Thursday

7th Dec 2023

Magazine

Safeguarding European solidarity

  • Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France) is president of the REGI committee (Photo: EP)

The European Parliament's committee for regional development (REGI) does not often make headlines in Brussels' news.

However, for many Europeans it can be precisely these regional funds that make the EU the most visible force of change.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Those who visited central European countries before 2004, or 2007, and went again 10 years later, have no doubt seen the new infrastructure built with European funds.

Therefore, these so-called Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund are at the heart of European policy, aiming at more equality between regions within the EU, by trying to reduce disparities in income, wealth and opportunities.

Together, the two funds form one of the largest budget lines of the European Union.

These lines are fixed within the EU budget for seven years (2014-2020) in the so-called MultiAnnual Financial Framework, but will need to be negotiated again for the following seven years (2021-2027).

Since 2018 a new fund, the Energy Transition Fund, was put in place in order to help poorer regions to reach the climate goals through a transition to green energy.

The political control of the spending of these funds is what the REGI committee does.

According to the committee's president Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France) the main challenge for the coming five years will be controlling "the efficiency and absorption of the cohesion funds, as well as the implementation of reforms aiming at reducing the regional disparities."

Another challenge, Omarjee continued is "a just transition fund", or - in other words - finding a way that all European regions "participate in the Paris Agreement objectives".

On top of that he foresees that the "fight against urban poverty and an ambition for European islands" will top the committee's agenda for the next five years.

However, two new political realities since the implementation of the 2014-2020 budget will make the discussion on the regional funds more complicated: the migration issue that deeply divided the EU since 2015, and the call by some to put conditions on the respect for the rule of law on the distribution of structural funds.

This new reality will no doubt make the debates about regional development more political and divisive than ever.

Despite that, Omarjee hopes that within five years he can look back and say his committee has "secured a budget for cohesion that allows European solidarity to continue and to reduce territorial inequalities." He is looking forward, he continued "to prove the added value of cohesion and succeed in the objective of simplification."

The coordinators of the REGI committee are Andrei Novakov (EPP, Bulgaria), Constanze Krehl (S&D, Germany), Ondrej Knotek (Renew, Czech Republic), Niklas Nienass (Greens/EFA, Germany), Francesca Donato (ID, Italy), Raffaele Fitto (ECR, Italy), Martina Michels (GUE/NGL, Germany).

This article first appeared in EUobserver's latest magazine, Who's Who in European Parliament Committees, which you can now read in full online.

Magazine

A deep dive into the EU regional funds

While the regional funds account for a full third of the EU budget, they are somewhat under-reported. EUobserver's latest edition of the Regions & Cities magazine looks at the EU's cohesion policy.

Opinion

Cohesion funds alone won't fix EU 'brain drain'

Internal movement will cause a radical reshuffling of the EU population by 2060 unless trends moderate. Under current conditions, dramatic population reductions await Romania (-30 percent), Croatia (-30 percent), and Lithuania (-38 percent) among others.

Magazine

Six priorities for human rights

Belgian socialist MEP Marie Arena is chairing the European Parliament's sub-committee on human rights. Her biggest challenge? Finding ways to reach objectives that cover an enormous spectrum of issues - from climate to child protection.

Magazine

EU must manage climate and industry together

For Romanian centre-right MEP Adina-Ioana Valean, the previous chair of environment committee and current chair of industry, research and energy (ITRE), climate and industrial policy-making must go hand-in-hand to bring sustainability and prosperity to Europe.

Magazine

ENVI to deliver 'Green Deal' as main priority

The French liberal MEP Pascal Canfin, who is chairing the European Parliament's committee on environment, public health, and food safety, is adamant to deliver the Green Deal quickly - because "we cannot afford to waste time".

Magazine

Welcome to the EU engine room

Welcome to the EU engine room: the European Parliament (EP's) 22 committees, which churn out hundreds of new laws and non-binding reports each year and which keep an eye on other European institutions.

Magazine

Which parties and countries chair the EP committees?

Although the European Parliament tries to keep a geopolitical balance within the committees, the breakdown of the actual chairs of the committees by political party and nationality is uneven - with a clear under-representation of central and eastern EU countries.

Latest News

  1. EU suggests visa-bans on Israeli settlers, following US example
  2. EU ministers prepare for all-night fiscal debate
  3. Spain's Nadia Calviño backed to be EIB's first female chief
  4. Is there hope for the EU and eurozone?
  5. Crunch talks seek breakthrough on EU asylum overhaul
  6. Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies
  7. 'Green' banks lend most to polluters, reveals ECB
  8. Tense EU-China summit showdown unlikely to bear fruit

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us