On Wednesday 9 April, several members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development deplored the perverse effects of the mid-term review of the Cohesion policy on the policy’s traditional aims of reducing regional disparities in Europe.
The European Commission’s Executive Vice-President, Raffaele Fitto, has faced criticism from the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups over his proposal for a mid-term review of Cohesion policy (see EUROPE 13612/4).
Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle (Renew Europe, Spanish) criticised the “perverse incentives” in the proposal, which could lead to unintended consequences such as the diversion of money from poorer regions to economically stronger regions of the EU due to the possibility of 100% co-financing from the EU budget. According to Ms García Hermida-Van Der Walle, there is a risk that the stronger regions will simply become stronger while the weaker ones will be left behind. The risk of a 100% cofinancing rate for specific projects is that less money is available for European projects and, ultimately, this could result in greater centralisation of projects, she concluded.
Cristina Guarda (Greens/EFA, Italian) felt that the proposal is turning Cohesion policy “upside down” by making it into a compensation fund for emergency policies, such as the defence industry. She does not agree with the resources of the Cohesion policy – a joint policy – being used to “finance the military industry without geographical limits”. Ms Guarda also criticised the lack of redistribution in favour of large companies.
Valentina Palmisano (The Left, Italian) criticised the desire to “fuel rearmament” instead of focusing on the traditional objectives of the Cohesion policy.
Nora Mebarek (S&D, French) welcomed the proposals on water, housing and energy transition, but said that “by including defence as one of the primary objectives of cohesion, you are changing the very nature of Cohesion policy. This is a turning point”, she told the Commissioner.
The five priorities of the reform take account of the new realities in Europe, assured Mr Fitto. He insisted that it will not be possible to buy weapons using Cohesion policy resources. Investing in defence is a possibility for countries that wish to do so, and it is not possible to move funds from one region to another, the Commissioner insisted.
Ninth report on cohesion. On Wednesday, the Committee on Regional Development adopted (by 28 votes in favour, 4 against and one abstention) a draft report by Jacek Protas (EPP, Polish) (which will be examined and voted on at the plenary session from 5–8 May in Strasbourg) assessing the European Commission's ninth report on cohesion. MEPs advocate a Cohesion policy with adequate funding for the 2028-2034 period and decentralised planning based on the needs of each location.
Link to the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/gcp (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)