A programme set up in the early 2000s when Michel Barnier was the regional policy commissioner was brought up in discussions during a visit by a Committee of the Regions (CoR) delegation to Ireland and Northern Ireland on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 May, as a possible way of supporting those regions directly affected by Brexit.
The said mechanism was raised by CoR member François Decoster (ALDE, France) in a meeting on the delegation’s first day with Ireland’s European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee and on the second day with Vice-President of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) Seán McPeake.
It consisted of a specific budget line created in 2001 with the aim of coming to the assistance of the regions which shared a border with the new member states and which were, de facto, about to see their situation change once accession became effective.
At the time, €195 million was earmarked for allocation to 23 regions (two in Finland, eight in Germany, six in Austria, two in Italy and five in Greece) over the period from 2001 to 2006 to support infrastructure investment and facilitate cooperation with the regions in the future member states. The aim was to soften the impact of the accession of the new member states for the existing members, a source told us.
Decoster’s suggestion would mirror the arrangements put in place in the Barnier era, this time to help European regions deal with the economic impact resulting from the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU.
The idea will be expanded upon in the coming months within the Committee of the Regions, we have been told. The CoR could back the proposal and argue the case for it with the European Commission in the hope that Michel Barnier, now Chief EU Brexit Negotiator, will support the creation of a budget line of this sort.
Discussions during the two-day visit also covered an opinion adopted on 17 May at the CoR plenary session, calling, inter alia, for the maintenance of the PEACE programme and Interreg programmes with the United Kingdom – something the European Commission seems to be considering (see EUROPE 12024). It also calls for account to be taken, in particular, of the situation of Gibraltar and the outermost regions that depend heavily on the British economy.
The European commission 2001 communication can be found at https://bit.ly/2IDrpXz. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)