EU's regional and local leaders raised serious concerns about the
sluggish speed of the negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial
Framework (MFF), which sets the expenditure ceilings for all EU
policies over the years 2021-2027, during debates with EU budget
Commissioner Gunther Oettinger and the Chair of the
European Parliament's Committee for Regional Development (REGI), Younous Omarjee. The cuts initially
proposed by the European Commission also risk being much deeper if
Member States do not agree to increase their contributions and
introduce new revenues, such as plastic or web taxes, to fund new
policies and fill the financial gap left by Brexit.
"Austerity, stifling public investment and a lack of European
solidarity has held back economic growth, social progress and regional
equality which has exacerbated populism. The decision on the next EU
budget will now be the ultimate test of the new European leadership and
define the level of the EU's ambition for the coming years. Cuts will
hold back the ability of regions and cities to deliver an inclusive,
cohesive and sustainable future at a time when citizens demand
results", CoR President Karl-Heinz Lambertz said. He
added that EU national contributions of 1% of the EU27's Gross National
Income (GNI) – demanded by increasing number of national government–
would be "pitiful for 500 million Europeans" as he reiterated the CoR's
call for a budget worth 1.3% of EU27 GNI, a position shared by the
European Parliament
During the debate, Commissioner Oettinger explained
that without securing EU27 national contributions of at least 1.114% of
GNI in the next multiannual EU budget, as initially proposed by the
European Commission, the support for the new EU priorities would be
severely impaired. "Those who want to reduce the EU budget to 1% of the
EU27 GNI ignore the need to provide a response to Europe’s new
challenges and the Brexit gap which alone will leave a shortfall of
€84bn over the next seven years".
He called on local and regional leaders to pressure their national
governments to no longer delay making a decision on the next EU budget,
"It is already 5 to midnight. If a decision is not agreed by the end of
the year, we risk a significant delay in the start of the
implementation of the new programmes that is even more needed as Europe
is facing economic stagnation.”
REGI chair, Younous Omarjee, said: "The European
Union's goal is to build an economy that delivers cohesion, serving the
regions, territories and their citizens. Cohesion should not be at the
service of economy but, on the contrary, the economy should be at the
service of cohesion. We should not forget to remind the Heads of State
and government and the European Commission of this".
The risk of further reductions to European Structural and Investment
Funds were
also discussed
the day before on Tuesday 7 October, in a joint meeting between the
European Parliament's Committee on Regional Development and the CoR's
Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget organised in
the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2019.
Contact:
Pierluigi Boda
Tél. +32 2 282 2461
Mobile: +32 473 85 17 43
pierluigi.boda@cor.europa.eu