During the first debate on the opinion submitted by Mercedes Bresso (S&D, Italy) on Monday 3 September, MEPs at the regional development committee (REGI) at the European Parliament managed to reach an agreement to enhance the role of the regional and local authorities in the future European Social Fund +.
During the presentation of her amendments, the rapporteur expressed her concern about the lack of priority given to the regions in the new European Commission proposal presented last May (see EUROPE 12030). The MEP considers that the ESF+ cannot strictly be separated from structural and investment funds, particularly the European Council Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund.
The MEP puts forward a raft of amendments in her opinion in this connection explaining the role that the local and regional authorities should be given, particularly in the context of partnerships (insofar as the Commission simply specified the appropriate actors at a territorial level), the ESF objectives, within article 7, for example, focusing on coherency and thematic convergence.
The MEP also explains the link between the ESF + and the European Semester budgetary processing an effort to link it more accurately on the new social scoreboard in the European Semester, as a means of better taking into account the objectives of the European Pillar of Social Rights. On the subject of the European Semester, Ms Bresso expressed concern about the lack of synchronisation between the multiannual ESF programme - and more generally, with the European structural and investment funds - and the European Semester. The latter is seen as having a more short-term focus given that it concentrates on the first six months of each year. The MEP considers that this could possibly put the very structure of the ESF + out of balance.
The majority of MEPs agreed with her proposals. The MEP’s amendments are expected to be given a warm welcome by the employment and social affairs committee, which appears to be looking in the same direction (see EUROPE 12085).
The European Commission representative indicated in the oral response provided that there was no risk of the ESF + being nationalised or the local and regional authorities being weakened because the partnerships were secure within the regulation containing the common provisions (see EUROPE 12029).
The senior European official also explained that the desynchronisation between the ESF + and the European Semester was counterbalanced by the specific structuring of the next multiannual financial framework, which is divided into a first phase of 5 years and then a second phase that would be corrected by two years. The representative also indicated that the European Semester procedures for 2019 and 2024 would be atypical in order to serve as a basis for guiding member states to orientate investments within the framework of structural and investment funds. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)