The European Parliament approved by a very large majority (689 votes in favour, 6 against, 1 abstention) the new flexibility measures introduced by the European Commission as part of the 2nd package of the Coronavirus Investment Initiative (CRII+) on Friday 17 April.
"Cohesion policy is present and has a central place in Europe's response to the fight against Covid-19", said Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France), rapporteur for the text and chairman of the Committee on Regional Development (REGI), on this occasion.
MEPs therefore endorse the possibility for the financial year 2020-2021 (see EUROPE 12460/3) to have; - a 100% co-financing rate for affected regions for the implementation of Structural Funds and investment programmes; - the possibility of an additional transfer between the European Social Fund, the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund; - the introduction of transfers between categories of regions; - the relaxation of thematic concentrations; - in general, a simplification of the procedural requirements related to audits and financial instruments.
It should be noted that the amendments tabled by the Portuguese GUE/NGL delegation, which aimed to introduce even greater flexibility and to direct funds directly to workers' incomes, were rejected.
These measures come on top of the first flexibilities introduced at the beginning of March by the European Commission to use unspent funds (see EUROPE 12449/2), which had been criticised for their limitations, in particular not targeting the regions most affected by the pandemic, as in Italy or Belgium (where it is the regions with the highest absorption rate that are most affected - see EUROPE 12456/1).
It is now the turn of the Council to formally adopt the CRII+ measures and implement them as soon as possible, normally next week, by written procedure. (PH)