Brussels, 14/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - Corina Cretu, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, addressed the European Parliament's regional development committee on Thursday 14 January, where debates have mainly focused on implementation of cohesion policies. She stated that regions should not be made to suffer from the political decisions taken at national level when macro conditions were involved.
Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France) MEP told the Commissioner “The European project is not just about the fight against structural deficits. The European project is, above all, about European values and fundamental rights”. The MEP was concerned by the implementation of the principle of macroconditions, which MEPs fought at great length against during the elaboration of the new cohesion policy in 2013 (see EUROPE 10966). The MEP therefore underlined the importance of regional policy, which “helps mitigate the destructive effects” of austerity policies put in place to reduce public deficits.
The Commissioner replied “I understand your observations” before indicating that they needed to debate these issues with Pierre Moscovici, the commissioner for economic and monetary affairs. Cretu considers, however, that they need to be very careful in how this provision is used and refrain from “punishing” a region because a central government is carrying out a policy that is inappropriate to the principles of a balanced budget. MEP Omarjee concluded, “it is not the fault of La Réunion (the region the MEP is from - Ed), if Paris refuses to budge from its deficit criteria”. This response bolsters the position taken by the European Parliament last October (see EUROPE 11421).
Two other points emerged during the debates regarding cohesion policy implementation. The first focused on the communication on the adoption of the operational programmes, presented by the European Commission last December (see EUROPE 11453). Matthijs van Miltenburg (ALDE, Netherlands) therefore expressed regret about the lack of qualitative data and analysis provided by the states, despite the specific recommendations made by the Commission to each member state. This complaint was rejected by the Commissioner, who pointed out that there had been an analysis that had been both qualitative and quantitative in an annex to the communication, with a breakdown for each country.
The second point focused on the management of migration flows. The regions, particularly Europe's periphery, are effectively on the frontline of this migration crisis. In this connection, the Commissioner emphasised the possibility that existed for reprogramming funds. She indicated that Italy had been able to use this mechanism and €220 million had subsequently been reprogrammed. Similarly, the cross-border cooperation programme between Cyprus and Greece had been reprogrammed. The German region of Brandenburg was the first region to call on the help of the European Investment Bank in this connection, to the tune of €120 million.
The countryside appeared to be an issue of concern to many MEPs, who denounced the slow desertion of rural areas and the competition between them and the urban regions. Kerstin Westphal (S&D, Germany) therefore put forward the idea of an “operational zone” that would focus on cooperation and complementarity between these two kinds of areas. In this respect, the Commissioner was keen to provide assurances and said that the reduction of regional disparities was a priority in her mandate. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)