Brussels, 06/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 6 October, the European Cities and Regions Week began with the alarm being sounded regarding European cohesion policy invoices that had gone unpaid.
The Open Days should have provided a certain ceremony for inaugurating this year's implementation of reformed cohesion policy. A call to order, however, was the way in which the different participants chose to decide this week of celebrations for the cities and regions, which somewhat eclipsed the Growing Together theme of this 12th Open Days edition.
The vice president of the European Parliament and former president of the Committee of the Regions, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, was the first to speak and pointed out that at the end of 2013, there were €23 billion in underpaid invoices, a scenario that was being repeated once again, given the growing disparity between commitment appropriations and payments. He stressed that “this is creating problems, particularly in countries that have been hit by the crisis”. He pointed out that the maximum 60-day deadline for executing European Structural and Investment Fund payments (ESIF) was being significantly exceeded.
The problem was also raised by outgoing Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn, who explicitly criticised member states and said that they “must find a response to the disparity between their political payments and commitments”. He recognised that it was becoming difficult for the Commission to honour its commitments, to the extent that the efficiency of regional policy due to the lack of liquidity was being put in danger.
Several MEPs expressed similar concerns during the debate between MEPs from the Parliament's REGI committee and members of the Committee of the Regions, following the opening statements. Tamás Deutsch (EPP, Hungary) explained that by the end of the year, the amount of unpaid invoices would be €35 billion, which he believes is because the 60 day rule for honouring payments is not being applied and is leading to a lack of credibility in EU regional policy. Constanze Krehl (S&D, Germany) was also critical and is afraid of beneficiaries losing confidence. In a heated exchange, she said: “we are talking of €300 billion in investments when we cannot even honour €23 billion!” She stated that she would be delighted if, “during these open days, a clear message is sent out that the EU is indeed committed to honouring its regional level debts”.
The Opens Days event is taking place in Brussels from 6-9 October and will be bringing together thousands of cohesion policy beneficiaries and experts during hundreds of different workshops and conferences. (MD)