Adoption of the REGI opinion to the TRAN committee on the Connecting Europe Facility Regulation

Victor Bostinaru, Vice-President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament and member of the Committee on Regional Development (REGI), welcomed the adoption of the REGI opinion to the TRAN committee on the Connecting Europe Facility Regulation, for which he was the S&D rapporteur. The vote took place on Thursday in Strasbourg.

„This vote was of utmost importance in particular due to the proposed transfer of resources from the Cohesion Fund to the Connecting Europe Facility to finance cross-border projects in Member States eligible for the Cohesion Fund. I am of course in favour of implementing such projects, but this cannot be done at the expense of other key national infrastructure. We know very well how desperately Romania needs new infrastructure to further develop its economy and improve the life of the citizens. But it’s not only about the transfer of resources from the Cohesion Fund to the Connecting Europe Facility, it’s also about the way this money can then be administered and who can be the beneficiaries. I cannot accept that a country like Romania loses even just a cent of resources it is given to reduce the gap with more developed countries” said Victor Boștinaru MEP.

According to the Commission’s proposal, the resources transferred from the Cohesion Fund to the Connecting Europe Facility wouldn’t necessarily be used in the Member State they come from, with the risk of them being lost in favour of another country.

“I expressed my opposition to this transfer of resources, and all political groups agreed that such an important decision cannot be taken in the Connecting Europe Facility regulation. It has to be taken in the negotiations on the new Cohesion Policy package, including the Cohesion Fund regulation itself. Only this way can we be sure that all key aspects, including the final overall amount of Cohesion Fund resources, are taken into consideration. In any case, should this transfer finally take place, I managed to secure the compromise I already reached six years ago when I was rapporteur for the Cohesion Fund regulation and responsible for the Connecting Europe file. For the first three years of implementation the national allocations would anyway be preserved during the selection of projects, and Member State will receive all the necessary assistance to prepare a maximum number of good projects within this time-frame”.