Corina Creţu, elected to the European Parliament on the Pro Romania list, gave her last interview as Commissioner for Regional Policy to EUROPE on Wednesday 26 June. She covered her 4.5 years at the head of regional and urban policy (DG Regio), before addressing her concerns about the future of cohesion policy, as well as her new mandate in the next European Parliament.
From the outset, the Commissioner observed how quickly time has passed and how many faces have changed during her term of office, noting that at the last Cohesion Council (see EUROPE 12282/1) among the ministers present, none had been in office at her first Council over 4 years ago. "So many changes in so many governments", she said.
For Mrs Cretu, the results of her action are undoubtedly positive. "I don’t want be shy and modest now, because after 4 years and 8 months, it’s my duty, not only for me, for the whole team and the DG, to say what we have done."
The Social Democrat Commissioner reviewed the actions of which she is most proud, citing in particular: - the High Level Group on simplification, chaired by former Commissioner Siim Kallas (see EUROPE 11667/18), to simplify cohesion policy; - the Task Force for Better Implementation to assist the lagging Eastern and Southern states in taking on and implementing structural and investment funds (see EUROPE 11284/20), the Catching-up Regions initiative (see EUROPE 11766/7), not to mention the revision of the 100% co-financing rate for Greece (see EUROPE 11502/11).
URBAN AGENDA
But she focused in particular on the Amsterdam Declaration on the Urban Agenda for the EU, adopted in May 2016 (see EUROPE B11553B12), which establishes a new multi-level governance between Member States, cities, the European Commission and civil society, in order to provide answers to the major challenges of the 21st century, such as migration flows or climate change.
A difficult remit, according to the Commissioner. "There was a lot of reluctance, as many Member States invoked the principle of subsidiarity", she commented, before praising the perseverance of the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU and, in particular, of the former mayor of Amsterdam.
As such, for the Commissioner, it is important to increase the envelopes given directly to cities. "I found that is sometimes ridiculous to pretend from Brussels what is needed, what is not needed, because every region, every town is different, if they have good administrative capacity, they know better how to programme the money and what is needed from the citizens", she explained.
Frustration
During the exchange, Mrs Creţu also expressed her frustrations about the lack of agreement on the Regulation laying down common provisions on the Structural and Investment Funds post-2020 (see EUROPE 12212/15) and especially the next multiannual financial framework. "I don’t want to blame Barroso Commission but it is true that the late adoption of the last legislation it was due of the late submission of the proposal of the Commission", she said. Before adding: "We submitted them 6 months earlier". Reaching an agreement before the end of the mandate "was not unrealistic", she said, if Brexit had not occupied so much political space. However, there is still an urgent need. "100,000 projects are in danger", she said, tersely.
Cohesion Alliance
The Commissioner also looked to the future and, in particular, to the role of the Alliance of Friends of Cohesion Policy (or Cohesion Alliance), a coalition launched by the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions and supported by several thousand signatories (see EUROPE 12031/15). "I was very scared that we will not be able to maintain this cohesion policy. The first discussions were just to have a policy for the less developed regions, which would have introduced another disagreement between Member States", explained the Commissioner, for whom external support was essential.
And for Mrs Cretu, this alliance has borne fruit, as cohesion policy has been preserved. Of course, one battle has been won, but there will be others. "I am not naïve, I know that this policy will always be under threat, there are countries that are more egoistic", she said. "Sometimes, 25 years ago, they were very generous and now you see a lot of reluctance with enlargement...", she continued, implicitly targeting net contributors.
In her view, cohesion is the last line of defence to safeguard investment in times of economic crisis. And "there is high probability that economic crisis will come back", the Commissioner predicted.
European Parliament
She also discussed her upcoming work in the new European Parliament, explaining how difficult it was to leave your national party after almost 30 years in it. "All these statements of the party during the election campaign, for me, it was almost impossible and against my beliefs", she commented.
Admittedly, her new party only acquired two deputies, the other being the former Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta. However, for Mrs Cretu, this is already a victory, considering the recent creation of the political organization. However, she indicated that the S&D had agreed to include her as an independent.
Wishes
The Commissioner listed her four choices for parliamentary committees: AFET (Foreign Affairs), REGI (Regional Development), INTA (International Trade) and CONT (Budgetary Control) and would like to take part in the delegation for the United States, of which she was a member during her previous mandate as an MEP, and the delegation for neighbouring countries.
"I am Romanian, but half of my family comes from the Republic of Moldova, so the future of this country is very important to me and I think the EU should do whatever is necessary to keep the Republic of Moldova on the road to Europe", she explained.
Macroeconomic conditions
Before concluding, EUROPE asked the Commissioner what position she intended to take on macroeconomic conditions - a mechanism against which she had voted as an MEP and then supported as a Commissioner. On this point the Commissioner was cautious. "I'm in two minds. I understand the point of view (of the detractors), but in the end I understood the Commission's explanation that we need to create a very strong economic environment".
Mrs Creţu will sit next Tuesday in Strasbourg for the inaugural session of the European Parliament, which promises to be particularly stormy (see other news). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)