In a press release on Wednesday 18 March, the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) welcomed the initiatives to combat Covid-19 announced by the European Commission, in particular the European institution's willingness to use the structural and investment funds to provide additional financial aid for the Member States and regions affected by the virus.
"The Coronavirus investment initiative shows that cohesion policy is essential to address the new challenges facing Europe and to meet the EU's future priorities", said the organisation's Secretary General, Eleni Marianou, referring to the measures of Friday 13 March (see EUROPE 12446/2).
For Ms Marianou, the current situation shows the urgency of reaching an agreement as soon as possible on the next post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), because, according to the Secretary General, the next generation of cohesion programmes will have a major role to play in mitigating the social and economic impact of Covid-19.
There are some concerns, however
An internal source welcomed the European Commission's measures announced last Friday, including the possibility of reprogramming funds without going through a lengthy review and confirmation process. However, according to our source, it is necessary for the principle of partnership and the involvement of local and regional authorities be fully applied.
Another concern, according to our source, is the unequal treatment of the affected regions. In fact, the implementation rate is close to 100% for many programmes as the 2014-2020 MFF approaches its end, leaving some regions with little opportunity to use uncommitted funds.
That rate includes the use of cohesion policy to deal with crisis situations. But this approach must remain limited, according to our source, to avoid diverting too many financial resources from the initial strategic objectives.
On Wednesday 18 March, the Member States in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper II) validated the measures proposed by the European Commission, not without calling for a series of new measures to be taken shortly to correct certain shortcomings in the proposal.
Among the requests put forward were: less restrictive conditions on thematic concentrations; - more flexibility in the transfer of financial allocations between different categories of regions; - increasing the annual pre-financing rate; - increasing the European co-financing rate to 95% for regions affected by Covid-19 (see EUROPE 12449/7). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)