The Committee of the Regions (CoR) unanimously adopted an opinion on the long-term budget post-2027 at its 163rd plenary session on Wednesday 20 November in the European Parliament Chamber in Brussels.
The CoR supported, in line with the European Commission, the idea of a “simpler and more flexible EU budget, reducing bureaucracy and the multiplication of funds pursuing the same objectives”.
However, this simplification must not be at the expense of the Regions and Cities, the CoR said. In this respect, the possibility of a budget concentrated in 27 national plans during the next MFF had already been the subject of a statement by the CoR, which was opposed to such centralisation (see EUROPE 13504/20).
The ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ and its performance-based funding model cannot “automatically be considered the best model”, said the CoR, while “the preparation and implementation of national recovery and resilience plans” has resulted in a “lack of involvement of cities and regions”.
On the contrary, the CoR is calling for “greater involvement of local and regional authorities from the design stage of programmes”, said rapporteur Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis. The Cities and Regions do support a reduction in the fragmentation of funds, “on the basis of a test of necessity”, but want to be consulted. “The needs are better known at local and regional level”, confirmed Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, Czech), MEP and rapporteur on the next MFF for Parliament, who was invited by the CoR along with co-rapporteur Carla Tavares (S&D , Portuguese).
As competitiveness is “not incompatible with territorialisation”, according to Ms Maupertuis, the CoR also suggests in its opinion that ex ante territorial impact assessment of budgetary policies should be introduced in order to guarantee the effectiveness of policies. “The ‘Draghi’ report underlines the need for new multi-level governance to make Europe more efficient and more competitive”, stressed Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis.
In view of the increasing number of crises (wars, climatic disasters), the CoR has also called for the implementation of a dedicated emergency fund, which would avoid the redeployment of funds dedicated to cohesion policy and would guarantee the desired flexibility and responsiveness. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)