Direct EU subsidies for local authorities in capital cities which have become focal points of the COVID-19 virus

Subject: Direct EU subsidies for local authorities in capital cities which have become focal points of the COVID-19 virus

The COVID-19 pandemic appeared and spread very quickly through all the Member States, which as a result are having to deal with huge economic and social damage and loss of life. Statistics from a number of sources clearly show that capital cities in the Member States are the population centres hardest hit by the crisis. As it is the governments of the Member States that decide how to use the EU funds transferred under the Commission’s Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative and the proposal on financial support from the European Union Solidarity Fund, and since, in Hungary, the dictatorial system set up by the Orbán Government means that towns and cities governed by opposition parties – including Budapest, which is the place hardest hit by coronavirus – are receiving no EU funding at all, I would like to ask the Commission the following:

Will it transfer further funding to EU capitals in the near future to tackle the crisis, so as to increase the effectiveness of anti-coronavirus measures?

In view of the problems in the distribution of funding referred to above, does the Commission agree that it is necessary to find a solution and provide assistance to settlements where opposition parties are in power in order to tackle the coronavirus crisis, the most obvious solution being to give EU financial support directly to the capitals of the Member States?

What action will the Commission take in cases where EU funding to fight the COVID-19 crisis is being distributed disproportionately and dishonestly?

Answer given by Ms Ferreira on behalf of the European Commission

(13 August 2020)

As an immediate response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Commission adopted two Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative packages (1) providing liquidity and extraordinary flexibility to Member States, based on the existing 2014-2020 national cohesion framework. It also revised its proposal for the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and proposed a major recovery plan — Next Generation EU — to address the fallout from the pandemic. All proposals aim at securing a resilient recovery, based on the twin digital and green transition.

In its proposals, the Commission sought to reinforce existing instruments and policies (e.g. cohesion policy through ReactEU) and complemented them with new instruments, as is the case of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It also proposed that new funding will be allocated between Member States to take full account of the economic and social impact of the pandemic. On 21 July 2020, the European Council largely confirmed the Commission’s approach. The co-legislators are currently discussing the sectoral proposals.

In line with shared management rules applicable to cohesion policy, Member States have the responsibility for selecting and implementing projects as well as setting up a management and control system to ensure legality and regularity of expenditure. The Commission verifies the effective functioning of this system and makes financial corrections, where necessary. The Commission will nonetheless encourage Member States to ensure that the additional resources reach the areas and sectors most severely hit by the pandemic and its economic consequences, taking into account the different regional needs and levels of development, so that no region or person will be left behind.

⋅1∙ Regulation (EU) 2020/460 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 March 2020 amending Regulations (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013 and

(EU) No 508/2014 as regards specific measures to mobilise investments in the healthcare systems of Member States and in other sectors of their economies in response to the COVID-19 outbreak (Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative); Regulation (EU) 2020/558 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2020 amending Regulations (EU) No 1301/2013 and (EU) No 1303/2013 as regards specific measures to provide exceptional flexibility for the use of the European Structural and Investments Funds in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.