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THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

- reiterates its request that public spending by Member States and local and regional authorities as part of Structural and Investment Fund co-financing not be included among national or equivalent structural expenditure as defined within the Stability and Growth Pact. Such a shift would free up resources for investment, selected on the basis of European interest;

- considers important to look in more depth at the role of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund with a view to broadening their remit and bolstering their capital. The Committee points out that the launch of the programming period might be an appropriate time to establish EIB funding specifically for regional development;

- points out that the indicators used under the macroeconomic imbalance procedure introduced in the "six-pack" legislative package are exclusively economic. The Committee recommends that social, environmental and territorial indicators in line with the Europe 2020 strategy's headline targets should also be taken into account in the scoreboard used by the Commission to decide whether to issue a preventive recommendation to a Member State or, in more severe cases, to launch the macroeconomic imbalance procedure. The Committee believes that the close link between financial and fiscal objectives and cohesion policy could weaken the implementation of territorial cohesion measures;

- points out that there has been a decline in public and private investment in recent years. Tight budgets and spending cuts have seriously compromised investment in sectors capable of stimulating economic growth. In this respect, the Committee calls on the Commission to carefully assess – taking into account possible repercussions on growth and jobs – the cases involving financial corrections or suspension of payments;

- in order to ensure rapid implementation of the programmes, encourages the adoption of measures to simplify and streamline the procedures for accessing EU funding, project management and the oversight arrangements, to achieve greater efficiency;

- calls on the Commission to adopt the measures required to expedite the approval of operational programmes so that the new programming period can be launched as soon as possible;

- recommends the creation of a "Cohesion Policy Council". The Committee feels that this could raise the profile of cohesion and ensure ongoing political debate. The Committee would be willing to play an active role in the political discussions on the creation of such a structure with a view to ensuring that the point of view of local and regional authorities is fully taken on board.