The Danish minister for European affairs has set the record straight on his country’s supposed lack of commitment to reforming the Union's cohesion policy. Addressing the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development (REGI), on January 25, Nicolai Wammen said he wanted to “refute the myth that Denmark as a net contributor is not interested in advancing negotiations on cohesion policy.” He added that “This is the antithesis of the truth. We will make every effort to achieve results”. Reforming EU policy will be “crucial to preparing Europe for the challenges of the future,” he told the committee.

MEPs did not hesitate to remind Wammen of Poland’s strong commitment to this dossier – and the close relations that Elzbieta Bienkowska, the Polish minister for regional development, established with the Commission – as well as to let him know that they expected no less of him.

There was some scepticism among MEPs, however, who questioned why, in contrast to other member states that have held the Presidency of the EU, Denmark has not organised informal ministerial meetings on regional policy, and reminded the minister of the importance of making progress on this issue in the next few months.

“Otherwise, we will not be able to meet our deadlines,” said Constanze Krehl (S&D, Germany), co-rapporteur on the general regulation on EU Structural Funds.

Yet, while Wammen has guaranteed his commitment to making progress on cohesion policy and including the Parliament in the process, he has made no secret of the fact that he is expecting a difficult time with his colleagues at the Council.

On macro-conditionality (the link between the granting of funds and good economic governance), Wammen said: “It’s one of the most difficult questions. I don’t think that it will be resolved under the Danish Presidency”. On the concentration of funds according to subject, he highlighted that “We don’t have a clear-cut opinion on this subject from the Council and I don’t think this will come during the Danish Presidency.” He also drew attention to the "huge diversity" in the different categories of regions within regional policy, and the "differing opinions" on ceilings for aid (the Commission has proposed limiting the maximum aid a member state can receive to 2.5% of the GDP, which is not a profitable situation for 'new' member states).

In his response to the question on macro-conditionality, Wamme highlighted the differences between member states but avoided giving a personal opinion on what he recognised to be "one of the most difficult questions to resolve.”

However, MEPs were more forthright. “We don’t want it,” said Krehl on behalf of the Socialists, while Ramona Manescu (ALDE, Romania) said: “We question whether it is really the best option to punish beneficiaries for member states' mistakes.”