MEPs believe that the regional level should be more involved and taken into account in the development and implementation of environmental and climate change policies, in an own-initiative report by Tonino Picula (S&D, Croatia), adopted (572 votes to 79, 37 abstentions) in plenary session on Thursday 25 March.
Recalling that local and regional authorities are in the front line of the climate fight (90% of EU environment and climate change measures are implemented at local level), they therefore call for full respect of the principles of multi-level governance and partnership, in line with the cohesion policy.
For example, they highlight the importance of involving local and regional authorities in the evaluation of climate change policies in the framework of the ‘European Semester’. They also invite Member States to publish a regularly updated scoreboard measuring the territorial impact of national and European recovery plans.
In general, they recall the cardinal role that cohesion policy can play in the implementation of environmental policies and in achieving the objectives of the Green Deal, and stress the importance of better coordinating cohesion policy with other EU policies in this respect.
On Wednesday 24 March, the Cohesion Policy Alliance sent a similar message to the Member States ahead of the European Council regarding the Recovery Plan (see EUROPE 12685/11).
To see the report: https://bit.ly/3rhy23z (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)