On 13 February, the Committee of the Regions' Ad hoc commission on the EU budget (BUDG) held its first meeting in 2014. The meeting gathered prominent participants, including EU Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, Mr Janusz Lewandowski, chair of the budget control committee in the European Parliament, Mr Michael Theurer, Deputy Director General of DG Financial Programming and Budget, Mr Manfred Knaff, as well as representatives of the Court of Auditors, European Commission's Secretariat General, Centre for European Policy Studies and Institute for European Environmental Policy.
The meeting saw dynamic discussion with Commissioner Lewandowski on the Multiannual Financial Framework and future challenges for its implementation. Mr Rhodri Glyn Thomas, European Alliance group's representative at the meeting particularly drew Commissioner's attention to the challenges stemming from co-financing rules for projects which, particularly in times of austerity, pose a real stumbling block for many local and regional authorities. He stressed that local authorities often find it very difficult to provide their co-financing share which slows down absorption of funds and even prevents some projects from being executed as in the case of recent storms in Wales.
