Elected at the beginning of the year as President of the European Committee of the Regions (COR), Apostolos Tzitzikostas has had a particularly turbulent start to his term of office, marked by Covid-19, very intense negotiations on the future European budget, but also marked by a new dynamic in favour of cohesion policy. (Interview by Pascal Hansens)
Agence Europe - At what level is the Covid 19 pandemic affecting local and regional authorities?
Apostolos Tzitikostas - It greatly impacted the local and regional authorities. The one million local and regional politicians were on the frontline. They managed to be Europe’s safety net. We managed to guarantee the basic and health services, to protect jobs, to support SMEs and, of course, to prepare the ground for the recovery.
The crisis showed that a centralised approach either national or European cannot tackle the many faces of this emergency. In my opinion, the crisis put into question the architecture of the European Union. The current 2-dimension politics, which is basically European and national, cannot work any longer. We saw that in the management of the crisis. We need a third dimension which is the regional and local authorities.
What did the European Committee of the Regions do to help the local and regional authorities ?
We created an exchange platform where almost 250 regions and cities have already shared ideas, best practices and opinions. We were the first to ask for an EU health emergency mechanism, which was accepted. We asked to increase cohesion funds because indeed they are the only funds that can deal with such a multi-faceted crisis. And it was also accepted.
On the 9th of May we organised a far reaching online event on the crucial role that regions and cities are playing not only in managing the emergency caused by the pandemic but, generally speaking, in improving people's lives across Europe.
We never stopped our meetings, even though they happen online.
Would you say that the pandemic saved or at least put back the cohesion policy at the heart of the European action ?
Unfortunately, back then before the crisis, you know very well that lots of institutions in Europe were questioning how and why cohesion policy should be upgraded. After the crisis, everyone came to realize that this is the only way to go forward. It’s a pity that we had to go through a crisis for some people to understand that. But nevertheless it is good that everyone is now on the same page : that the principle of cohesion should be put at the very centre of all EU policies.
Cohesion is key if we want to make Europe stronger closer to its people and with less radicalism and Euroscepticism.
Linked to this new perception of cohesion policy, do you think that the Committee of the regions gained visibility among European citizens and also among European institutions ?
The Committee of the regions made very specific proposals. All those proposals were accepted, such as the European Emergency mechanism for health, the fact that we asked for the recovery fund of at least of 500 billion euros in the form of grants which came after three months. Better later than never as we say.
We asked for the strengthening of cohesion policy, and now we have 373 billion euros and 90 billion for rural development, which was also an aspect we have been asking from the very beginning of the discussion for the next multiannual financial framework (MFF). And so we believe our voice, COR voice in Brussels has been heard more than in the past.
During the crisis, the European Commission proposed to introduce lot of flexibility within the Cohesion funds. Do you think they all need to be maintained in the next MFF at the risk maybe of losing the strategic focus of cohesion policy ?
Flexibility is definitely needed in Europe. What is not needed, it is the danger of centralisation. So we want flexibility because we support effectiveness and being quick. But we cannot allow all these changes of procedures to centralise again the processes and the way Europe works.
So we need flexibility, on the one hand, but decentralisation on the other. These are the two main pillars on which we need to build the future of Europe.
Last question : on the side of the Committee of the regions, what are your main demands regarding the Conference on the Future of Europe ? What could be the role of the Committee of the regions ?
The first thing that we expect is to be put at the same table with all the major actors of the European Union. You cannot discuss the Future of Europe without the involvement of cities and regions. If we would to describe the European Union has a house, we would say that the national governments are the walls, the European Union institutions the roof, but no house can stand without a solid foundation. And the foundation is the regions and the cities.
Once at the table, we will ask s that we elevate the way the committee of the regions works in Europe, without having any taboos concerning Treaty changes. The CoR must be enabled to link the cities, the regions and the European Union in a better way for the sake of both.