Committee of the Regions: member states must not pull back on EU cohesion funds commitments for 2015
President Lebrun: “Regions and cities are on the front-line in delivering new jobs. They must be supported by the EU budget and involved in shaping the announced EUR 300 bn EU growth plan
At the opening session of the Open Days 2014 - 12 th European Week of Regions and Cities, the President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) urged that sufficient financial resources be made available to reimburse local and regional authority expenses for EU cohesion policy co-funded projects. President Michel Lebrun also reiterated the importance of excluding from debt calculations the national and regional funds invested to match EU regional policy investment.
With 6000 EU cohesion policy practitioners from all over Europe taking part in more than 100 workshops, the Open Days 2014 proved once again to be the key-event worldwide in the field of regional and urban policies. This year's edition is being organised at a time when 500 investment plans co-funded by EU regional policy are being negotiated with the European Commission and are expected to be launched in 2015. Today EU regional and local leaders discussed how to make the most of the reformed EU cohesion policy - worth more than EUR 350 bln over the coming seven years - with the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Ramon Luis Valcárcel i, Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn i, the chair of the European Parliament’s Regional Development Committee, Iskra Mihaylova i, as well as with the OECD Secretary General José Angel Gurría.
In front of 800 local, regional, national and EU politicians, Mr Gurría presented the main findings of two OECD reports on regional development trends. “The regional convergence engine has stalled since the crisis. National standards of well-being are not felt equally by people living in different regions, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, adding that: “Smarter public investment, especially in cities, and reforms of outdated local government structures would help to address this.
The debate highlighted the central role played by cohesion policy in the effort to boost social and economic recovery. “The new cohesion policy can really help us grow together, providing effective tools to deal with a range of challenges which also includes global issues such as migration or the Ukraine crisis since they have an impact on many local and regional authorities said the President of the EPP Group at the Committee of the Regions, Michael Schneider.
According to the President of the CoR PES Group, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, the drop of public investment registered by several recent reports is an emergency to be addressed in the first place: “The investment capacity of local and regional authorities must be preserved and re-launched, notably at EU level through a better consideration of the quality of public spending . With regards to the funds' absorption capacity, Gordon Keymer, President of the ECR Group at the CoR, stressed how: “Cutting red tape and reducing administrative burden are still major concerns when it comes to cohesion policy. Improvements in this direction are needed if we want to make our regions more effective and competitive . CoR First Vice-President Catiuscia Marini i highlighted that: "In the current situation, structural and investment funds are the main, if not the only means, of addressing the growing social and economic disparities among European regions and of safeguarding the wellbeing of European citizens beyond GDP".
The President of the EA Group, Uno Silberg, invited the European Commission "to take note of the OECD recommendations on a greater integration between policy sectors such as the agricultural and regional policy sectors to avoid urban and rural aspects being addressed in isolation". The need for a stronger integrated urban agenda is the priority on which the President of the CoR ALDE Group, Bas Verkerk, insisted: "The economy is made at city level. It is in the cities that jobs are created and social cohesion is established. I call on the Commission to present a White Paper for an integrated Urban Agenda that makes it possible to anchor the urban dimension structurally in European policies and legislation".
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