No general approach on the different regulations of the future post-2020 cohesion policy is foreseen on the agenda of the next Cohesion Council, to be held on Friday 30 November, but only a long three-hour exploratory debate.
The discussions will be guided by a series of proposals submitted by the Austrian Presidency of the EU Council. Undoubtedly, delegations will speak at length on the umbrella regulation on common provisions, the negotiations on which have been divided by the Austrian Presidency into several parts, focusing on programming and strategic planning, management and control and the performance framework. The reason is that these three strands are necessary for national and regional authorities to be able to undertake planning and programming for the next multiannual financial framework.
The other two dossiers that may occupy delegations will be the Regulation combining the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund, and the Regulation on European Territorial Cooperation. It should be noted that, on this point, Member States would be against the proposal to abolish cross-border maritime cooperation - a controversial proposal of the European Commission (see EUROPE 12029).
The discussions will not cover the different envelopes foreseen for the different funds, although interventions can be expected, in particular the drastic reduction of the Cohesion Fund budget (reduced by about 46% compared to the current budget).
The European Commission had for a time shown its willingness to reach agreement on the various regulations before the next European elections in order to avoid the repetition of the scenario we saw at the beginning of the programming for the 2014-2020 period.
However, in view of the delay in the European Parliament, in particular on the Common Provisions Regulation, due to the very large number of amendments tabled (more than 2,000), the hope of reaching an interinstitutional agreement before the deadline seems increasingly slim (see EUROPE 12143).
To consult the Presidency's main proposals: https://bit.ly/2TWvGrd. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)