A European project of the University of Maastricht has been assured of a provincial subsidy of eight tons until the end of the year.
But a majority of the Limburg Parliament thought that the proposal by deputy Maarten van Gaans (D66) to grant 2.5 million in subsidy for the third phase of the Working on Europe project went too far.
Brightness
Parliament first wants much more clarity about what exactly will be achieved with the subsidy and how and what the effects of the project have been so far. There should be clarity about this in September, after which the Limburg Parliament will make a decision on the remaining 1.7 million subsidy until July 2024.
Blue eyes
“We are faced with a dilemma. We have no doubt that good work is being done. But we can’t believe the provincial government’s blue eyes. We lack information,” said CDA member Mirjam Depondt. “At the same time, we don’t want to kill the project. Agreements have also been made in the past. And therefore the cut in decision-making”. Depondt submitted the amendment to this effect, which was passed by 27 to 16 votes.
Opportunities
Deputy Van Gaans had to accept the political reality and spoke of an acceptable interim solution. According to him, this also gives the opportunity to make the importance of Working on Europe even more concrete and clear. The project is an initiative of the province, the municipality of Maastricht and Maastricht University and started in 2018. It builds on the fame of Limburg and Maastricht through the European Treaty of Maastricht that was signed in 1992.
This is done, among other things, through debates and research. But it also strengthens the Limburg lobby in Brussels. Among other things, to obtain subsidies and to influence policy, according to Commissioner Van Gaans.
floor drain
PVV, SVL, Forum for Democracy (FvD) and SP voted against the proposal of CDA member Depondt. In any case, they do not want to continue with the Working on Europe project. The PVV spoke of throwing money down a drain. “Many other things can be done with it than spending on elite research projects,” said PVV party leader René Claassen. FvD talked about a megalomaniac project and SVL about a project with buttery and extremely meager objectives in which the municipality of Maastricht also gave up financially. The SP also used terms such as vague and elitist. “We dare to say that this project will not be successful,” said SP member of parliament René van der Valk.