The creation of the €650 billion European recovery instrument to tackle the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic helped the EU to limit the impact of the crisis, but the centralised management of the recovery fund may jeopardise Europe’s economic, social and territorial cohesion and risks increasing disparities within Member States: such is the main message of the opinion drafted by the Mayor of Coulaines, Christophe Rouillon (PES, French), and adopted on Tuesday 8 October at the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR).
The lack of involvement of local and regional administration has raised concerns among CoR members about the effectiveness of the post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The RRF’s actual contribution to cohesion is only superficially addressed in the Commission’s mid-term review, published earlier this year, local leaders said. In addition, the CoR condemned the fact that the centralised governance of the RRF has given certain national governments the opportunity to exclude cities and regions governed by elected members of opposition parties from the possibilities offered by the RRF in terms of grants or European support.
Call to postpone the deadline for spending RRF resources. As highlighted by the RRF mid-term evaluation report, the significant amount of RRF funds available in addition to Cohesion Policy has put pressure on the administrative and absorption capacity of local and regional authorities. As a result, less than half of the RRF’s funds have been used to date. For this reason, CoR members suggested that the deadline for using the instrument should be postponed until after 2026.
According to the CoR, the reforms supported by the Facility must have their own democratic legitimacy, based on consultation, dialogue and a collaborative approach, including with local and regional authorities, in order to ensure ownership of these reforms.
Link to the opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/ds4 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)