Brussels, 23/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The operational programmes financed through Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 are expected to be adopted at the end of February, by a majority of member states. MEPs will examine the proposals this week to transfer funds that were not used in 2014 to the 2015-2017 period.
At the end of February, all the operational programmes in around 20 different member states will be approved. Only those submitted by the United Kingdom, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Italy and Sweden, will be approved later. In total, 165 operational programmes for growth and jobs have already obtained the go-ahead for financing from the Cohesion Fund, European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund. 20% of these programmes still need to be adopted. Another 24 programmes for territorial cohesion have been approved. In total, this means that 189 out of 311 programmes have already been adopted. These guaranteed investments already represent €200 billion for the 2014-2020 period.
The European Commissioner for Regional Development said that she was proud of this recent progress, stating, “All these programmes are sound, consistent and forward-looking. Each and every one of them focuses on key measures to bring back trust and growth in Europe's cities and regions - connecting people, skills and jobs”. This optimism is not totally shared by everybody.
EP vigilant. On many occasions, MEPs have deplored the delays in the adoption of cohesion policy financed programmes. Many of them were unable to gain approval in 2014 (the first year of the budgetary exercise). MEPs will put the question back on the table again during the regional development committee meeting at the EP on 26 February. They will examine the proposal to revise the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 to transfer funds not used in 2014 to the 2015-2017 period (own opinion from Victor Bostinaru, S&D, Romania). The regional development committee will vote on this opinion on 26 March. (Marie-Pauline Desset)