the fact that the €21.7 billion under the mechanism allocated to transport infrastructure has been topped up by €10 billion from the cohesion fund. This, he argues, is equivalent to redirecting 20% of the cohesion fund to transport alone, via the mechanism. He fears that centralised management of the cohesion fund does not correspond to the national and regional priorities of the member states eligible for the cohesion fund. This would lead to mounting dossiers for projects which are not vital or sufficiently mature, with an increased risk that cohesion money is not used well, or not used at all. “If projects which are not priorities for the member states are not funded by the mechanism, then the cohesion objective will not have been achieved”, he concluded. Beyond the issues of absorption, he also raised the question of the role of local players in this mechanism, and its flexibility. He therefore concludes that the projects must be “very well underpinned”. His doubts echo those previously expressed by the European Parliament rapporteur Victor Bostinaru (S&D, Romania). (MD/transl.fl)