Speeches

I voted for the legislative resolution approving the revision of the regulations in the field of cohesion policy so that it is aligned with the new strategic priorities of the EU and the Member States. The changes allow funds from the cohesion budget to be redirected to a number of non-neuralgic sectors: defence, security, eastern border regions and competitiveness. In the context of the mid-term review, enabled by the legal framework of cohesion policy programmes, we ensure that part of their budget can quickly go towards investments in defence capabilities, dual-use infrastructure - in particular to boost military mobility - as well as strengthening the resilience of communities in the Union's eastern border regions, which border Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. I support the additional pre-financing of 20% for the amounts reallocated to these specific priorities, the increase of the EU co-financing rates by 10% and the additional support of 9.5% for the regions on the eastern border of the Union. I also voted in favour of measures for sustainable water management, the promotion of access to affordable housing, the protection of critical energy infrastructure and the deployment of electric recharging infrastructure.