The European Committee of the Regions , during the last plenary assembly, adopted two important own-initiative opinions in view of the future arrangements of the policies of the European Union . These concern cohesion policy - the main budget item of the European Union - and competition policy , within which the state aid regulations which regulate public intervention in the sphere of productive activities are set out.
The two measures were the subject of as many amending proposals presented by the governor of Sardinia, and approved by the Committee. «We have urged the Commission – states President Solinas – to strengthen, in the legislation on state aid, the provisions of a horizontal nature for island territories, which require a specific and broader legal approach due to their discontinuity and distance from European continent".
In particular, through the opinion on the future of cohesion policy, the Committee of the Regions presents its political recommendations in view of the next regulation of the post-2027 structural funds and, in this context, on the 9th Report on the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the European Commission that precedes it, expected for spring 2024 together with the EU Strategic Agenda. A position, that of the Sardinia Region, which will be analyzed by the Commission's group of experts on the future of cohesion policy, whose work will outline the strategic directions of the next programming cycle.
The opinion on the 2022 Annual Report on Competition Policy of the European Commission, on the thirtieth anniversary of the single market, focuses on the political and legislative initiatives and decisions adopted by the European Commission in application of Community competition law in 2022. Given the importance of competition policy competition in regional policies, the Committee adopted the opinion to highlight its contribution on the future of European competition law and policy, and in particular of the rules on State aid, of primary importance for the economic development of the territories. «These are issues - concludes the President - which have a profound impact on the development potential of an island region like Sardinia, on the competitiveness factors of Sardinian businesses, and on the living conditions of our local communities».
(Unioneonline)
