A reflection document on the future of the EU’s finances is generating grave concern among the EU’s regions and at the European Parliament, according to the reactions garnered by this newsletter over the past two days. Some proposals are even described as being highly controversial within the European Commission itself.
The reflection document unveiled by Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Crețu mooted a number of ideas that would upturn current Cohesion Policy (see EUROPE 11818). Some proposals seem to be in synch with local and regional authorities’ expectations, introducing a regional dimension, for example, in the European Semester budget process, others are the exact opposite of what they would like, starting with the proposal to only cover the most disadvantaged regions.
During a debate at the Committee of the Regions (CoR) with a high-ranking European Commission official on Wednesday 28 June, the chair of the CoR’s territorial cohesion policy and budget committee (COTER), Raffaele Cattaneo, reportedly said he was particularly disappointed with the document that was totally out of alignment with the concepts of a Europe of the regions.
Similar noises were made by the Council of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), where general secretary Eleni Marianou recognised some good ideas in the reflection document but expressed concern about a number of scenarios focussing only on the least developed regions. She said this sent a bad signal to European citizens at a time when solidarity is needed more than ever.
There is also concern at the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), where Marlène Siméon, responsible for Cohesion Policy at the CEMR, regretted the mention of a general cut in the Cohesion Policy budget and even a focus on only the poorest regions. She said that on the contrary, greater support was needed for municipalities and regions, which are the most involved with the EU’s new priorities, viz refugee management and fighting climate change.
Tepid enthusiasm at the European Parliament. There is not much in the way of enthusiasm at the European Parliament. Contacted by this newsletter, the vice-president of the regional development committee, Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France) regretted that competitiveness was taking precedence over solidarity. He said this amounted to a backward step for Cohesion Policy. Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP, the Netherlands) took a much more nuanced approach, recognising positive aspects in the document but stressing that Cohesion Policy must cover all regions.
Relative consensus at the European Commission. Consensus is not reported to exist on the reflection document proposals at the European Commission. A number of sources said that a member of Cretu’s circle admitted to members of COTER on Wednesday 28 June (shortly before the document was unveiled) that micro conditionality was not working.
The same person is quoted as saying that the question of increasing national co-financing was a subject of heated debated at the College of Commissioners, and at the Commission, centralised management was viewed as superior to shared management, but the particularly worrying scenarios were mentioned so they wouldn’t take place. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)