MEPs overwhelmingly and irrespective of their political affiliation expressed their support and enthusiasm for the Interinstitutional Agreement on the React-EU initiative during a plenary debate on Tuesday 15 December in the presence of the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform, Elisa Ferreira. Some did not hesitate to put forward the idea of making this instrument permanent.
Many MEPs, even those from the Identity and Democracy group, welcomed the speed of the negotiations, the continuation of the flexibilities introduced by the CRII and especially the CRII+ initiatives (see EUROPE 12460/3), and, finally, certain improvements made by the co-legislators.
These include, for example: - the introduction of retroactivity via React-EU on 1 February 2020 to take into account projects launched during the health crisis; - the pre-financing rate set at 11% for the year 2021 in order to rapidly provide more liquidity; - the possibility of allocating resources until 2023; - the strengthening of the partnership principle; - the integration of cross-border projects.
Above all, the possibility of 100% European co-financing was almost systematically welcomed (see EUROPE 12604/2).
Several MEPs, such as Croatian Tonino Picula (S&D), also welcomed the fact that React-EU covers the outermost regions and islands.
Admittedly, the Commissioner, along with some environmentalist MEPs such as German Niklas Nienaß and Austrian Monika Vana, regretted that the target of earmarking 25% of funding for climate targets is not included in the body of the regulation. The Commission will issue a statement in this respect when the act is adopted, Mrs Ferreira said. Furthermore, Mr Nienaß pointed out that the use of Interreg is not compulsory, even though the pandemic has many cross-border aspects.
Other MEPs expressed concern that Member States are unable to absorb these funds, as feared by Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy), or that they do not sufficiently support the cultural and tourism sector. In this respect, Laurence Farreng (Renew Europe, France) insisted that the managing authorities should communicate as much as possible with the relevant stakeholders.
For Mr Benifei, the React-EU initiative should not remain an isolated initiative but, on the contrary, be followed by a political initiative to make it permanent. “We cannot miss this opportunity”, he said. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)