Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner-designate for Cohesion and Reforms, appears before Parliament

Appearing before the European Parliament, Commissioner-designate Elisa Ferreira highlighted the crucial role of Cohesion Policy citing this “as an absolutely strategic policy for the survival of the European project”.  She further highlighted that cohesion policy must be at the top of the EU agenda.  Ms Ferreira indicated that the Commission has embedded “an outermost regions dimension” in 21 legislative proposals for EU programmes and funds after 2020.  The Commission has proposed specific conditions for outermost regions in the structural and investment funds and in other European programmes with a view to opening up a range of new opportunities for these regions.  The Commissioner-designate referred to the proposed new interregional cooperation strand which will help these regions develop links with their neighbours.  Moreover, economic integration within their neighbourhood will also be facilitated and encouraged through dedicated mechanisms within the European Territorial Cooperation Regulation.  Ms Ferreira also indicated that a special allocation has been proposed for islands falling under the category of outermost regions and sparsely populated northern regions, adding that she is “conscious of the specific needs of outermost regions, due in particular to their peripheral location”.

In response to Mr Arimont (EPP/BE), who was critical of the reduced budget proposed for Interreg, Ms Ferreira emphasised that it was not the Commission’s role to define very ambitious envelopes only to end up reducing them.  She stressed however, that the Commission has no intention to reduce the impact of Interreg.