CoR: 'Investment made by regions and cities to match EU structural funds should be excluded from Stability and Growth Pact calculations'

The Bureau of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted a declaration in Turin on 12 September urging European institutions and national governments to ensure the full mobilization of EU cohesion policy investment by excluding national and regional co-financing from the deficit calculations under the Growth and Stability Pact.

With a view to the EU summit on growth scheduled for October, EU regions and cities joined the European Parliament and the Italian Presidency of the EU's efforts to re-launch investment for sustainable growth.

“In the current economic situation, regions’ and cities’ productive investment should not be subject to the Growth and Stability Pact ceilings. Local and regional authorities should instead be supported in promoting a low-carbon economy and sustainable urban development.” This was the comment made by Committee of the Regions President Michel Lebrun, after the adoption by the CoR bureau of the declaration 'Jobs in Europe – Investing in cities and regions for sustainable growth', focusing on the need to halt the decline in direct investment by local and regional authorities after a fall of more than 20% since 2010.

The announcement of the agreement on the need to exclude the co-financing of EU cohesion policy projects from the deficit calculations was made by Lebrun and Piero Fassino (IT/PES), mayor of Turin and president of the Italian Cities Association (ANCI).

Fassino underlined the major impact of the proposed measure: “After a decade of discussions, the mayors, presidents of regions and local administrators from all over Europe have agreed to this request for the first time. If the action by the Committee, the European Parliament and the Italian Presidency succeeds, regions and cities will be in a position to guarantee crucial investment for creating new jobs while boosting businesses innovation and improving the quality of life in our cities.” 

With this in mind, beside the need for greater flexibility in the Growth and Stability Pact rules, the CoR underlines the importance of promoting the use of innovative financial instruments and public-private partnership models for large-scale infrastructure investments, and taking advantage of new specific funding programmes offered by the European Investment Bank.

In this respect, the CoR President said: “All levels of government should cooperate to make sure that priorities such as youth unemployment, energy efficiency, green infrastructure, smart urban development are addressed through stable and far-sighted investment plans.”

This call was shared by CoR First Vice President Catiuscia Marini, who emphasised that: “Under the pressure of the financial crisis, several national governments have cut investment instead of reducing current expenditure. Now that the 2014-2020 programming phase is taking off, we need to promote new investment and remove the obstacles preventing regions and cities from using EU funds effectively and on time.”

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