On Wednesday 14 September, MEPs at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg debated two European Commission reports on cohesion policy: the ‘Eighth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion’ and ‘The EU’s border regions: living labs of European integration’. Put to the vote on Thursday 15 September, the positions adopted by the Committee on Regional Development (REGI) were taken up by Parliament without amendments, with 448 votes in favour, 61 against and 75 abstentions and 522 votes in favour, 49 against and 11 abstentions, respectively.
Cohesion policy after 2027
The ‘Eighth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion’ outlines the preliminary form of cohesion policy after 2027 and gives a picture of the current situation. “The main conclusion is that cohesion policy works. And I can also conclude that it is more necessary than ever”, said the Commissioner for Cohesion Policy, Elisa Ferreira.
Once again, MEPs insisted that budgetary resources for cohesion should be maintained at the same level or increased after 2027 and stressed the importance of cohesion policy remaining a long-term policy (see EUROPE 13013/5). “Regional policy must be usable by all. It must be modern and flexible, but we must not forget the mission given to it by the Treaties, namely that it must serve the cohesion of regions. Regional policy should not be a reserve used in case of crisis”, said Constanze Krehl (S&D, German), rapporteur on the text.
Krzysztof Hetman (EPP, Polish) argued that “regional and local authorities should not be punished for their government’s actions, if the conditionality mechanism of the Rule of law is activated”. One of his recommendations was to “transfer the fund directly to local and regional authorities”, which he said would allow partnership agreements to be concluded more quickly.
Furthermore, the adopted report proposes a series of recommendations: a new ‘Just Transition Fund’ (JTF), which would include more regions, additional funds through the Social Fund for middle-income regions, the integration of the Rural Development Fund into structural policy as well as adequate funds for regions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. However, MEPs recognised the need to simplify cohesion policy.
Taking into account regional specificities
The report on cross-border regions, presented by Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, French), calls for better recognition of the demographic, economic, social and environmental specificities of these territories at a time when the pandemic and Brexit have highlighted the remaining barriers and difficulties. “The fact that border regions generally perform less well economically than other regions within the Member State is a call for our swift action”, stressed Tonino Picula (S&D, Croatian).
In their motion for a resolution, MEPs call on the Commission to find a solution to the blockage of the European Cross-Border Mechanism (ECBM) Regulation in the EU Council. However, the mechanism is not unanimously supported: André Rougé (ID, French) believes that the ECBM “would create a porosity of national legislations and a confusion of sovereignties”.
See the adopted report on EU border regions: https://aeur.eu/f/33m
See the adopted report on the ‘Eighth Cohesion Report’: https://aeur.eu/f/33n (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)