Meeting of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Committee on Regional Development (REGI), on the Structured Dialogue - suspension of ESI Funds,&nbsp;during the EP Plenary session (03-06/10) in Strasbourg. Statements by Corina CRETU, Member of the EC in charge of Regional Policy, Fernando RUAS (EPP, PT), Ram&oacute;n Luis VALC&Aacute;RCEL SISO (EPP, ES), Jon&aacute;s FERN&Aacute;NDEZ (S&amp;D, ES), Lambert van NISTELROOIJ (EPP, NL), Ruža TOMA&Scaron;IĆ (ECR, HR), Pervenche BER&Egrave;S (S&amp;D, FR), Burkhard BALZ (EPP, DE), Younous OMARJEE (GUE/NGL, FR), and Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.

Strasbourg

EU - Spain (T)

BERÈS, Pervenche (S&D, FR)

Committee on Development

KATAINEN, Jyrki (FI, EC)

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

economic situation in Spain (T)

economic situation in Portugal (T)

FERNÁNDEZ, Jonás (S&D, ES)

EU - Portugal (T)

joint meeting

CREȚU, Corina (S&D, RO)

VALCÁRCEL SISO, Ramón Luis (EPP, ES)

TOMAŠIĆ, Ruža (ECR, HR)

Structural Funds

RUAS, Fernando (EPP, PT)

OMARJEE, Younous (The Left, FR)

van NISTELROOIJ, Lambert (EPP, NL)

structural funds (T)

regional development (T)

BALZ, Burkhard (EPP, DE)

Structured Dialogue - suspension of ESI Funds: extracts from the debate

Atmosphere shots before the start of the meeting, Commissioner Corina Creţu greeting MEPs.

SOUNDBITE (English), Corina CRETU, Member of the EC in charge of Regional Policy, The possible suspension of the funds is not a sanction. It would have been a sanction under the Stability and Growth Pact which comes automatically with a penalty.

SOUNDBITE (English), Corina CRETU, Member of the EC in charge of Regional Policy, So if we would suspend a part of 2017 that would affect only in the end of 2020, but only if the country does not take any action to comply with the regulation. I would like to assure you that both countries have still a lot of commitments for 2014, 2015 and 2016 against which the Commission will continue to make payments.

SOUNDBITE (English), Corina CRETU, Member of the EC in charge of Regional Policy, We know that the suspension is a temporary measure and I&rsquo;m very sure that it will not come to 2020 because I know that both countries committed themselves to come with a draft budget on the 15 of October so of course the Commission will lift the suspension immediately after Spain and Portugal act in compliance with the Council notice or the Council decides that the excessive deficit has been corrected.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Fernando RUAS (EPP, PT), The non-applying of the fines in the past should be enough reason for the non-applying of the suspension, otherwise this is surely leading to a ridiculous situation. And how can we explain to our citizens the total injustice of this after the years of painful sacrifice that these people have made?

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ram&#243;n Luis VALC&#193;RCEL SISO (EPP, ES), I&rsquo;m very much against these measures because they are unfair, because they come at a very bad time and because they are disproportionate. As Portugal is taking measures and Spain is doing the same, half a million jobs a year are created in Spain, reforms are being taken making Spain one of the faster growing members of the EU; now you are talking about punishing for not doing their homework and people will find it completely incomprehensible. This is the kind of action that increases populisms, that are growing and growing.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Jon&#225;s FERN&#193;NDEZ (S&amp;D, ES), If the Commission cannot avoid to initiate some kind of suspension tell us at least how you are going to do it and precisely which form it is going to take, because it should be done exclusively in a very symbolic manner.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lambert van NISTELROOIJ (EPP, NL), If I see that Portugal has so much of their public investment funds coming from Europe, you touch them in the heart! You touch the educational programmes, the rural development programmes, you touch the farmers and the energy transition, everything you say in your political thing! So the first role of this structural dialogue for me gives a clear signal: come up with something else!

SOUNDBITE (English), Ru&#382;a TOMA&#352;I&#262; (ECR, HR), The ECR recognises that a stable investment and policy environment is essential for long-term economic growth and business confidence and ensuring the smooth implementation of the EU&rsquo;s main investment tool is vital.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pervenche BER&#200;S (S&amp;D, FR), When we are talking about such a fragile economy which is working so hard to get back to a normal situation, that any kind of negative signal going out to investors really undermines the confidence that is absolutely vital for investors in the first place.

SOUNDBITE (German), Burkhard BALZ (EPP, DE), I would like to make this point very clear because that is my view of this situation and many people from my group share this view, we cannot call the Commission not to comply with its duties.

SOUNDBITE (French), Younous OMARJEE (GUE/NGL, FR), If the EU wants to open this path and go in this direction, it will be very difficult for us to defend it. Is this what we want to see after Brexit? That is a question that I want to put to you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, In the very same moment when the two governments give their budgetary plans which comply with the commitments, which comply with the fiscal path that the two governments have accepted, Commission can lift suspension. So it&rsquo;s all in the hands of the member states.