Commission’s budget plans endanger the European project, says regions chief

BRUSSELS ― The European project will be “put in jeopardy” if the Commission takes power away from local bodies to dictate how EU funds should be spent, the bloc’s regions chief said.

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on Monday, Vasco Alves Cordeiro, president of the European Committee of the Regions,​​​​ highlighted the move would amount to “the complete obliteration of the role and the participation of regions and cities in the future of cohesion policy [EU funding to poorer regions] and that is not acceptable.”

Cordeiro’s comments come in response to news the EU executive plans to link its next budget, which runs from 2028-2034, to how well countries implement key economic reforms, as revealed by POLITICO.

The concern is that regional bodies will be forced to forgo control over how funds are spent to national governments to better incentivize reform implementation. Specifically, the document recommends that 530 distinct EU programs that benefit regions directly be merged into a single cash pot for each country.

Suggested conditionality includes linking social housing funds to progress on closing the gender pay gap and access to agricultural funds to the promotion of organic farming.

The Commission argues such terms should increase the effectiveness of the EU’s cohesion investments ― which are designed to improve economic convergence ― and improve productivity across the bloc.

Cordeiro said: “This news, if true, puts in jeopardy the future of the European project, because they will exclude regions and cities instead of including them.”

The regions chief added he resented being cut off from the document’s preparation. It’s “not reasonable” to send out an informal document “to see what’s the reaction, and then to move on,” the EU regions chief added.

The Commission is floating a number of different options in preparation for its formal budget proposal next year which will have to be unanimously approved by EU countries before the end of 2027.