Cretu criticised by EPP Group for failing to explain how to tackle huge delay in cohesion payments

The EPP Group has criticised Commissioner-Designate for Regional Policy Corina Creţu for not explaining how to tackle the huge delay of payments in the field of cohesion policy. The rising pile of unpaid invoices had already amounted to €23 billion by the end of last year.

"This huge backlog creates many problems, not least in the Member States already suffering from the crisis", warned Dutch MEP Lambert van Nistelrooij, EPP Group Spokesman for Regional Development, during the Hearing on Wednesday. "The payment is often well overdue, sometimes exceeding the 60-day payment deadline by several months."

Commissioner-Designate Creţu could only promise the Parliament that she would discuss the matter with her colleagues in the European Commission. Van Nistelrooij said: "It is good that Creţu is aware of the problem, but she did not come up with any crystal clear idea on how to tackle it."

Regional policy is a major priority for the EU with over €352 billion foreseen for the next 7 years to support innovative projects in the regions. This is of major importance for the development of Europe. EPP Group MEPs insisted that the Commissioner-Designate speed up the adoption of the programme for 2014-2020, which she did not promise. “The adoption of the programme is well overdue”, warned Tamás Deutsch MEP.

In her responses, Creţu showed knowledge of the dossiers, but provided very few concrete ideas for improvement.

The EPP Group was pleased however to hear the Commissioner-Designate will support zero tolerance regarding fraud and will focus more on results, communication with citizens and the simplification of procedures.

If the European Parliament gives its consent, the new European Commission will take office on 1 November.