{"id":419283,"date":"2025-02-20T13:43:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T12:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/02\/20\/coesione-kata-tutto-moreno-bonilla-cdr\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T15:06:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T14:06:41","slug":"kata-tutto-elected-president-of-the-committee-of-the-regions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/02\/20\/kata-tutto-elected-president-of-the-committee-of-the-regions\/","title":{"rendered":"Kata T\u00fctt\u0151 elected president of the Committee of the Regions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – Handover at the head of the Committee of the Regions (CoR)<\/strong>\u00a0and already the new chair, Kata T\u00fctt\u0151,<\/strong> a Hungarian socialist, is making the position of local authorities clear by confirming the line of her predecessor: no to the centralization of cohesion policy<\/strong>, yes to more flexibility in managing\u00a0generous European funds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The relay between the outgoing legislature and the newly inaugurated one at the CoR occurred this morning (Feb. 20) during the plenary session at the European Parliament hemicycle in Brussels. The Social Democrats entirely lead the event. Vasco Alves Cordeiro,<\/strong> former president of the Azores who has led the institution since 2022, has stepped down, with Kata T\u00fctt\u0151,<\/strong> former deputy mayor and current City councilor of Budapest, <\/strong>succeeding him.<\/p>\n

T\u00fctt\u0151 will alternate with her deputy, the Popular Moreno Bonilla<\/strong> (president of Andalusia), in the mid-term to head the institution representing the EU’s territories and local autonomies<\/strong> from now until 2030. The agreement reached between the\u00a0Populars of the EPP<\/strong> and Socialists of the PES<\/strong> follows the tradition\u00a0of tradition at the CoR, where the two largest groups share the two-and-a-half-year mandate at the committee’s helm.<\/p>\n

Centralization vs. flexibility<\/h3>\n

“Cohesion policy is Europe’s most important stabilization instrument<\/strong>, economically, socially and territorially,” the new president told the House, adding that this instrument “needs to be calibrated and recalibrated continuously<\/strong>.” Therefore, she calls for greater “flexibility”\u00a0<\/strong>of regional policy (which commits about one-third of the community budget<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

In other words, decentralization is key.<\/strong> Cohesion “cannot be overly centralized or controlled<\/strong> because then it becomes rigid, and when it becomes rigid, it fails to achieve its purpose, which is to help us manage this epochal transformation” that the Old Continent is going through, between geo-strategic threats<\/strong>, economic upheavals,<\/strong> and green and digital transitions,\u00a0<\/strong>T\u00fctt\u0151 explained.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Moreno<\/a>
First deputy president of the Committee of the Regions, Moreno Bonilla (photo: John Thys\/European Parliament)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reference, once again, is to the alleged intention<\/a> of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, <\/strong>to\u00a0revolutionize the upcoming 2028-2034\u00a0multi-annual budget <\/strong>for the period (MFF). Media reports, which the\u00a0Berlaymont\u00a0never officially denied, speak of restructuring the EU budget along\u00a0the Recovery fund model: <\/strong>no longer a plethora of European programs, but 27 national plans centrally managed by member state governments, <\/strong>an idea that has already raised some eyebrows<\/a>\u00a0among some local bodies.<\/p>\n

T\u00fctt\u0151 doubled down at a press conference shortly after her election. The fearful centralization<\/strong> “has its usefulness,” she conceded. But “it brings rigidity<\/strong>, whereas when there is a need to adapt to as many fast changes as we are experiencing,\u00a0it is necessary to be flexible<\/strong>,” she reiterated, assuring that with the CoR (but also with “all other mayors and local politicians” not represented at the committee) “we fight”\u00a0any centralizing moves<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The role of the territories (and of Fitto)<\/h3>\n

\n

“We want to improve these policies because we want to ensure the security of our citizens<\/strong>,” she continued, stressing that “you cannot change cohesion policy without understanding our realities,” without listening to the direct emanation of the voice of European communities. “We cannot neglect the territories<\/strong>,” she repeated, warning that if local realities are overlooked, “European decision-making loses its connection” with citizens.<\/p>\n

It is a warning not only to von der Leyen but also to her executive vice president,\u00a0Raffaele Fitto<\/strong>, whose delegations to Cohesion and Reforms put him at the forefront of the hypothetical restructuring of post-2027 regional policy. “We hope Fitto has his ears open<\/strong>,\u00a0as we keep our arms open” to collaborate with the community executive, <\/strong>she said. The former president of the Puglia region will address the committee’s plenary in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"Raffaele<\/a>
The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for Cohesion and Reforms, Raffaele Fitto, in a hearing at the European Parliament’s REGI Committee on January 28, 2025 (photo: Philippe Buissin\/European Parliament)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since his new post began, Fitto seemed open<\/a> to collaborating with local authorities<\/strong>, highlighting their centrality in managing cohesion funds. However, he has not yet detailed<\/a> how he intends to “update” this important spending chapter<\/strong>, which, he said, should be “corrected” by simplifying it, increasing its flexibility, and strengthening its governance: a little more than a smoke screen,\u00a0impenetrable for now, leaving everyone on edge.<\/p>\n

Defense funds?<\/h3>\n

As for the long-discussed idea of redirecting some of the cohesion funds to the defense sector<\/strong>, T\u00fctt\u0151 stressed that “security has many dimensions<\/strong>.” “Not only border control,” she said. “There is also the social, climate, and technological<\/strong> dimension:” all areas that must remain “at the center of our thinking”\u00a0to “provide affordable homes, clean air, and transport for the citizens” of the Union.<\/p>\n

A holistic security approach\u00a0<\/strong>that also includes the protection of the Green Deal<\/strong>,\u00a0T\u00fctt\u0151 said (who describes herself as “a feminist<\/strong>,” noting the importance of a woman serving as CoR president for the second time). Its\u00a0pillars include energy security<\/strong> and “continuous adaptation” to the new realities brought about by climate change<\/strong>, as the two new leaders of the Committee know well, given their origins from regions recently affected by extreme weather events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hungarian socialist and her deputy, the popular Spanish Moreno Bonilla, already make it clear that they will fight any plans to “centralize” regional politics. And they point to a holistic approach to security, one that protects all aspects of citizens’ lives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":419277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[26958,30536,30537,30538,26656,29676],"class_list":["post-419283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-committee-regions-en","tag-kata-tutto-en","tag-moreno-bonilla-en","tag-budget-pluriennial-en","tag-raphael-fitto"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419294,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419283\/revisions\/419294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}