The EPP Group adopted a policy document, particularly laden with measures, on cohesion policy on Wednesday 5 October in which it proposes to strengthen the links between the European semester and cohesion policy.
The centre-right group believes this is necessary to bring greater consistency between the country specific recommendations made as part of the European semester and expenditure at regional level under cohesion policy
This is a perhaps a surprising position. At the start of the week, in the structured dialogue with the European Commission on the possible freezing of Spanish and Portuguese regional funding, MEP Lambert van Nistelrooij (Netherlands) highlighted how unfair the imposition of such a sanction – which is provided for in the macroeconomic conditions (Article 23 of the Regulation 1303/2013 laying down common provisions) – would be on the Iberian regions. Penalising regions for policies conducted at national level, he said, would be like condemning an innocent party (see EUROPE 11638).
There is a great deal in the policy paper and proposals are many, both for the current period and for cohesion policy after 2020. One of the main sources of concern for the group in the current period is the delay built up in operational programmes, a situation that has been discussed within the European Commission (see EUROPE 11626 and 11579). Here the group proposes a long series of measures which are already more or less known: simplification, regulatory harmonisation between funds, improved articulation between funds and financial instruments, and easier reprogramming. In particular, it calls for regulatory stability until the end of the current programme and advises against selective touch-ups. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)