Rasi: Countries Below EU Average Mustn't Lose Money That Helps Them to Catch Up
Countries that are still catching up with the EU average shouldn't have to bear a disproportionate share of the financial burden of funding new priorities under the EU's next budget, said House Chair Richard Rasi following the summit of the Friends of Cohesion group.
Bratislava, 13 November (TASR) - Countries that are still catching up with the EU average shouldn't have to bear a disproportionate share of the financial burden of funding new priorities under the EU's next budget, nor should they lose out on investments that help them to narrow these gaps, said House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) following the summit of representatives of the national parliaments of the Friends of Cohesion group on Friday, adding that the participants reached a common stance on this issue.
"Our shared message is simple and clear: Europe needs money for new challenges, for addressing problems and for new priorities, but this mustn't weaken cohesion policy or the CAP," said Rasi, adding that this isn't just about the size of national allocations, but also whether funding will be allocated to programmes that offer real value to individual countries.
Rasi pointed out that the 17 countries belonging to the 'Friends of Cohesion' group represent more than half of the EU's population and almost 40 percent of its GDP. "From a parliamentary perspective, we can confirm that we're ready to discuss our own new resources, but only if the overall system is fair and doesn't place a disproportionate burden on our countries," he said.
His words were echoed by Lorenzo Fontana, President of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, the largest country within the 'Friends of Cohesion' group. He stressed that the EU must take into account the complex international context, so this isn't the right time to cut back on regional development.
The summit builds upon existing cooperation within the 'Friends of Cohesion' group, whose representatives also met in Bratislava during previous budget negotiations in 2012 and 2018. The aim of the current initiative is to extend the discussion on the future EU budget to include the leadership of national parliaments. According to Rasi, national parliaments play an important role in assessing the impact of EU decisions on citizens, regions and national budgets.
In addition to the V4 countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) and Italy, the 'Friends of Cohesion' group includes Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain.
