Brussels, 04/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Not surprisingly it is macro-economic conditionality that is still causing concern among the local authorities, following last Tuesday's approval by Coreper of a compromise on cohesion policy reform. Although the European Parliament has still not officially responded to this approval by the member states, the local and regional authorities were unimpressed by the agreement that will go to the vote by MEPs later this month.
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) points out that “the regional authorities are not responsible at all at a macro-economic level in their countries” and therefore reject “all” macro-economic conditionality in the next round of cohesion policy implementation. The CEMR warns that, “ultimately, this will make the municipalities and regions hostages to decisions over which they have no control”.
The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) has always supported the European Parliament in its opposition to macro-economic conditionality but it is, however, less outspoken. Eleni Marianou, the secretary general of the organisation, said that the compromise thrashed out by Coreper “waters down macro-economic conditionality” but that “this positive development needs to be followed up with additional measures”. Structural fund payments should not be affected by macro-conditionality (50% ceiling in the compromise) and the secretary general insisted that “this is the only way Cohesion Policy can remain an investment policy for Europe's regions”.
Parliament has remained surprisingly silent, following this eagerly awaited Coreper agreement. It should be noted, however, that MEPs were in their constituencies last week. This week, however, discussions are indeed expected to resume again, with a technical meeting planned for Monday afternoon, 4 November and a Parliamentary negotiating team meeting on Tuesday, 5 November. This will allow the groups to analyse the compromise and establish an opinion ahead of the Parliamentary regional development committee vote on 7 November. It is already known, however, that the Greens will vote against. The presidents of the political groups are expected to confirm next Thursday 14 November, whether the vote on the cohesion reform package will be on the plenary session agenda on 18 November. (MD/transl.fl)