On the cusp of a crucial European summit on the future budget of the European Union, the #CohesionAlliance has—in a declaration issued on Wednesday, 15 July, on the occasion of a conference on the subject—renewed its calls for a seven-year European budget and a Recovery Plan that is both ambitious and built on and with the territories.
Speaking at the conference, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform Elisa Ferreira, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France), and President of the Committee of the Regions Apostolos Tzitzikostas (EPP, Greece) all stressed the risk that territorial disparities could increase even more with the pandemic.
Thus, the Alliance sets out ten major demands in its declaration. First of all, the Multiannual Financial Framework—which presently provides for a 12% cut in cohesion funds compared to the current budget cycle—must target convergence and cohesion. Likewise, the Recovery Plan must have a bottom-up approach, as it is currently considered very centralised by the regions (see EUROPE 12528/21).
For the signatories of the declaration, the EU must make every effort to ensure a strong, visible, and effective Cohesion Policy that is accessible to all local and regional communities. In their view, all EU policies must be based on cohesion and on local and regional communities.
Moreover, they insist that the flexibility that the Commission introduced into Cohesion Policy with REACT-EU not jeopardise the long-term objectives and consistency of Cohesion Policy.
They further insist that the European Cross-Border Mechanism be “revitalised” (see EUROPE 12195/23) and hope that, in the event of delays, transitional arrangements with additional means will be foreseen so as to avoid a funding gap between the two programming periods.
Lastly and unsurprisingly, they call on Member States to ensure that the programmes start in a timely manner as of 1 January 2021.
To read the statement: https://bit.ly/3eA20JF (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)