The EU Ministers responsible for Cohesion Policy unanimously stressed the importance of not distorting cohesion policy by using it permanently to respond to the various crises that have hit the EU for several years, at an informal meeting in Prague on Friday, 2 September.
“This policy that is in fact a policy that is concentrating on long term convergence, long term catching up, and which is working (...), we use it then in emergency: (we) reprogram the funds, reuse the funds, redirect the funds”, recalled Commissioner for Cohesion Policy Elisa Ferreira at a press conference, recounting the various initiatives adopted by the EU during the pandemic and more recently since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“But in fact, what we are doing in cohesion is not for emergency, we are doing support of emergency, but we really want to go on to our basic work”, she stressed, namely to work on the socio-economic rapprochement of the EU territories.
The Commissioner highlighted how cohesion policy is a geostrategic tool, giving as an example the catching up of the Czech Republic to the European GDP average, pointing out that some Czech cities, such as Prague, are now well above the European average.
The Commissioner’s statement illustrates what the Ministers had to say, confirmed an EU source who attended the in camera discussions, stressing that many, if not all, of them wanted to preserve the funds for long-term objectives.
Other highlights expressed by Ministers included the need to better articulate cohesion policy with the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ (RRF), with several Ministers stressing the difficulty of implementing structural and investment funds in addition to the Facility, especially as some objectives overlap.
Several Ministers reiterated their concerns about the proliferation of new instruments, preferring to use existing ones, always with the idea of facilitating the work of the managing authorities on the ground.
Fast-Care. The European Commission’s new initiative, “Fast Care”, which extends the assistance already provided under the Cohesion Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) (see EUROPE 12997/6), was unanimously welcomed, as stated by Ivan Bartoš, Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Head of Cohesion Policy.
Today’s discussions will feed into the conclusions of the General Affairs Council on 22 November (see EUROPE 12012/6). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)