Question écrite de
Mme Sandra PEREIRA
-
Commission européenne
Subject: Cohesion policy in the outermost regions
The recently published study ‘Cohesion Policy in the outermost regions’ includes the following recommendations for policies affecting those regions:
- adding flexibility and tailoring to cohesion policy and other EU policies to achieve complementarity among EU funds;
- supporting transport development (for example, by way of a new POSEI-like transport programme).
The study’s executive summary also mentions the need to use more tailored approaches and territorialise cohesion policy.
All of this demonstrates the need to set up specific, tailor-made financial instruments for the outermost regions and go further than the positive discrimination those regions have when accessing those instruments. These conclusions respond to what outermost regions’ residents and authorities have been calling for, as well as recurrent proposals made in a variety of facets of the European Parliament’s work, such as setting up a POSEI-Transport and a POSEI-Fisheries.
In light of the above:
1. How does the Commission see the idea of setting up the above-mentioned funds (or any others it sees fit)?
2. What timetable could be adopted for setting up those funds, following the content of the study?
Submitted:8.2.2024
Answer given by Ms Ferreira on behalf of the European Commission
(4 April 2024)
The Commission agrees on the need for tailored and place-based approaches for the outermost regions. Cohesion policy includes means to design and implement such tailored approaches, and various EU funds and programmes provide specific conditions and opportunities for these regions.
The Commission has adopted a renewed Strategy for the outermost regions in 2022 (1) and earmarked EUR 16 billion for them in 2021-2027, under cohesion, agriculture and fisheries policies.
Moreover, these regions’ specificities are being embedded in EU policies, legislative proposals and programmes, as envisaged in the above-mentioned Communication.
Several EU funds support transport in the outermost regions. The European Regional Development Fund can finance, exclusively for these regions, airport infrastructure and compensate for their higher operating costs in transport.
The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) supports transport infrastructure with higher co-financing rates in these regions, and the revised Trans-European transport network Regulation increases the number of ports, airports, and urban nodes eligible for CEF funding.
The outermost regions further benefit from a specific envelope under the European Fund for Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture, with higher aid intensity rates, to offset the additional costs of remoteness and implement regional blue economy strategies with dedicated action plans.
Proposals for new programmes can feed into discussions on the post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework. The Commission favours complementarities and synergies in making the most of all opportunities under EU funds.
1 ∙ ⸱ COM(2022)198 final: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022DC0198 | | ( | | )