Although the European Parliament and the Council of the EU find themselves of the same opinion when it comes to allocating funds under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, following the vote in the Committee on Regional Development (REGI) on Tuesday 25 May, their views do differ regarding the regional dimension and the involvement of regional and local authorities in the implementation of the reserve.
“I think it is a little too soon to say that the position of the European Parliament and the EU Council are aligned. I think we have found agreement on the allocation method, but there is very real work to be done on the amendments and considerable input from the European Parliament on this proposal. There are areas of convergence, but also divergence (between the European Parliament and the EU Council)”, said REGI Committee Chair Younous Omarjee (The Left, France), in response to EUROPE at a press briefing held on Wednesday 26 May.
The rapporteur of the text, Pascal Arimont (EPP, Belgium), underlined the “strong mandate” of the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12726/8) in favour of multi-governance in the context of the reserve. This multi-governance was indeed absent from the initial proposal made by the European Commission, as well as from the position adopted by the EU Council. The European Parliament is therefore insisting that Member States establish a multi-level dialogue with local and regional authorities. In this context, they are emphasising how important it is to respect the partnership principle.
Furthermore, Parliamentarians have clearly defined how maritime regions will be included when calculating the allocation method. They are also calling for a territorial distribution of expenditure at NUTS 2 level (medium-sized regions). They have specified that Member States may delegate the management of funds to the appropriate territorial level.
In addition, with a view to counteracting any potential national bias, the MEPs have included the fact that 7% of the sums allocated within the framework of fisheries are to be earmarked for the fisheries sector. The fear in this instance, according to one source, is that a Member State that receives financial aid calculated on the basis of criteria related to the fisheries sector will then use this funding for purposes other than supporting the fisheries sector.
In the same vein, the European Parliament is calling for each Member State to allocate up to 2.5% of the sums allocated for technical assistance to the authorities so that they can be better managed and the use of the funds can be controlled. Here, the focus is on SMEs.
Pascal Arimont confirmed to EUROPE that an interinstitutional (trilogue) political meeting will be held on 17 June. He added that three technical meetings will have been held beforehand to clear the way forward, with the hope of reaching an agreement at the first trilogue, added Younous Omarjee.
To view the Compromise Amendments: https://bit.ly/34gCkPr (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)