Infrastructure and budget

Vlad Gheorghe

Infrastructure and budget

Recent developments at the level of the Member States show that few European citizens understand how the European Union influences their daily lives at a pragmatic level. EU membership has increased living standards since accession in all Member States, and the Union budget has made and continues to make a major contribution to improving the quality of life of those who live, study and work in European countries. But there are certainly major differences that are reflected in all European statistics, which makes it all the more difficult to raise awareness regarding the distribution of European money and the economic and financial contribution of the Union as a whole. And beyond the actual budget allocation, this public awareness at the European level is a key objective in the context of the health, economic and social crisis we are facing. The Conference on the Future of Europe is the perfect opportunity to enhance this awareness.

What does not work?

What was originally intended to be a control key for the European Union- the multiple decision-making bodies with different decision mechanisms at the EU level – has generated much debate on excessive bureaucratisation, lack of representation, delegitimization or delayed reactions, lack of practical consequences, etc. All these, more or less well-founded, criticisms have contributed significantly to the decline in public interest in the common decision-making process, coupled with a crisis of confidence in Europe’s institutions and leaders. In many Member States, the European Parliament elections have the lowest turnout of all – this was also the case for Romania until 2019. Brexit, the rise of extremist parties, the consolidation of illiberal governments and, finally, the year 2020, when the whole world has been paralyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic represents, separately and together, the signals that the EU needs to be reformed in such a way as to be credible and have an impact on public perception in all European family countries.

From the point of view of the Union budget, relevant in this direction is the reduced role of the Parliament in the decision-making chain, although Members of the European Parliament are the only ones elected through direct vote by citizens. Moreover, the shaping of financial and economic priorities has so far been too much a result of political negotiations closed to the public, and the effective involvement of citizens in the allocation of funds for one direction or another has been completely lacking. At the same time, public consultation is not proactive, so the participation of civil society, academia, professional associations, and small entrepreneurs in setting budgetary priorities is not substantial, which makes some funding needs not to be identified or sufficiently addressed in the draft budget.

Local authorities are also scarcely consulted in the planning stage at the European level – which poses serious problems in the implementation phase because those in the local administration know best both the needs they have and the resources they need to be able to access and then implement projects financed with European money. Moreover, the training and information of civil servants and administrative staff involved in the management of European funds is a key element in ensuring a fair and complete absorption, while respecting the ethical and performance standards of the Union. However, the current mechanisms are neither sufficient nor proactive, which means that some local governments have a low success rate in using European money in the interest and benefit of the community. And the consequences do not remain exclusively at the local level but affect the Member State concerned and the Union as a whole.

The lack of an integrated approach to funding policy at the EU level has meant that much of the allocated funds have been misappropriated or wasted through corruption. In all its forms, corruption impedes or slows economic growth. Corruption costs for the EU economy are estimated at € 120 billion a year – a huge amount, which perhaps best explains why the progress of investments with European money in Member States’ infrastructure is often disappointing. Moreover, when analyzing the impact of corruption on major projects, investments in large-scale works (highways, hospitals, etc.), we cannot omit the increased risk to the security of the respective objectives of corruption in the access chain, implementation and control. This risk can even lead to the loss of human lives due to poor quality of work. Moreover, corruption not only has economic consequences, but fuels and deepens social inequalities, erodes trust in public administration, fuels populism, hate speech, extremist manifestations.

Therefore, the real cost of corruption is much higher than the dry figures in the statistics, and the impact on society is multilateral and with dangerous ramifications, especially in the medium and long term. Some European citizens – in general, those in the Member States that have most recently joined the Union – feel the consequences of corruption to a greater extent, and this creates new economic and social disparities between these countries and the rest of the EU. This whole chain of harmful effects of corruption is likely to underline the need to intervene at the level of Union policies 1. for the prevention of all crimes related to corruption involving EU funds, from fraud to organized crime groups operating across borders (as in the case of illegal waste or logging, for example) 2. for punishing those proven to be corrupt and recovering the damage.

What are our solutions?

At the end of 2020, after lengthy negotiations, the European Parliament approved the EU budget for 2021-2027 and the NextGenerationEU recovery package, both totalling a record € 1,800 billion. The USRPLUS delegation to the European Parliament and the Renew Europe Group have made a decisive contribution to changing the system for allocating European money.

