Nicosia, 06/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The spectre of budget cuts cast its shadow over the debates held by European ministers responsible for regional development who met up in Cyprus for an informal meeting on Tuesday 6 November. Ministers highlighted efficiency and good governance in cohesion policy (see other article). A significant reduction in the cohesion budget appears increasingly inevitable, given that the initial compromise put forward by the Cypriot presidency on the multiannual financial framework for 2014-2020 already includes at least €12 billion in savings, compared to be Commission's initial proposal.
Many ministers seized the opportunity of this informal meeting on the need to manage and spend structural funds more efficiently in the future, to again highlight the need to rapidly draw up a decent budget for cohesion policy. According to Commissioner Johannes Hahn, “the special European Council on 22-23 November should help to reach an agreement on the next financial framework. Today, we have to send out a clear message on what cohesion really is. It has changed drastically from an instrument of solidarity to one of investment”.
Although the ministers in Cyprus fully support the idea of making the policy more efficient, the president of the parliamentary committee on regional policy, Danuta Hübner, explained that this was definitely, “a step forward but if the budget is cut and is insufficient, it will mean two steps backwards”. She warned that “sufficient funding is needed in order to get out of the crisis”. The president of the Committee of the Regions, Rámon Valcarcel Siso, concurs.
Even if these institutions do not fully support the figures currently being discussed by the Council on the 2014-2020 framework, they still hope that an agreement will be found soon. Hübner indicated that, “we need to finish in time, so that the projects can begin on 1 January 2014”. The Cypriot presidency emphasised that, “reaching an agreement on the financial framework at the end of November is crucial for cohesion because preparation time is needed for the next round of programming”. (MD/transl.fl)