The Council of the EU adopted by written procedure on Monday 30 March the emergency measures to deal with the crisis linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the amendments to the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF), following the green light given by the European Parliament last week (see EUROPE 12456/16).
The CRII text was adopted almost unanimously: only Belgium abstained, due to a blockade by the Flemish Government, which considered that the Commission’s proposal was too favourable to Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region.
The Coronavirus Crisis Investment Initiative (CRII) provides financial support of €37 billion through the Structural and Investment Funds, based on the use of unspent pre-financing (see EUROPE 12449/2). According to the Flemish government, the Walloon level of intake is below that of Flanders and the measure therefore benefits the French-speaking region more.
The adoption of the text amending the EUSF did not pose any problems and was adopted unanimously. As a reminder, the amendment to the European Union Solidarity Fund proposes, inter alia, to extend its scope to health crises (see EUROPE 12455/4).
Second CRII 2 package in sight. The adoption of the CRII therefore launches the implementation of the new provisions introduced by the Commission, which will monitor the situation Member State by Member State with the setting up of a special working group. The institution would also be preparing a new set of measures at the express request of the Member States (see EUROPE 12456/1).
Moreover, on Monday 30 March, the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, met by videoconference late in the afternoon with the chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Regional Development, Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France) and the coordinators to take stock of the new measures envisaged. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)