Regional Body Criticizes EU Spending Plans

The European Committee of the Regions says it is highly critical of the EU’s new long term budget plans.

The Committee’s president Kata Tutto said that

“after months of unjustified secrecy”

The European Commission had delivered a

“complicated and divisive proposal that puts at risk the role of regions and cities in the European project.”

The CoR, which is based in Brussels, is the body that represents towns and cities all over the EU.

The EU itself strongly defends the MFF saying it is “ambitious and dynamic” and a European Commission spokesman said the framework will equip Europe with a long-term investment budget “matching its ambitions to be an independent, prosperous, secure, and thriving society and economy over the coming decade.”

EC president Ursula von der Leyen agrees, insisting that the new long-term budget will

“help protect European citizens, strengthen Europe’s social model and make our European industry thrive.”

“In a time of geopolitical instability, the budget will allow Europe to shape its own destiny, in line with its vision and ideals. A budget that supports peace and prosperity and promotes our values is the best tool we can have during these uncertain times,”

She said.

But the CoR leader remains critical, adding that

“There are no guarantees that all regions will benefit of cohesion investments, there is no legal provision to define the involvement of regions in funds management, there is no willingness by the Commission to assess and monitor investments’ impact at regional and local level.”

Tutto added,

“The Commission priority seems to be increasing the share of the EU budget under its direct control while leaving Member States total flexibility on the other funds.

“In this way it interrupts its direct relation with regions, giving up on a precious cooperation that until now helped deliver EU long-term objectives on the ground. 

“If the goal was simplification, the creation of ‘Monster National Plans’ integrating cohesion, agriculture and migration funds – disconnecting their respective objectives from allocation criteria and governance arrangements – does not simplify in any way their management nor the access for beneficiaries.”

Tutto went on,

“It only simplifies the Commission’s work that would turn a blind eye on regions’ and cities’ needs and challenges. It is now crucial that the European Parliament and the Member States intervene to change in depth the proposal, allowing for a reform of Cohesion Policy conceived to empower regions and cities and not sideline them.”  

More comment came from Sari Rautio (FI/EPP), a member of the City Council of the Finnish city of Hämeenlinna and CoR rapporteur on the MFF post-2027.

Rautio said:

“The Commission’s proposal marks a fundamental shift away from the Europe we believe in – one which puts people, cities and regions at the centre. By centralising the management of funds through Single National Plans and side-lining regional programmes, this proposal risks silencing the