The President of the Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, spoke to Agence Europe about the rather difficult coexistence of cohesion policy and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the challenges and expectations of the regions with regard to the Conference on the Future of Europe, as well as the Just Transition Fund and the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. (Interview by Pascal Hansens)
Agence Europe - What is your assessment regarding cohesion policy and the Recovery and Resilience Facility?
Apostolos Tzitzikostas - On Tuesday there was, the informal cohesion meeting. We discussed how to combine the facility with cohesion policy and how to make both successful.
And my message to the ministers was very clear: without local and regional authorities, shaping and implementing cohesion programmes and national recovery plans have limited chances of success. As local and regional leaders, we now mobilised to speed up the preparation of partnerships agreements and the preparation of programmes for 2021-2027 and for the new programming period.
Unfortunately, many Member States do not fully respect the principle of partnership and multilevel governance, and they risk undermining the impact of new cohesion plans. This lack of involvement has also a strong impact on coordination between cohesion policy and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. So, we must absolutely avoid any competition or overlapping between structural funds and recovery and resilience funds. And unfortunately, national governments are required to only report about such involvement without the legal obligation to set up structural processes with the regions and the cities.
Did the Facility strongly affect the local and regional authorities?
So, when it comes to the bottlenecks caused by the Next Generation EU, it’s difficult to avoid it. National, regional, and local governments are currently concluding the 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes, and at the same time they are defining partnership agreement and operational programmes for cohesion policy for the next period. And they also are kicking off the national recovery and resilience plans. So, this extraordinary workload and responsibility is basically due to the pandemic and the crisis.
When it comes to the bottlenecks caused by the Next Generation EU, it’s difficult to avoid it we are tackling, as you know, unprecedented challenges with unprecedented measures. We have to accept a certain degree of adaptation. We must learn by doing, we need flexibility. It’s clear. And we need genuine cooperation between the different levels of governance, namely EU, national, regional, and local.
We can do it only together!
Do you think that a certain percentage of the facility should be earmarked for territorial cohesion, such as digital and green transitions?
Of course! Green transition, digital objectives, and territorial cohesion are linked, not alternatives. Despite the health crisis, we cannot afford having the twin transitions falling behind. But we need them to be inclusive and to not increase gaps. Territorial cohesion is especially important when it comes to the green transition. And here, we have a very good cooperation with Frans Timmermans, the First Vice-President of the European Commission of the Green Deal. We are working on very specific steps because, as you know, 70% of the implementation of the Green Deal will come through regions and cities of Europe.
The Conference on the Future of Europe was launched on 9 May. Do you think that the regions have been sufficiently heard and taken into account in the process of the conference?
So far, so good. We are not interested in beauty pageant between Brussels institutions. It must be a real discussion. We need to discuss how to deepen the democratisation process. We want to strengthen democracy in Europe. So, what basically we have been saying it’s not about having more power or politically visibility. It’s a matter of modern European democracy and how to better respond to challenges and how to better involve the citizens.
So, yes, I think it’s possible within the framework of the existing treaties to improve governance and EU legislation. Regions and cities must have a specific role in this process.
I think this high-level group we have set up which is led by Herman von Rompuy will support this contribution. We also organizing local events with the Members and other partners across Europe. And we have plenaries coming up about the functioning of EU democracies, we have the summit in 2022 in France.
Can you tell us about this summit in 2022?
It's a summit that will be organised in Marseilles in 2022 during the French rotating presidency of the EU Council. It will be the big summit of regions and cities where we will be able to discuss not only the role of the cities and regions across Europe in the Future of the European Union, but also real issues that concerns our citizens.
Regarding the outcome of the conference, what are your expectations?
We need a real dialogue and open discussion in order to achieve the democratisation of the EU. The changes needed can take place within the existing framework, but treaty changes should not be a taboo.
We need to close the gap between the European Union and the people!
In order to close the gap between the European Union and the people. Do you think that the Committee should have a stronger role at EU level, even with the possibility of adopting binding acts in specific fields, for instance on cohesion policy?
Yes of course! Regions and cities have a very important role to play in this policy field. So yes, for sure. But for the sake of bringing Europe closer to the real concerns of citizens and meeting the right decisions through a bottom-up approach, not in a top-down decision-making process.
The European Parliament has just approved the interinstitutional agreement on the Just Transition Fund, which will establish a green reward mechanism, which makes 50% of the funds conditional on achieving emission targets. Do you think this is the right approach to reach the targets?
There are more efforts to be made by Member States to reduce emissions, beyond the set targets, and they should be rewarded for that. The Committee of the Regions has been one of the main promoters of the creation of a new fund to alleviate the social economic impact in the most vulnerable regions. But the Just Transition Fund can only be successful if it is implemented with a bottom-up approach.
Do you think that the Just Transition Fund budget is big enough to reach those targets ?
It’s a good starting point. Next Generation EU has rightly increased the allocations, in order to make more sustainable the recovery in these specific areas. And several other funds can of course complement the Just Transition Fund.
Over the coming months and years, we will carefully monitor the impact of the tools provided by both the MFF and Next Generation EU and see if those areas where the green transition risks being particularly painful can rely on an adequate set of instruments and funds. Of course, more resources might be needed to help transitional regions. But, in the context of the new MFF and of the recovery plan, this is a good starting point.
On the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, what is your view regarding the current negotiations?
It’s an expression of European solidarity. The budget is €5 billion. It’s sufficient to address the impact of Brexit in the short term. But soon we will realise that the disruptive impact of Brexit on some regions will require more resources and the full awareness that Brexit consequences vary a lot from region to region.
But we need to increase the size of the reserve by €1 billion to €6 billion. Adapt the support for fisheries, for example, to the regional impact. More flexibility above all when it comes to state aids. And more involvement of local and regional authorities in the design and implementation of this instrument.