04/16/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/16/2024 03:59
A new CoR-CEMR consultation shows that the territorial allocation of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility is widely perceived as unbalanced on the ground.
On the eve of a crucial meeting of European heads of state and government focused on competitiveness, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) unveil the results of their third joint survey on the implementation of the post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RFF).
While the implementation of the RRF is at the halfway point, regions and cities still feel left aside from National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs). A new consultation conducted jointly by CoR and CCRE-CEMR confirms the highly centralised management of the RRF by Member States.
Key findings
Complete findings of the consultation.
Quotes
Christophe Rouillon (FR/PES), Mayor of Coulaines and CoR's rapporteur on the Mid-term evaluation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, said: "The results of the joint consultation underscore that the RRF is not the silver bullet it was claimed to be. The RRF was the appropriate response in a multi-crises context and will probably have had a positive macroeconomic impact. However, the centralisation it brought about as well as the deficiencies of the performance-based mechanism cannot be extrapolated to the future Cohesion Policy post-2027, if we do not want to put at risk that this policy remains the most efficient EU policy for delivering fair transitions throughout all EU regions."
Kamila Bláhová, Vice-president for European Affairs, Union of Towns and Municipalities of SMOCR(CZ), stated: "The RRF and the national recovery plans of the Czech Republic have a huge potential to support the efforts of local and regional governments aimed at revitalizing the local economy and green infrastructure investments at the local level. However, the issue of administrative capacity and poor synergies between the RRF and other EU funds present significant challenges. It's crucial to optimize how subnational governments can maximise the use of this substantial funding source and that we address these any shortcomings as the RRF moves forward."
Background
The consultation was conducted between January and March 2024, collating the views and experiences of 36 organisations representative of a variety of subnational government levels across 22 EU Member States. The respondents were from: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden. The geographical composition of the respondents was not identical to that of previous consultations. Responses received from individual local and regional governments were also taken into account.
Results of the previous CoR-CEMR joint consultations (January 2021and April 2022).
Contacts:
Matteo Miglietta - CoR
Tel. (+32) 470 895382
[email protected]
Fiorella Lavorgna - CCRE-CEMR
Tel (+32) 2 500 05 35
[email protected]