The MEPs who will follow the legislative dossier of the European Parliament’s Regional Development Committee (REGI) were unanimous in expressing their dissatisfaction to the European Commission over the way the future Just Transition Fund will be financed, when work on the legislative dossier began on Wednesday 19 February.
Both the rapporteur for the text, Manolis Kefalogiannis (EPP, Greece), and the shadow rapporteurs, ranging from the radical left, with Martina Michels (GUE/NGL, Germany), to the conservative right, with Raffaele Fitto (ECR, Italy), all expressed scepticism about the operation of the Transition Facility, and in particular of the Just Transition Fund.
In essence, they consider that 7.5 billion euros is not enough to meet the scale of the challenges. In particular, they take a dim view of its onerous reliance on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund plus (ESF+) (see EUROPE 12403/2). “We are robbing Paul to pay Peter”, said German Green Party MEP Niklas Nienass.
Their speeches followed various presentations by experts, including one by Grégory Claeys of the Bruegel Institute, who was critical, to say the least. In his report, commissioned by the REGI Committee, he asserted that “fresh money”, presented as such by the Commission, would ultimately boil down to a partial reallocation of funds from some Member States (Italy, Spain, Portugal and Hungary) to others, notably Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. In general, the report states that the Fund will not be able to “realistically” address the three objectives it has set itself, namely to respond to the negative social, territorial, and economic impacts caused by the green transition.
A coveted dossier. The Just Transition Fund is widely coveted, particularly by the Committee on Budgets (BUDG), which is calling for the monitoring of the entire legislative dossier alongside the REGI Committee (see EUROPE 12424/21). But the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Environment and Public Health (ENVI), and Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) committees are also demanding their share and claiming exclusive powers over certain parts of the regulation.
The presidents of the various committees will meet in March to decide on the issue. If no agreement is reached, it will be up to Antonio Tajani (EPP, Italy), president of the Conference of Committee Chairs, to make a proposal.
To consult Bruegel’s report: http://bit.ly/2vOQc5x (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)