MEPs approve Cohesion Policy deal with Council
The Regional Development Committee of the European Parliament has endorsed the deal struck with the Council of the European Union on the reform of key regulations covering all EU funds. This clears the last hurdle before the full Parliament votes on the new Cohesion Policy for 2014-2020, paving the way for the €325bn investment tool for EU regions.
Committee chair Danuta Hübner said: “These funds deliver major investment in times of the economic crisis. After more than a year of negotiations with the Council and the European Commission, we have been able to agree to a reform of EU regional policy which focuses investment on key areas for growth and jobs as outlined in the Europe 2020 strategy through a common set of rules which apply to all EU Funds, thus leading to considerable simplification.”
The Committee’s negotiating team agreed key concessions on the outstanding issue of ‘Macroeconomic conditionalities’ following talks with member states. The mechanism can trigger the suspension of funds in the event of a macroeconomic imbalance or an excessive budget deficit and, as a result, Parliament will in future be able to exercise its right of scrutiny over all decision-making procedures affecting the suspension of funds in a structured dialogue with the Commission. In addition, the suspension of funds will now be adjusted in line with the social and economic circumstances present in the member state concerned.
MEPs also succeeded in changing the name of the ‘Macroeconomic Conditionalities’ mechanism to “measures linking effectiveness of European Structural and Investment Funds to sound economic governance”.
“We were the only institution fighting for years against the ‘Macroeconomic Conditionalities’. Not one member state in the Council (nor the Commission) has ever supported the Parliament’s position, and we have here a huge success, with the opinion of the EP having to be taken into account, and all safeguards introduced in the mechanism,” said Hübner.
MEPs also agreed to raise the annual pre-financing rates which will provide regions with sufficient resources to kick-start investment and contribute to the efforts to overcome the economic crisis.
The draft reports on the Common Provisions Regulation as well as the other regulations in the legislative package on Cohesion Policy reform are scheduled for a first-reading vote in plenary during the November session next week.