Resources from the cohesion funds to assist fuel-poor households and SMEs under REPowerEU are limited, the European Commission reminded the European Committee of the Regions on Wednesday 23 November.
The contribution of cohesion “ranges from €40 pro capita to €300/400 for the less developed regions”, estimated Benoit Nadler of the Commission’s Regional and Urban Directorate. “Our room of manoeuvres is quite limited, and the solution cannot come solely from cohesion policy.”
“We are not asking the EU to divert money from cohesion policy investments. We ask for fresh money that could be spent on the ground to help our citizens”, replied Emil Boc (EPP, Romanian).
Indeed, the Commission has proposed that Member States may transfer up to 10% of their total national allocation under Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 to support households and SMEs under REPowerEU (see EUROPE 13045/4, 13045/1). This proposal was welcomed by MEPs in the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development (see EUROPE 13038/10).
Benoît Nadler nevertheless told the CoR that this was an “informal proposal” and that it was up to “the co-legislators [...] to take these suggestions on board”, when they met on the same day as part of their inter-institutional negotiations. The Commission hopes to reach an agreement before the end of 2022 (see EUROPE 13068/23). (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)