The European Parliament and the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU met for the first time at political level on Thursday 12 December to discuss the Regulation establishing the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF).
Very little progress has been made in the negotiations, despite the work done at the technical level upstream. The problem concerns the article on thematic concentrations (Art. 3). The European Parliament has significantly modified the European Commission's proposal by strengthening action on green investments (see EUROPE 12194/9). While, for its part, the EU Council has put this article in brackets pending progress on the ‘nego box’ for the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework.
During this first meeting, the co-legislators made progress on Article 1a put forward by the European Parliament, which concerns the general tasks of the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund, in particular the overall objective of strengthening the EU's economic, social and territorial cohesion. They also began negotiations on specific objectives (Art. 2). However, in the view of some, it is difficult to move forward on this article without having more visibility on thematic concentrations.
The EU Council negotiating team also focused on the Common Provisions Regulation, on which there was a provisional partial agreement (see EUROPE 12388/17), and on Interreg, on which great progress has been made (see EUROPE 12387/11), to the detriment of the ERDF and the CF.
Negotiations will have to resume under the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council early next year. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)