Budget cuts planned by the European Commission for the next Cohesion Policy could total up to 35% of the current Cohesion Policy budget, removing the future European Social Fund (ESF+) and taking account of the cash allocated to the future Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), explains a memorandum from the Conference of CPMR (Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions) published on Thursday 2 May.
The organisation arrives at a 7% cut, similar to that announced by the Budget Commissioner, by taking €355 billion from the current budget over seven years and comparing this with the figures in the next Cohesion Policy at constant 2018 prices, i.e. €331 billion.
However, the CPMR seems to doubt the very nature of ESF+, according to a communication from the European Commission (see EUROPE 12013). The CPMR has noted contradictory messages. The European Commission states clearly that ESF+ is part of the Cohesion Policy (13th footnote), but in the annexes, the Commission announces a €273 billion budget at current prices without making any mention of ESF+. The CPMR fears that ESF+ will become a national instrument without any territorial dimension, which, it says, would mean a 32% cut in the Cohesion Policy.
In addition, the CPMR subtracts funds from Cohesion Policy (€10 billion at current prices) earmarked to the future Connecting Europe Facility, which is not under direct management, which would take the cuts to 35%.
The CPMR has calculated that between the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2014-2020 and the next MFF, the European Regional Development Fund (EFDF) has not changed, but the Cohesion Fund has been slashed by 35%. It calculates that the ESF’s budget has been increased by 7%.
The regions, along with MEPs and civil society, have all, to varying degrees, criticised the budget cuts announced by the Commission in its traditional policies (see EUROPE 12013), but are divided over the scale of the cuts, most members of the Cohesion Alliance talking of a cut of 10%.
The CPMR’s memo can be found at https://bit.ly/2wbtG6F . (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)