The 2021 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities opened in Brussels (but still in a hybrid format) on Monday 11 October, as local and regional authorities face as many difficulties and challenges as opportunities with the European Recovery Plan and the new post-2020 cohesion policy programming.
At a long press briefing late Monday morning, the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, and the Committee of the Regions President Apostolos Tzitzikostas (EPP, Greece) recalled the cardinal role of cohesion policy during the pandemic, with the CRII and CRII+ initiatives, the “emergency response” and REACT-EU, to “repair”.
The Commissioner recalled that the CRII initiatives had freed up €21 billion in less than 4 or 5 weeks (see EUROPE 12469/5). Now comes the REACT-EU initiative, for which already €34 billion (out of about 50 billion in current prices) have been approved, of which 3.5 billion have already been paid. Ms Ferreira has set herself an ambitious target of concluding all partnership agreements by next year.
President Tzitzikostas set the scene a little more gloomily with the second report of the local and regional barometer: the finances of local and regional authorities are at a low point due to the pandemic. The health crisis cost them €125 billion. At the same time, their revenues have been eroded by €55 billion.
He also reiterated his concern about the lack of consideration given to local and regional authorities in the preparation of national recovery plans, and expressed his hope that they would be better involved in the monitoring and implementation of these plans.
Based on a forthcoming survey, the Greek politician said that 65% of local and regional authorities felt that they were not sufficiently heard and influential on European policy. He concluded: “Ignoring this call would be an unforgivable mistake and would widen the gap between the EU and its communities”.
Cohesion policy, the second most familiar policy to citizens
On the same day, a Eurobarometer survey was published, indicating that almost 70% of respondents were aware of one of the cohesion policy funds (ERDF, ESF, Interreg or the Just Transition Fund - JTF). As a result, cohesion policy would be the second most well-known policy among European citizens after the Erasmus exchange programme, the Commissioner commented at a press conference.
A full programme
The week’s programme, under the motto ‘Together for Recovery’, is particularly busy. About 300 events and conferences with more than 1,000 speakers are planned, President Tzitzikostas said. Around 12,000 participants are expected.
To access the survey: https://bit.ly/2X77WqY
To access the event website: https://bit.ly/3v29gI6 (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)