Rapporteur in his draft opinion
• Welcomes the review report, which provides a useful update and overall assessment on the state of play of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and fulfilling the obligations of the Regulation, but notices the report lacks critical, more in-depth information needed to get a better picture on the actual implementation at the local and regional level;
• Considers it a missed opportunity, the requirements of Article 16 of the Regulation notwithstanding, that no qualitative analyses are included in the review report. It is therefore unclear how the European Commission (EC) will monitor the progress being made at the qualitative level of the RRF investments and the long-term national reforms and how Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) will be involved in this process;
• Agrees with the EC that the success of the RRF depends on the close involvement of social partners, civil society, LRAs, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Only mentioning them collectively, often under the umbrella term 'stakeholders', is not enough. A cost-efficient and democratic implementation should go hand in hand with the full application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality which are anchored in the Treaty on European Union;
• Reiterates that LRAs are most aware of the specific needs and challenges of citizens and businesses. As most of the NRRPs and objectives are formulated centrally without the local and regional level being consulted, they are often not in line with local, regional, place-based needs and their unique assets;
• States that LRAs have, in the execution of many RRF projects and programmes, legislative powers that are key for a successful implementation of the RRF. Therefore, it is essential that local and regional authorities are directly involved in the implementation of the NRRPs in line with the degree of economic, fiscal and financial autonomy provided by their national legal framework and the subsidiarity principle;
• Regrets that the proposal in recital 34 of the RRF Regulation underlining the importance of involving LRAs has been neglected in most EU countries, even though LRAs are responsible for 53% of public investment in the EU and have key remits to implement policies related to the six pillars of the NRRPs;
• Emphasises that in order to ensure proper implementation and monitoring of the NRRP and an adequate take up of RRF funds, Member States should facilitate the improvement of LRAs' administrative capacities in order to achieve efficient use of public funds;
• Urges the European Commission to present stricter guidance to Member States and to encourage them to report in detail in their annual national reform programmes (NRPs) on the consultations with LRAs and stakeholders, in the spirit of Article 18(4)(q) of the RRF Regulation;
• Highlights that the scoreboard on measuring the progress of implementation of the NRRPs defined in Article 30 of the Regulation could be further developed to ensure that the "territorial dimension" is properly reflected. We need to assure an integrated monitoring process, with the involvement of LRAs and an objective approach to implementation; this should not lead to an excessive administrative burden for LRAs;
• suggests creating an inter-continental platform for exchange of best practices in the development of VLRs or VSRs, between European cities and cities from other locations, establishing Europe as a leader on this topic; such a platform can count on the coordination of the CoR.
Adoption timetable:
- adoption in commission 07 December 2022,
- adoption in plenary in 8-9 February 2023.