The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) unanimously adopted a series of opinions on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 (MFF) at its plenary session on Wednesday 6 May.
For several months now, members of the Committee and the European Parliament have been warning of a ‘recentralisation’ of European funds in the next programming period, to the detriment of regional authorities.
In particular, the three opinions reflect the concerns of regions and cities about the creation of a single fund combining cohesion policies, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy, managed through single National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs).
In their recommendations, local and regional elected representatives are defending three priorities: - keeping Cohesion Policy’s predictable support for all regions; - rejecting national investment plans when regions are not involved in their preparation; - a mandatory cross-cutting principle ensuring that every EU policy does not harm cohesion in Europe.
Subsidiarity. In particular, the Committee proposes the creation of a ‘subsidiarity clause’. This would enable regions and cities to take their case to the European Commission if Member States fail to respect the different levels of governance when preparing NRPPs. CoR members also want Member States to systematically assess the local and regional impact of their plans.
On the budgetary front, the members are calling for the maintenance of separate envelopes for the main European structural funds, namely the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund (ESF+) and INTERREG, rejecting the idea of a ‘single fund’. They also propose that at least 20% of the appropriations allocated to cohesion, rural development and fisheries be devoted to integrated territorial development strategies, such as the LEADER instrument for rural development, in order to guarantee the territorial anchoring of European funds.
Finally, the CoR supports the objective of simplifying the budget, but warns against a future system based on performance, to the detriment of the predictability of funds for their beneficiaries.
To consult the opinions: https://aeur.eu/f/ltw; https://aeur.eu/f/ltv; https://aeur.eu/f/ltx (Original version in Juliette Verdes)