Brussels, 21/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The latest briefing at the European Parliament regional development committee (REGI) was given, on 21 June, by the rapporteurs on common provisions for European structural funds, as part of review of cohesion policies in 2014-2020. Although 2,000 amendments have been submitted for the text, the rapporteur, Constanze Krehl (S&D, Germany), plans to cut back on that number with compromise amendments so that voting may take place in committee on 11 July. Krehl has not given up all hope of the voting results affirming Parliament's position for first reading negotiation of the legislative package. She therefore rallies her troops, saying: “I call for your support to strengthen our position, and to vote as a large majority in committee so that our opinion for the Council and Commission is perfectly clear, if we want negotiations to end with the hoped-for results”. She also sounds a note of caution saying that budgetary talks for cohesion are conducted in parallel and this means remaining on the alert and vigilant. Krehl's co-rapporteur, Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP, Netherlands), said matters must be taken forward as swiftly as possible for finalisation mid-autumn, in order to ensure that cohesion policy remains an investment instrument.
Reservation is still being expressed, however, on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Jan Olbrycht (EPP, Poland) has voiced opposition to it. Elisabeth Schroedter (Greens/EFA, Germany) above all calls for the legislative package to be still further simplified, saying it has to be more flexible as one cannot call on administrations to set up a programme under these conditions. Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France), who was speaking on behalf of his group, said it is essential to eliminate macro-economic conditionality and that he is pleased to see that the REGI committee shares his view. On the other hand, he is keen on the notion of transition regions being maintained, while voices are being raised for the legislative package to be abolished. (MD/transl.jl)