The Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR) broadly welcomes the recent proposals made by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, with a view to this weekend’s European summit, in an analysis due to be published on Thursday 16 July, although some fears have been expressed, notably in relation to the budget and the territorial dimension.
The CPMR welcomes the proposal to create an adjustment reserve of €5 billion in order to mitigate the economic impact of Brexit for certain particularly exposed regions. As such, it is awaiting a proposal from the Commission in November.
The authors also welcome the climate signposting (30% of the funds), as well as the increase in EU co-financing for less developed regions and regions in transition at the level of the current budget cycle.
The Conference also welcomes the return of the N+3 rule, instead of the N+2 rule (see EUROPE 12456/1), i.e., a rule that sets a maximum period of 3 years for spending Union funding, instead of two.
But some fears persist, notably about the budget cuts for cohesion policy (-2% compared to the 2018 proposals) and the maintenance of the Just Transition Fund at €7.5 billion, compared to €10 billion in the latest European Commission proposals (see EUROPE 12495/5).
The Conference further regrets that Mr Michel has deleted the mid-term review in 2024, which would have allowed the impact of the health crisis to be taken into account, as the breakdown of the financial envelopes is based on data for the period 2014-2017, which have partly lapsed due to the health crisis. In general, the organisation is concerned about the weak territorial dimension of the recovery instrument. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)