While welcoming the European Commission's proposals, EU ministers responsible for cohesion policy reportedly showed divergent views on the degree of flexibility to be introduced in the long term in the future cohesion policy, at an informal meeting on Monday 15 June.
During this first exchange at ministerial level on the package of proposals of 27 May (see EUROPE 12495/4), the ministers almost unanimously welcomed the European Commission's proposals to respond to the crisis and all of them are said to have shown a willingness to move quickly in the negotiations in order to be able to reach an agreement in the EU Council, among others on REACT-EU, by the end of July. This agreement could then make it possible to start negotiations with the European Parliament.
Some ministers, mainly net beneficiaries, such as the Czech Republic, allegedly called for a number of flexibilities introduced in the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative, CRII and CRII+, to be maintained in the long term, including: transfers between categories of regions and between structural and investment funds and higher co-financing (at the level of the 2014-2020 period). The approach supposedly worried some net contributors, such as Sweden or Denmark, who insisted on the long-term objectives of cohesion policy.
In the same vein, several net contributors, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, reportedly mentioned some reservations about the temporary mechanism provided for by the Commission in the event of exceptional circumstances. For them, this arrangement should not introduce too great a deviation from the long-term structural objectives.
Hungary is said to have expressed some disappointment with the allocation method, insisting that the GDP criterion should not be lost in favour of the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.
The Just Transition Fund was also reportedly mentioned several times, notably by the Baltic countries, the Czech Republic and France. The question of extending its thematic and geographical scope should soon be discussed again in the Committee of Permanent Representatives, either this Wednesday or Wednesday of next week, we are told.
On the same day, experts from Member States met in a working group to discuss, among other things, the Just Transition Fund. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)