In relation to the European Commission's proposal to suspend 495 million euros of the Cohesion Fund commitments in Hungary for 2013 due to the country's failure to address the excessive government deficit, all political groups in the Committee of the Regions (EPP, PES, ALDE, EA) has shared the following joint position:

The Committee of the Regions was, and still is, against macroeconomic conditionality. Even though the proposed decision concerns specifically the Cohesion Fund, which is managed by central governments, it is clear that such a measure would have a serious impact on the final beneficiaries of transport, energy, and environment infrastructure projects.

The main beneficiaries of such projects are local and regional authorities and ultimately, local communities, who have all been seriously hit by the current financial and economic crisis. Should the suspension option prevail, it is those beneficiaries who would also suffer the repercussions of the interruption of relevant long-term investment programmes.

Nonetheless, even if macroeconomic conditionality complies with the current legal framework, it is clear that the European Commission's underlying political strategy is to promote the extension of this approach to the programming period post 2013. The CoR is firmly opposed to this stance.

For more information, please contact:

Pierluigi Boda

+32 (0)2 282 2461

+32 (0)2 282 20 85