Brussels, 04/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 February, the members of the European Parliament voted by show of hands on a resolution to reinforce the role of local and regional authorities in the management of the European structural and investment funds for 2014-2020, but also to call upon the Commission to initiate a public consultation - followed by an initiative, if necessary - to reflect on the available means of allowing this reinforcement.
This vote immediately followed another on an initial resolution on disadvantages related to remoteness (see other article). The MEPs note that the local and regional authorities do not all come under the same umbrella in the cohesion policy, depending on the member state in question. EPP member Lambert van Nistelrooij (Netherlands) told the debates of the morning that he felt that the principle of partnership between the authorities and civil society was not always respected in some member states. He also reiterated the primacy of subsidiarity and expressed concerns at centralist tendencies in certain member states.
Most of the MEPs, like Bronis Ropé (Greens/EFA, Lithuania), said that one of the major problems facing various local and regional authorities was related to administrative capacity. Here, Tibor Szanyi (S&D, Hungary) expressed concerns at the increasing levels of interference from the political parties within certain local and regional authorities, and that these parties are eating into some of the funds. According to Joachim Zeller (EPP, Germany), increased surveillance is required to ensure that European rules are being fully respected and properly applied.
Going against the grain of most of the views expressed by the MEPs, Steeve Briois (ENL, France) spoke out against what he described as the European Commission's desire to water down the national level by attempting to go through the local and regional authorities. In his view, the institution should be encouraging the member states to move towards more centralised structures.
“As far as I'm concerned, the main partners for regional policy are the local and regional authorities”, replied European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu, because, she said, they are closer to the citizens and their needs. With regard to this, she said that she planned to arrange a public debate on the application of multi-level governance. However, whilst acknowledging the differentiated treatment of the local and regional authorities, Cretu stressed that their involvement in drafting partnership agreements was a precondition for these agreements to be signed. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)