Brussels, 20/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - During the General Affairs Council on Wednesday 19 November (EUROPE 11200), Corina Cretu confirmed to European ministers that cohesion policy was expected to contribute to the €300 billion investment plan expected in the next few weeks. The announcement made by the European Commissioner for Regional Development has caused some concern at the Committee of the Regions, which is increasingly worried about the predictability of investments in the regions.
Cretu informed European ministers that cohesion policy would “make a significant contribution” to the €300 billion investment package announced by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, for December. She explained that she was “closely involved in these discussions” regarding the details of this investment plan. Notwithstanding the President's work in the precise articulation of his Plan, the Commissioner told the European ministers that she was sure that “the Cohesion Policy contribution to the investment package can greatly benefit from ambitious negotiations and implementation of the 2014-2020 programmes to leverage more public and above all private investment”.
Committee of the Regions concerned. The announcement caused a certain amount of concern at the Committee of the Regions (CoR). CoR President, Michel Lebrun, responded by expressing his regret at the “growing lack of clarity on the key issue of resources” from the EU. He also said that this announcement, which follows a number of others, would cause, “serious uncertainty at the very moment when regions and cities are mobilising all their energies to plan and deliver operational programmes for 2014-2020”.
The CoR also says that it is worried by the plan to “explore all the possibilities to preserve the availability of financial resources within the EU budget”, an idea mooted in the ministers' conclusions. Lebrun warned that “this could mean that such availability is no longer ensured”, despite the fact that the European Union committed to investing €350 billion on sustainable and inclusive growth through its regional policy for 2014-20. This is the first time that a reference on paper has been made to threats regarding the financing of European structural funds.
Adopting programmes. In connection with the results from the General Affairs Council, the CoR joined ministers in calling for the adoption of the operational programmes to be speeded up. CoR has indicated that the accumulated delays is already beginning to be felt on the local and regional authorities' ability to plan structural funds for 2014-20. (MD)