Brussels, 22/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is urging the European Parliament to adopt the code of conduct on the partnership agreements, a delegated act from the cohesion policy reform package (see EUROPE 10991). This regulation has been approved by the College of Commissioners and could be adopted by way of non-objection in two months time by the European Parliament.
Commissioner Johannes Hahn has sent a formal letter to the regional development committee (REGI) at the European Parliament asking it to proceed with the adoption of a code of conduct as quickly as possible. The deputy director-general of DG Regio, Nicholas Martyn, also expressed this wish directly to members of the REGI committee on Wednesday 22 January. Committee members gave a fairly positive response to this suggestion. The co-rapporteur on the question, Lambert Van Nistelrooij (EPP, Netherlands), even admitted that the text was perfectly in keeping with the principles on which the institutions had agreed during cohesion policy reform negotiations. Nonetheless, member states are currently preparing their partnership agreements even though the code of conduct providing them with essential guidelines in terms of multilevel governance has not yet been adopted. Asked about the code of conduct's retroactive effect, Martyn provided assurances that the European Commission would attempt to ensure that the socio-economic partners were sufficiently consulted by member states, which also have to prove they had consulted by communicating relevant information on the subject. He said that, “in practice, no problems are expected to arise”. With the REGI committee supporting the code of conduct, its chair, Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland) will therefore address a letter to the conference of the presidents and parliamentary committee chairs, requesting that they do not oppose the delegated act adopted by the European Commission. She also called on the REGI committee to remain alert and persuade their colleagues from other committees not to object. In two months' time, the code of conduct could, then, automatically be adopted according to the non-objection procedure. (MD/transl.fl)