Question for oral answer O-000030/2020 to the Commission
Rule 136
Sandra Pereira, João Ferreira, Andris Ameriks, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Radan Kanev, Gabriel Mato, Inma Rodríguez-Piñero, Pernando Barrena Arza, François Alfonsi, Niyazi Kizilyürek, Robert Hajšel, François-Xavier Bellamy, Marisa Matias, José Gusmão, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, Álvaro Amaro, Nuno Melo, Maria da Graça Carvalho, Sara Cerdas, Sira Rego, Manu Pineda, Giorgos Georgiou, Tudor Ciuhodaru, Nora Mebarek, Viktor Uspaskich, Miguel Urbán Crespo, Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, Leila Chaibi, Clare Daly, Younous Omarjee, Isabel Carvalhais, Aurore Lalucq, Stéphane Bijoux, Franc Bogovič, Idoia Villanueva Ruiz, Eric Andrieu, Clara Aguilera, David Cormand, Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé, Marie Toussaint, Cristina Maestre Martín De Almagro, Corina Crețu, Mick Wallace, Irène Tolleret, Francisco Guerreiro, Monika Beňová
In its proposal for a Regulation COM (2018) 0394 on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2021-2027, the European Commission proposes a 3,9% cut in the budget allocation to the Support for outermost regions, facing remoteness, insularity or a difficult climate - POSEI.
The Outermost Regions (ORs) have obvious specific constraints: distance, dispersion and limited and dependent markets. These constraints demand the existence of positive policies and investments that can counter-trends of economic, social and demographic depression. The application of EU structural funds dedicated to the development of the ORs - empowering the productive sector in these regions, increasing the scope and quality of public services, improving their connectivity through accessible transport or protecting their ecosystems and traditional human practices - is, thus, essential to combat the different levels of isolation to which these regions are subject.
This cut to the POSEI budget, in addition to the cuts proposed in CAP and the cohesion funds, is objectively contrary to the needs of the economy of the ORs and to its sustainability. It is contrary to the strategic development that these regions need.
Regardless of the original proposal, the European Commission, in its previous and current configuration, has issued several communications referring to the willingness to revert this proposal and maintain the level for POSEI funding, for the next Financial Framework and the transition period.
The European Parliament and several Member States have also expressed their opposition to these cuts.