The Commissioner for Cohesion Policy and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, told ministers responsible for cohesion policy at an informal meeting in Rouen on Tuesday 1 March that she and her staff were considering introducing more flexibility into the structural and investment funds to help those Member States most affected by the wave of refugees caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
At the press conference, Commissioner Ferreira recalled that cohesion policy is primarily a long-term policy for territorial convergence, but that it can also be mobilised in emergency situations.
“We did it for the Covid-19 response and now we are preparing” to provide “practical responses” and help Member States that have to receive “families, women, children” from the conflict zone, Ms Ferreira said.
To the ministers, she made this somewhat unexpected announcement at the end of the morning, explaining that it would be a question of giving more flexibility to the cohesion funds to support the most exposed countries.
What form this aid might take in practice remains to be seen. It may be a question of amending the regulation for the €50 billion REACT-EU fund to help local and regional authorities cope with the pandemic.
In this respect, the Commissioner’s recent announcements on the extension of 100% EU co-financing under the CRII, the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative, are expected to be followed up next week.
During the meeting, many delegations reportedly stressed the importance of cohesion policy in the reception of refugees.
Germany reportedly insisted on the link between cohesion policy and energy independence. Several delegations underlined the complexity and administrative burden caused by the multiplication of cohesion funds in connection with the Recovery Plan. Some Member States have reportedly criticised the European Commission for the slow processing of partnership agreements.
European Climate Change Adaptation Fund. Asked by EUROPE about the follow-up to the proposal for a European Climate Change Adaptation Fund made by some MEPs (see EUROPE 12899/22), Jacqueline Gourault, the French Minister for Territorial Cohesion, said that the ministers had all expressed fears about the multiplication of funds, which the Commissioner confirmed.
The latter confirmed, however, that the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) was not sufficiently endowed to respond to the significant increase in large-scale natural disasters. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)