Cohesion funding earmarked for wealthier EU countries

Question for written answer E-001932/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Jadwiga Wiśniewska (ECR)

In response to the catastrophic flooding in Central Europe, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that countries hit by the disaster would receive EUR 10 billion from the EU Cohesion Fund.

Regulation 2021/1058 specifies that the Cohesion Fund is intended to level the playing field in the common market for the less prosperous Member States. In the 2021-2027 programming period, its beneficiaries are countries whose gross national income per capita is below 90% of the EU average.

Austria, which in principle is not a beneficiary under the current programming framework, is one of the Central European countries impacted by the flooding that will receive financial aid from the Cohesion Fund.

In view of the above, could the Commission answer the following questions:

• 1.Has allocating cohesion funding to Austria reduced the amounts which the less wealthy countries are entitled to receive from the Cohesion Fund?
• 2.What will be the mechanism and the scale of the reallocation of funding under the Cohesion Fund in the 2021-2027 programming period?
• 3.Is the Commission aware that allocating cohesion funding to Austria will mean that changes will need to be made to investments being carried out and planned by eligible Member States?

Submitted: 3.10.2024