During European Parliament's hearing, Elisa Ferreira commits to ensuring
"no region will be left behind" and that reforms must fit with principles
of cohesion
Elisa Ferreira received the backing as the EU's next Commissioner for
Cohesion and Reforms on 3 October following a hearing by the European
Parliament's Committee for Regional Development (REGI). The
Cohesion Alliance
– an EU-wide alliance calling for a stronger cohesion policy after 2020
– welcomes the commitments the Portuguese Commissioner-designate took
to protect cohesion policy after 2020 and demanded more attention be
given to the crucial role of regions and cities in shaping and
delivering EU priorities.
Cohesion policy - EU's main investment tool mobilising to deliver
inclusive and sustainable growth by involving local stakeholders – is
under threat because of budget cuts demanded by some Member States, as
well as ongoing attempts to centralise governance that would jeopardise
the involvement of regional and local governments.
The #CohesionAlliance partners therefore welcomed the
Commissioner-designate's willingness to " campaign for the highest possible financial framework" after
2020, "protect cohesion policy" and ensure "reforms and cohesion reinforce each other", with reforms " fitting the principle of cohesion". Her support for
place-based development strategies and tools has been highly
appreciated, particularly with regards to delivering EU's objectives on
climate action. In this perspective, a new place-based Just Transition
Fund can play an important role in providing additional support for
regions particularly challenged by the green transition (e.g. coal
regions). But the new instrument should not lead to further cuts of the
cohesion policy budget.
Concerns remain about the freezing of cohesion funds as a sanction to
enforce fiscal discipline and the full respect of the partnership
principle in the definition and implementation of investment plans
2021-2027. In order to secure the involvement of local and regional
governments, the Alliance calls on the incoming Commissioner to reject
any form of centralisation of the policy's governance and functioning
and ensure new provisions do not weaken its capacity to adapt to local
needs.
With regards to the funding of 2021-2027 programmes, the Alliance has
urged EU institutions to maintain at least one-third of the future EU budget for cohesion policy,
a position shared by the European Parliament. But after the European
Commission proposed a 10% cut to cohesion policy allocations, an
increasing number of Member States are demanding deeper cuts to the
Multiannual Financial Framework
2021-2027, which set annual expenditure ceilings for all EU policies.
The #CohesionAlliance will continue to call on Member States and EU
institutions to ensure Europe's citizens can rely on a impactful
cohesion policy after 2020 that is capable of reducing disparities,
supporting the clean energy transition locally, and boosting the
digitalisation of all EU's local communities. This call will be
reiterated on 7 October by over 600 politicians and 8000 policy
practitioners who will kick off in Brussels the
European Week of Regions and Cities 2019
.
Contact the secretariat:
CohesionAlliance@cor.europa.eu