Our vision is that European money must go to funding priorities consistent with the needs of citizens, not parties, governments, national or regional political alliances. The situation on paper does not accurately and/or in real-time reflect what people in the Member States expect to happen with their money, managed by those they voted to represent – either at the European level or nationally. Consequently, we have managed to allocate not only financial resources for the coming years but to truly invest in the future, in full harmony with the concerns and needs of Europeans, as well as with the principles and values that underpin the European Union. And this should be a constant principle in setting budgetary priorities, regardless of the political composition of the European Institutions in one legislature or another.

European money – regardless of source or funding program – must make a visible difference in people’s lives, which is why we argue that any budgetary policy and the major project must be aimed at: research and innovation, digitalisation, health and education, defence and security, industry and a green transition, economic cohesion, the food security of the Union, and should take into account diversity, equal opportunities and gender, with a focus on migration and the young generation (including the situation of NEETs).

We support a green Europe and we believe that any budget expenditure and any major infrastructure project must take into account the EU’s climate and biodiversity goals.

Moreover, European budgetary priorities cannot ignore what the Covid-19 pandemic has painfully pointed out – a Health Union is needed, and the money allocated to this area, including sums for attracting and training health professionals, and funding to support research and innovation must be a constant source of funding at European level.

The real involvement of the Parliament through the exercise of parliamentary control, as well as the operationalization of the European institutions and mechanisms that condition European financing to the respect of the rule of law principles constitute new measures that prevent the waste of European citizens’ money. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is an important obstacle to corruption, which makes the Member States, and the Union as a whole, vulnerable, so we support the operationalization of this new institution as soon as possible. Cooperation between EPPO, OLAF, EUROPOL, the European Court of Auditors and other relevant institutions is essential to protect European citizens and ensure the use of EU funds with unaltered results from criminal activity within a Member State and across borders.

The introduction of new own sources for revenue collection in the Union budget is a real reform of the EU, and the first step has already been taken – the new contribution for plastics, following the border adjustment of carbon dioxide emissions, a digital tax and the European system emissions trading. All these changes will bring considerable amounts to the European budget, which will become more independent and autonomous.

What will change for you?

The coronavirus pandemic is a disastrous moment in the common history of Europe, but it is also an opportunity to rebuild a stronger Union in economic, political and social terms. The post-COVID-19 recovery gives us the chance for a major change, it is the best time for those long-discussed and debated reforms that we can now put into practice. And we are forced to do so if we do not want to repeat the chaos generated by the pandemic at the next similar challenge.

The advantages of every citizen following this ambitious European budgetary reform, which will be majorly reflected in infrastructure investments, refer to the long-awaited and necessary transitions: the green and the digital one. Some of the key requirements for future funding allocations are to the EU’s environmental and digital goals – at least 37% of Member States’ recovery plans must support the green transition, and at least 20% must support the digital transformation.

Member States’ economies will be more sustainable and resilient – in short, they will be better prepared to deal with periods of constraints and gaps such as 2020, which has devastated entire industries and deepened the risk of poverty and social exclusion everywhere in the world, and Europe is no exception. It should be noted that economies are not abstract mechanisms or figures in the air – they translate into living standards, jobs, more competent generations and better adapted to and with new technologies, to an environment that favours private initiatives and entrepreneurship, and in a healthy climate, without the costs associated with pollution.

The fight against corruption through new structures at the European level and the mechanism for conditioning the allocation of resources based on the rule of law ensure that money that citizens pay in taxes and redistributed through European funding is protected from criminal activity and they will not be scattered or hijacked by irresponsible political leaders, interest groups or organized crime. And that means rapid progress and high prosperity, in line with the record level of investment in this new budget year and, most likely, with the Union’s next budget plans. Moreover, the elimination of corruption and crime is unequivocally strengthening the EU’s strategic position at the regional and global level, which translates into greater security and safety for every European citizen.

All these issues must find their place in the debates of the Conference on the Future of Europe, and the aim must be to transform the solutions identified following the consultations as permanent guiding principles. Beyond the reforms proposed by one parliamentary group or another, we must understand once and for all that coherent, sustained, real information and communication that promotes the active involvement and participation of European citizens is the only viable solution to increase confidence in the European Union and a safe and prosperous future together.

HERE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE MANIFESTO IN A PDF FORMAT

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Infrastructure and budget

Infrastructure and budget

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What are our solutions?

What will change for you?

HERE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE MANIFESTO IN A PDF FORMAT

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