Press

Vote on the Common Provisions Regulations on EU Funds

Since 2012 Social Platform has supported the Commission’s proposal to ensure a minimum allocation of 25% of the cohesion policy funds to the European Social Fund (ESF). At a time when Europe is facing its highest unemployment rate in 15 years and 120 million Europeans are at risk of poverty – we are disappointed that today the European Parliament (the Committee on Regional Development) adopted a compromise that sets the allocation at 23,1%.

The ESF is the major EU instrument for investment in human capital which has the best impact in terms of medium term growth. The Commission’s original proposal of 25% reflected the importance of jobs, human capital and the social inclusion of people who are most in need in our societies. However an allocation of 23,1% actually results in a 7 billion euro loss to the ESF (due to overall cuts to the cohesion policy funds).

“Pressure from member states on the Parliament has led to a loss of 7 billion euros in the envelope for the ESF. This is unacceptable at a time when the social and employment situation is worsening everywhere in the EU, with an increasing divide between Northern and Southern countries and Eastern and Western countries” said Heather Roy, President of Social Platform. ”Such a reduction will have severe consequences for reaching the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy targets on employment, education and poverty”.

The cohesion funds are the most important financial instrument for social and economic development of the EU and represent the main source of public funding at national, regional and local level, as national support has been cut as a consequence of the crisis and austerity measures. While the minimum share allocation to the ESF is an unprecedented move, it is overshadowed by the overall reduction of the cohesion budget. Social Platform regrets that member states continue to underestimate the role of the EU budget as an essential tool for the implementation of EU common objectives at European and national level and the importance of the Cohesion funds and the ESF in tackling the social and employment situation in Europe.

We welcome that a clause has been added to ensure that member states do not allocate fewer resources to the ESF in the next period than what they are currently doing and we hope that the new rules on flexibility will be used in the future to foresee additional appropriations to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of the ESF.