While the investment plan for a sustainable Europe with the Just Transition Mechanism remains a "positive signal" in the eyes of the members of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), the Commission's proposals raise a number of questions, according to a preliminary analysis of the organisation published on Monday 20 January.
Among these issues, the budget allocated to the Just Transition Fund of 7.5 billion euros, which seems to the CPMR experts to be a "modest" allocation, to say the least. With regard to the scope of the Mechanism, the organisation stresses the need to take into account the specificities of maritime and peripheral regions.
Furthermore, the CPMR is concerned about the use of InvestEU to invest massively in the energy transition, citing a critical report by the European Court of Auditors in 2019, which pointed out the limits of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (report 03/2019 - see EUROPE 12182/16).
Furthermore, the authors of the analysis question the very governance of the Just Transition Fund (see EUROPE 12401/12) and the "disproportionate" role attributed to national governments to the detriment of local and regional authorities. For the CPMR, it is necessary for territorial transition plans to be carried out in close cooperation with the authorities of the territory.
Finally, they fear that this Fund will generate complexity, both in the programming of the funds and in the interinstitutional negotiations on the various regulations and, in particular, the common provisions regulation between the Structural and Investment Funds, several blocks of which were closed between the European Parliament and the EU Council last December.
To view the analysis: http://bit.ly/2NJ59vX (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)