In a joint report to be discussed on Tuesday 10 July during the regional development committee (REGI) at the European Parliament, Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP, Netherlands) and Constanze Krehl (S&D, Germany) propose that the European Commission proposal for transferring the performance reserve (6% of resources allocated to structural and investment funds) for supporting structural reforms be rejected.
The co-rapporteurs certainly recognise in the explanatory reasons in the draft report that Parliament does not support setting up a performance reserve. Nonetheless, they do consider that this reserve should be spent “as originally foreseen” to fund the projects already planned.
The report is expected to be put to a vote on 9 October (as there is a wait for many different opinions - eight in total - from other committees) and appears to have obtained consensus at the committee.
The EPP, S&D, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL and EFDD groups appear to be in favour of rejecting the proposal. Only ALDE and ECR are expected to support the Commission initiative.
At the end of June, MEPs expressed their strong misgivings about the Commission proposal. It should be recalled that the Committee of the Regions had even threatened to take the matter to the European Court of Justice for failure to respect the subsidiarity principle (see EUROPE 11952). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)