Saint Malo, 27/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 30 September, the General Affairs Council will take stock of the stalled institutional trilogue negotiations on reform of cohesion policy.
Ministers might share with the Lithuanian Presidency their ideas on how the deadlock could be broken. A compromise on the four outstanding policy questions absolutely must be found within the next two weeks (Parliament committee vote on 14 October) so that the reform can be passed by the Parliament at the end of October.
The sticking point in the negotiations is, without any doubt, macroeconomic conditionality, which Parliament, to the great chagrin of both Commission and Council, wants to get rid of. The safeguards brought in by the Council have failed to fully satisfy Parliament, which would like to be involved in the procedure for deciding to suspend funding. MEPs are willing to discuss a compromise on preventive conditions but definitely not on corrective conditions. Performance reserve is also a problem issue, the Council wishing to free 7% of structural funds by 2019, whereas Parliament is looking at 5%. Parliament would also like increase pre-financing rates, something the Commission and Council will not countenance. A compromise still has to be found on the technical details for the European Social Fund (eligibility criteria and minimum allocations).
The Lithuanian Presidency will ask delegations for their views on the Parliament's position on the policy issues still pending, and on which points the Presidency could “explore opportunities for solutions”, within the constraints of the mandate it has been given. The exchange of views will certainly prove useful ahead of the next trilogue meeting on Wednesday 2 October.
The General Affairs Council will also discuss the draft agenda of the next European Council (24-25 October) that will be devoted to: - the digital economy, innovation and services; - boosting growth, employment and competition at European level (implementation of the investment for Europe plan, youth employment initiative); - economic and monetary union (stronger coordination of economic policies, the social dimension of EMU, progress on banking union, including in implementation of the single supervisory mechanism and the latest outstanding proposals on completion of banking union).
The Lithuanian president will brief the Council on preparations for the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, 28-29 November. (MD, with LC/transl.fl)