On Tuesday 25 October, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) did not succeed in convincing the Commission to include a point that would guarantee a minimum level of local public investment in its specific recommendations as part of the European semester budgetary process. The CEMR’s discussions took place with the cabinets of European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici, and Vice President for Social Dialogue and the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis.
The CEMR’s starting point is based on the observation that local and regional authorities are often blocked in their investment projects by the lack of flexibility granted by member states, due to their high levels of indebtedness. The CEMR regards this as something of a paradox because the local and regional authorities’ level of indebtedness is much lower than that of the states.
Nonetheless, the Commission rejected the proposal because it believes the question is a matter that is exclusively covered by the national remit
The running battle between the regions and Commission continues. A potential suspension of European fund commitments for 2017 is threatening Spanish and Portuguese regions, due to an insufficient reduction in the two Iberian countries’ national public deficits between 2013 and 2015 (see EUROPE 11638). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)