The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) says it welcomes the ambition shown by the European Commission with its revised proposal for a 2021 – 2027 EU budget and Recovery Plan, presented yesterday to the European Parliament.
In particular, the CPMR welcomes the bold and novel approach which foresees the European Commission raising €750 billion to be reinvested mostly through grants via EU policies such as Cohesion Policy and reinforcing key EU programmes as the recently launched Just Transition Mechanism via the revamped MFF.
CPMR President, Vasco Cordeiro, said: “We welcome the ambition and the innovative character of this new European Commission proposal, which is about equipping Europe to deal with the present crisis but also better preparing it for the future, with an important focus on Cohesion and regions.
“This is clearly a very good step in the right direction. We also fully support the creation of REACT-EU, in line with CPMR demands, which will help mobilise a substantial amount of fresh resources bearing in mind the fact that the COVID-19 crisis is affecting European territories and regions in very different ways”.
“The overall package will also help avert a funding disruption between the two financial periods allowing for an extension of current programmes in line with CPMR demands” he added.
The CPMR welcomes the noticeable step change of the European Commission approach to supporting key European sectors and industries, including via new instruments such as the Strategic Investment Facility, as well as the fact that the proposal is geared towards ramping up investments in climate and environment priorities.
CPMR Secretary General Eleni Marianou said: “we expect the Recovery and Resilience Facility to include a strong territorial dimension and the involvement of regional authorities in the designing and implementation of the investment plans, in light of the highly differentiated impacts of the crisis across regions and territories”.
As more details will emerge in the coming days, the CPMR will remain particularly attentive to proposals linked to ‘bridging’ the current EU budget period to the 2021 – 2027 programming period and aspects linked to the distribution of the funding for REACT-EU across affected regions.
