A real partnership between different levels of
governance is key to identifying priorities and
targeting effective investments in European territories
The plenary of the European Committee of the
Regions (CoR) adopted the opinion on the effective
engagement of local and regional authorities in the
cohesion policy programmes for the 2021-27 period,
drafted by Juraj Droba (SK/ECR), President of the
Bratislava Region. In supporting this opinion, CoR
members ask for the full respect of the
"partnership principle" and its implementation
under the new instruments financed by Next
Generation EU, such as the Just Transition Fund and
the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
With a total of
€392 billion for the 2021-2027 period
, cohesion policy is the main investment policy of the
European Union. Partnership agreements and operational
programmes are the cornerstones of cohesion policy,
laying out Member States' strategies on how to use
structural funds to strengthen economic, social and
territorial cohesion by reducing disparities between
regions. In order to ensure that cohesion policy
successfully meets citizens' needs on the ground, the
full involvement of local and regional authorities,
socio-economic partners and civil society at all stages
of the preparation and implementation of these key
documents is of paramount importance.
Juraj Droba
(SK/ECR), President of the Bratislava Region and
rapporteur of the
opinion
adopted by the CoR Plenary,
said: "
I would like to stress the importance of involving
regional and local authorities in the negotiations
on the new programming period at the EU level. The
regional dimension and solid data are often missing
in the debates between governments and the European
Commission. Therefore, the voice of the regions and
cities must be strengthened
."
The opinion is built on the results of a
recent study commissioned by the CoR
, which shows that the involvement of partners in
preparing the new 2021-27 programming period has
improved only slightly compared to the previous
2014-2020 period. The study found that the potential of
partnerships is still under-exploited in a number of
countries with some local and regional authorities
still lacking direct involvement in all stages of the
programming periods.
Local and regional leaders call for the partnership
principles to be fully implemented under new
instruments such as the
Just Transition Mechanism
, the
Recovery and Resilience Facility
(RRF) financed under
Next Generation EU
, the recovery plan for Europe. Moreover, they point to
the major impact that the RRF will have on cohesion
policy and to the risk of possible duplications and
inconsistencies between these instruments which would
undermine the effectiveness of EU investments.
CoR members stress that differences in the timing of
the preparation of national recovery and resilience
plans and partnership agreements may, in some cases,
hinder effective institutional coordination and limit
the search for synergies. The potential priority of RRF
funding over cohesion policy, owing to the pressure for
rapid implementation and take-up, may reduce the
activities in the programming and implementation of
cohesion policy 2021-27, contributing to further delays
and take-up of cohesion funding. Therefore, they urge
that main strategic documents for the new programming
period be adopted without delay so that implementation
can get under way as soon as possible.
Moreover, local leaders warn against trends towards
centralisation in the programming and implementation of
structural funds as a result of the pandemic and the
parallel running of two programming periods (resources
from the 2014-20 programmes can be spent until 2023).
The CoR calls on the European Commission to closely
monitor the application of the partnership principle
both in informal negotiations with the Member States
and in the assessment of draft partnership agreements
and operational programmes, and to provide
recommendations to Member States and relevant
authorities to improve partnership processes;
Background:
The CoR plenary takes place during the
19th European Week of Regions and
Cities
, co-organised by the CoR and the European Commission,
which runs from 11 to 14 October. The implementation
and delivery of the new cohesion policy 2021-2027 will
be discussed also during a joint meeting of
the European Parliament's Committee for Regional
Development (
REGI
) and the CoR's commission for Territorial Cohesion
Policy and EU Budget (
COTER
), with the participation of Commissioner for Cohesion
and Reforms Elisa Ferreira. The meeting can be followed
here
.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole
entry into force of the new cohesion policy
legislation, as well as the submission of partnership
agreements by Member States to the European Commission,
has been delayed. The
regulation 2021-27
entered into force on 1 July 2021 and only the
partnership agreement from Greece
has been adopted by the Commission
so far.
Contacts:
Matteo Miglietta
Tel. +32 (0)470 895 382
matteo.miglietta@cor.europa.eu