It is the regions of the net contributor countries that will be most affected by the budget cuts being considered by the European Commission after 2020, according to an analysis published on Thursday 7 December by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR).
Earlier in the year, the Commission consulted the directorates general responsible for spending to estimate, inter alia, the consequences of budget cuts of 15% (or 26% at 2011 prices: scenario 1) and 30% (30% compared with 2011: scenario 2) (see EUROPE 11901).
Under scenario 1 and working from 2011 prices, the budget of the new cohesion policy would be €234 billion and could only cover the least developed regions and cohesion countries, according to the DG Regio paper. Scenario 2 would see the budget reduced to €193 billion and only cohesion countries could be covered. Preference expressed by directorates general was for scenario 3 which would maintain the status quo, the only one able to comply with the principle of solidarity.
Net contributors the biggest losers. Essentially, the CPMR says that it is the member states which are net contributors to the European budget which would face “significant” losses in the event of budget cuts of this scale. It says that it would be the net contributing states which would also have most to lose if the European social fund ceased to be operated under shared management.
Thus, in scenario one, the net contributors would face huge losses (France would lose 76% of the currently allocated budget, Germany 94%). On the other hand, Poland would lose around 5% of its current funding since most Polish regions are classed among the least developed. In scenario 2, the consequences would be even more extreme for net contributors: Italy would lose 97%, France 91% and Germany 94%.
Following the comments of Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger, who spoke of the possibility of cuts of up to 10% (see EUROPE 11911), the CPMR says that cuts of this sort would result in a reduction in the budgetary envelope from €323 billion to €290 billion.
As for the internal European Commission document that raises the possibility of setting up an “umbrella” fund to develop human capital (see EUROPE 11902), the CPMR says that it is the most developed regions that would lose most if shared management was abandoned: Belgium would lose 51%, Sweden 44%, Germany 41% and France 40%.
Meeting with Juncker. On the same day, a CPMR delegation, which included the president of the government of the Azores, Vasco Cordeiro, and the secretary general of the organisation, Eleni Marianou, met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker who is reported to have made clear his desire to “preserve” cohesion policy. He also advised the regions to ensure their voice is heard on this subject organising national workshops on the future of cohesion policy with national governments.
Open letter. The CPMR has also published an open letter calling, inter alia, on the Commission to ensure that the new cohesion policy covers all European regions and is allocated a sufficient financial envelope. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)