Brussels, 11/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The breakdown on Thursday 10 October of European Parliament-European Commission-Council of Ministers' talks on reform of the EU's Cohesion Policy is causing problems. It has forced the European Parliament's regional development committee to postpone a vote initially scheduled for Monday 14 October on areas not yet decided upon. As a result of the delays, MEPs will not be able to vote in plenary as planned (21-24 October). In the event agreement is reached, the vote in plenary might take place in November or December, but the new programming period is due to begin on 1 January 2014.
The deadlock on “macroeconomic conditionality” is not only poisoning the talks on reform of the Cohesion Policy, but also jeopardises adoption of the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020. MEPs want to vote on the MFF on 23 October, but the Parliament has already said that it would not vote on the MFF before agreement has been reached on reform of major EU policies, two of which are the Cohesion Policy and the European Social Fund. The Parliament has laid down two further conditions: approval of financing for the €3.9 billion carried forward and details about the working group on reform of EU own resources (see EUROPE 10938 and separate article in this newsletter). The week starting 14 October will be key for the future because there are hints that the vote on the MFF might be postponed because of disagreements on Cohesion Policy. The EP Conference of Presidents will discuss the matter on Thursday 17 October. (MD/transl.fl)