Brussels, 22/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The president of the Parliamentary committee on regional development (REGI), Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland), together with the six coordinators of the committee, robustly argued that with regard to Cohesion Policy, the draft proposal put on the table by Herman Van Rompuy “is not a reasonable basis for a compromise that the European Parliament would be able to accept”. On the eve of the Extraordinary European Summit, which could possibly approve the EU budget for the 2014-2020 period, MEPs are keen to remind decision makers that only an ambitious policy promoting solidarity and investment will allow our regions to tackle the crisis over the next seven years. They are warning the Council of their determination to block the adoption of the budget if their expectations are not met. The hard core of the REGI committee stated that, “the Council must be consequent with its statements on growth and investment, and maintain an ambitious EU cohesion and regional policy. If, on the contrary, it confirms its objective to weakening this key investment policy, the European Parliament should mobilise to prevent the unacceptable.”
In a more general context with regard to the Multiannual Financial Framework, Hübner added that, “the practitioners know that for any investment to be effective and efficient, there is a critical mass of funding required. The EU budget 2014-2020 as proposed by the Presidency of the Council has already reached the below the critical mass level. It can only go up if the European leaders think serious about growth”. (MD/transl.fl)