C 61/2
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
4.2.2022
3.
stresses that the combination of falling revenues and rising expenditures put an unprecedented pressure on LRAs’ budgets, resulting in a ‘scissors effect’.
For 2020, this gap can be estimated at approximately EUR 180 billion for all EU LRAs.
This combines a EUR 124 billion expenditure increase due to measures in public health, business support and others, and a EUR 55 billion revenue fall due to decreased activity (and thus tax and fee income).
Significant national government and EU support for LRA budgets has mitigated this effect but this mitigation is very uneven across Member States and LRAs will require continued support in 2021 and beyond.
Budgetary stability has thus also been impacted, as has fiscal autonomy more broadly which can affect the efficient delivery of public services.
The revision of the European economic governance framework — which currently does not sufficiently take into account the distinction between current expenditure and long-term/sustainable investment expenditure — needs to better reflect the needs of LRAs.
In particular, a golden rule of sustainable public investment needs to be established and exclude net public investment from deficit calculations in the Stability and Growth Pact;
4.
reaffirms the need to involve LRAs in the evaluation and the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and more specifically of its main operational tools — National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs).
As feared in the first edition of the Barometer, this involvement has proved limited: a very small number of Member States have detailed the involvement of their LRAs in their consultation process or have systematically described the role of LRAs for each policy field.
This lack of involvement is of concern given that LRAs are key drivers for public investment and that the very objectives of the RRF are of particular relevance for LRAs according to the breakdown of competences.
Argues that the ways in which the NRRPs have been drawn up and the LRAs have been involved are not conducive to promoting ownership of the recovery plans.
Many country-specific recommendations were not followed up due to the lack of ownership and involvement of the LRAs in the European Semester;
5. emphasises that NRRPs also represent a crucial opportunity to push the green recovery forward.
More than half of the key topics of the Green Deal are fully integrated in the NRRPs analysed in a recent CoR study and the green transition absorbs on average 41 % of the budget in the NRRPs.
With 75 % of EU citizens living in urban areas (which produce most of the greenhouse gas emissions) and with a quickly increasing number of LRAs committed to act, LRAs are at the forefront of climate action.
LRAs must consequently be full-fledged partners when it comes to the development and implementation of Green Deal initiatives — especially in policy areas such as renovation of buildings, sustainable mobility or urban greening for instance.
They are also particularly well placed to ensure consistent use of the recovery funds with ESI Funds (including the Cohesion Fund and the ERDF);
6. underlines that climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as environmental preservation and restoration, are key elements of building more resilient and sustainable societies and economies — as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation vary significantly depending on the geographic, economic and social specificities of European areas; reiterates that efficient climate and environmental action calls for the full application of multi-level governance and calls on the Commission and Member States to fully integrate the sub-national level within the European Green Deal policies; highlights that climate change and biodiversity are global challenges and that 2021 is a crucial period for advancements in global concerted climate action for the formal recognition of LRAs’ contributions, within the UNFCCC COP26 and UN CBD COP15 as the focal points.
The CoR will explore working with partners, such as the European Commission, UNDRR and Joint Research Centre, to establish a ‘Regional Resilience Platform’.
The Platform aims to support local and regional authorities in strengthening their resilience against future crises in areas such as natural disasters, climate change and health by gathering data and best practices;
7. regrets that, in 2020, the unemployment rate increased in the majority of the EU NUTS 2 regions and that young people are particularly affected by this deterioration after several consecutive years of improvement.
To ensure that the ‘new normal’ in working, living and travelling in the EU does not leave anyone behind, a serious discussion on economic, social and territorial cohesion as well as cohesion as an overall value of the EU is needed.
The Social Summit in Porto and the Subsequent Porto Social Commitment must pave the way for strengthening the social dimension of the EU and efforts must not be spared to achieve the targets it has set for 2030.
Specific measures for population groups at risk should be developed.
For instance, all young people should have access to the Erasmus+ programme and every young European should have a ‘minimum qualifications and skills guarantee’ recognised in all Member States;