The regions were not long in reacting on social media to the publication on Wednesday 14 February of the proposals by the European Commission for the forthcoming multiannual financial framework, all expressing concern and discontent.
The Commission document, to be put to the member states at the informal meeting of heads of state and/or government on 23 February, offers budget scenarios in which the funding for traditional policies, such as the common agricultural policy and cohesion policy, is cut (see EUROPE 11961).
For cohesion policy, the Commission scenarios range from maintaining the status quo and covering all regions, with a budget of €370 billion (around 35% of the multiannual financial framework), to budget cuts of €124 billion (around 11% of the current multiannual financial framework) and covering only the regions of cohesion countries.
Committee of the Regions (CoR) President Karl-Heinz Lambertz swiftly took to Twitter to state that only the first scenario, where there is a 35% budget allocation, was acceptable. And he made it clear to the Commission that the sums indicated were misleading: “This means a commitment that #CohesionPolicy continues to be 34.2% of the total future #EUbudget & not €370bn (at current prices: Ed.) because in real terms, this would mean a significant cut”.
Francesco Molica, joint founder of the Cohesion Policy Observatory, said that, assuming a yearly inflation of 1.5% to 2.0% until 2021, roughly €330 billion, in real terms, would be the sum arrived at. He went on: “I think the real trick here is that 370 billion would anyway account for far less than the current 34% of the whole budget, even under the rosiest scenario”. He suggested that it would, rather, be somewhat under 25%. A source in the Committee of the Regions estimates the sum at constant prices at around €280 billion.
Conditionality and structural reform. Other proposals are of concern in the CoR, including the linking of cohesion policy and the European semester budgetary process, the inclusion of fresh conditions related to respect for the rule of law and the growing importance of financial instruments. For one internal observer, the Commission focus is on national reform, overlooking the role of cities and regions in public spending and the need to address the regional disparities of the European semester through cohesion policy. Above all, in his view, the use of financial instruments can only increase the risk of deepening regional disparities.
Tensions between the Committee of the Regions and the Commission are real. In the wake of a rescheduling of performance reserves to new spending in December, the CoR passed a resolution this month stating that it was prepared to take the matter to the European Court of Justice (see EUROPE 11952).
CPMR and CEMR speak out. Disappointment and concern are just as keen among the regional organisations. The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) has said that it is “shocked” by the proposals tabled by Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger, and it fears that they will deal “an irreversible blow” to the future of cohesion policy. It highlights, in particular, the proposal to establish a structural reform instrument with a budget of around €25 billion that could be a part of cohesion policy in the future.
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has called for “a fair European budget”. The Commission proposals, it says, are tantamount to budget cuts of 15-30% (see EUROPE 11901) and “would mean withdrawing local governments from the European project”.
Reaction from European Parliament. MEP Isabelle Thomas (S&D, France), the rapporteur on an own initiative report on the new multiannual financial framework, warned on Twitter against the desire to finance the new security and defence budgets at the expense of the CAP and cohesion. The only solution that she can see is for the member states to “put their hands in their pockets”.
The Directorate General for Regional Policy (DG REGIO) also appears to be displaying a degree of discontent on its Twitter account, retweeting the above-cited message from Karl-Heinz Lambertz as well as criticism from John Bachtler, Director of the European Policies Research Centre, of the impact of the Commission’s proposals on cities and regions. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)