Brussels, 30/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Coreper's approval of the compromise on the politically sensitive issues of cohesion reform, on Tuesday 29 October, took place with no major clashes (see EUROPE 10953). If approval of the reform by the European Parliament goes through quickly, as Commissioner Hahn hopes, €325.15 billion (2011 prices) may be invested more effectively under the reform in the European regions from 1 January and over the following seven years.
Wide majority. It is reported to have been by a huge majority that the European delegations approved the package of elements on the table to enshrine the reform, following the trialogue meeting on Thursday 24 October. However, it has been reported that the United Kingdom stated that it could not support this compromise, and the Danish and Portuguese delegations are believed to have wanted to examine the provisions of the compromise in greater detail. But given the broad support obtained by the Lithuanian Presidency, in a very short space of time, these comments will not jeopardise the green light anticipated from Coreper.
Macro-conditionality. The Council is therefore in a position to confirm that, in the framework of macro-economic conditionality, the Parliament will be involved in the procedure for suspending commitments and payments of European structural funds, and that any freezing of these will be “mitigated” (50% ceiling). The Council did, however, stress the need to keep this mechanism to ensure that the effectiveness of the structural funds is not “undermined by unsound micro-economic policies”. Notwithstanding any last-minute theatricals, this macro-conditionality is therefore expected to be set in stone over the next few weeks, as the validation stages can now begin (Parliamentary committee and plenary in November, Council once the text has been finalised by the linguistic and legal services).
Legal action? Among the potential pitfalls to formal adoption: the threat of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), which has opposed this mechanism from the offset, to bring the matter before the European Court of Justice. The chair of the consultative body, Ramon Valcarcel, said after the announcement of the agreement that the “committee would pay close attention to the outcome of the negotiations, bearing its concerns in mind, and may consider legal action if it feels that the provisions of the treaty have not been complied with”.
A rapid yes from the EP. He did, however, also welcome that a compromise had been reached, as did European Regional Development Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who stressed how important it is for the European Parliament now to “confirm and close these negotiations”, hoping for a rapid decision now. “The European citizens, the regions and private investors are waiting. Those who are involved must realise what is at stake if they continue the delays”, he said. At the time of going to press, the Parliament had not yet reacted to this approval by Coreper. The EP did not yet have the final compromise in its hands and was still to analyse it. However, all indications suggest that internal discussions will be held this week about the compromise.
Opposition of the Greens. The Greens, the only group to have commented on the subject, have however already reiterated their firm rejection of micro-economic conditionality, in full awareness that this may delay the adoption and implementation of the cohesion policy should a second reading be necessary. The spokesperson on the issue, Elisabeth Schroedter (Germany), stressed that the group is “convinced that Parliament should keep up its resistance against macro-economic conditionality and that this is in the interest of all regions and their citizens”.
Latest specific figures. Readers may recall that the other politically sensitive issues included in the compromise are the performance reserve (laid down at 6%, in other words between the 5% proposed by the Commission and the 7% called for by the European Parliament), and the pre-financing and co-financing rates. The former will rise progressively from 2.5% to 3% between 2014 and 2020 (by an additional 0.125% a year). The latter has been increased from 50% to 85% for Cyprus and the outermost regions up to 2017 (but with a review in 2016). (MD/transl.fl)