Andrey Novakov, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Mr President, I will begin my speech with the concluding words of the rapporteur, who said that this is ‘one good report’. And indeed, I believe it is a good report, and moreover it is a timely report. Before going into detail, I would like to share a few figures with you. Almost two million citizens in Northern Ireland benefited from EUR seven billion in EU funding from 2007 to 2017. And behind these numbers, behind the statistics, there are people’s lives. People’s lives that have been changed because of EU cohesion policy.

I believe this is one of the textbook examples of how EU cohesion policy is changing the environment. Moreover, this contribution has been done with cross-financing and coordination with the Peace Programme so, yet again, the European Union has shown that it knows how to work to bring back peace – and peace is priceless.

Here, I would like to congratulate Commissioner Crețu, because she dedicated herself to a better-working cohesion policy, and I think that as we approach the end of our mandate, we can show some very good results of what the European Union has achieved with its cohesion policy.