Parliament and European Funds: The participation of the Cortes de Aragón in the financial policy of the European Union

Abstract

The Recovery Plan for Europe, Next Generation EU, a temporary instrument to promote recovery with a total of 2,018 billion euros (trillion in Anglo-Saxon accounting), together with the long-term budget of the European Union, constitutes, in the words of the European Commission, the «largest stimulus package ever financed».

The different levels of government that in the European Union concur in the elaboration and execution of the community norms face at this moment a common challenge: to reverse the negative consequences of a global health crisis. The complexity of the social, economic and political challenges requires the necessary involvement of all levels of government in the definition, management and evaluation of community policies. Transforming the serious economic and social consequences of COVID-19, investing unprecedented economic resources in the future of the next generations, is a task that falls to all institutions in the ambitious aim of achieving a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.

European affairs have long been on the agenda of the regional parliaments. The existence of specialized study bodies such as the Subcommittee on European Affairs of the Cortes de Aragón allow adequate monitoring of European issues. There are various networks and mechanisms of inter-parliamentary cooperation of which the Aragonese Parliament is a part and with whose participation it seeks to strengthen the policies of the European Union.

Along with traditional parliamentary functions, the regional dimension of subsidiarity incorporated by the Lisbon Treaty offers autonomous parliaments instruments for a more active participation in the European decision-making process. The experience accumulated since 2009 by the Cortes de Aragón, thanks to its participation in the early warning system, has allowed it to concentrate its work today on those issues that the Subcommittee on European Affairs has selected for its greater interest for the aragonese citizenship.

The traditional rendering of accounts in parliamentary headquarters and the exercise of instruments of control over the action of the government in the application of European funds are essential elements for the governance of community funds.