Common position of the Regional Assemblys of Finland to the Commission and to be taken into account in further processing:
Commission proposal for an NRP jeopardizes the territoriality and democratic nature of cohesion policy.
In the preparation of the reform, the principles of multilevel governance should not be lost, let alone underestimated, the importance of local democracy in bringing European objectives to the grassroots level. The NRP Regulation must require Member States to give local democracy organisations at regional level a significant and concrete role in the drafting, decision-making and implementation of NRPs.
The regions would like the Commission to provide leadership, guidance and model plans as a basis for the practical work of the Partnership Plans. The role of the regions in Article 6 of the Regulation should be such that the regions are negotiating, deciding and implementing the plan. Article 21 provides that the future NRP shall include regional chapters. Compliance in cooperation in cooperation with multi-level governance must be clearly defined in the regulation.
Predictability of funding
In addition to the shrinking regional development budget, national envelopes make it difficult to assess the funding allocated to regions for their regional development tasks. The Commission should therefore earmark not only cohesion regions but also transition and more developed regions in order to promote EU objectives and generate European added value.
Demonstration of results
NRPP funds should be directed towards promoting long-term structural change and resilience. Funding in the form of envelope support shall not be allocated to the resolution of sudden crises or exceptional circumstances. The ratio of uncommitted assets to NRP should be reduced from 25% to 10%. If uncommitted funds are left in the financial framework, their flexible use should be decided at local level. This will ensure an efficient and effective allocation of funds to implement long-lasting structural change and increase Europe’s resilience.
The Commission should also propose indicators that respond to the principle of subsidiarity and take account of developments at regional level. In line in cooperation in cooperation with TEU, we call on the Commission, together in cooperation in cooperation with the regions, to outline qualitative and quantitative indicators at NUTS3 level to monitor the progress of the NRP.
Focus and concentration
Each Member State's NRP should be free to choose which points of Article 3 of the NRP Regulation to implement in the plan. This avoids the fragmentation of small assets. The decreasing funding also makes it completely unrealistic to bring in new tasks that were not previously under shared management to be financed by the national plan.
