Regionaal beleid: positieve beoordeling Nationaal Strategisch Referentie Raamwerk (en)

The European Commission adopted National Strategic Reference Frameworks (NSRFs) for all 27 Member States by 8 October 2007. A first, positive assessment confirms cohesion policy will make a decisive contribution to the strategy for growth and jobs over the period 2007-2013.

It shows the policy is the major source of investment from the European budget directly contributing to boosting economic growth and to strengthening job creation, modernising and diversifying economic structure, improving the competitiveness of the regions, and to underpinning macroeconomic stability.

For 2007-2013, cohesion policy will benefit from 35.7% of the total EU budget, EUR 347.41 billion (current prices). Below are highlights from the assessment:

Average earmarked for key Lisbon investments: Around 62% (Convergence objective); 77% (Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective). Total investment: more than €215 billion, an increase of more than EUR 50 billion compared to the previous programming period.

Emphasis on R&D and innovation: Almost EUR 60 billion. Roughly two-thirds for improving the capacity of SMEs to innovate, by favouring technological transfers and cooperation networks, supporting R&D within SMEs, supporting use of ICTs in businesses. In new Member States, the share of R&D and innovation expenditure of total budget available will be four times higher than in 2004-2006.

Energy efficiency: Commitment to improve energy efficiency, develop and use renewable and alternative technologies. Investments in renewables and energy efficiency will be five times higher for this period under the Convergence objective and seven times higher under the Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective.

Promotion of entrepreneurship: Strong in all frameworks. Emphasis on providing business support services for enterprises, particularly SMEs, to increase competitiveness and to internationalize. Much attention to supporting non-grant instruments such as loans and risk capital as well as improving access to capital, both for R&D activities as well as start-ups. Greater use of JEREMIE [1] and JESSICA [2], two new financial engineering instruments.

Human resources: virtually all Member States are determined to improve the size and adaptability of the labour force. Priorities: support for social inclusion activities, as well as for the younger generation. All will be committing significant resources to modernizing and reforming education and training systems, but particularly the less prosperous Convergence regions. Apart from investment in human capital, there will be considerable support for active labour market policies to raise employability and to support the adaptability of companies.

Environmental protection and risk prevention: All Member States make these a priority. New programmes aim to strengthen potential synergies between environmental protection and growth. Examples of priorities: clean water supplies, waste and waste-water treatment infrastructures, management of natural resources, decontamination of land to prepare it for new economic activities, and protection against environmental risks (e.g. desertification, droughts, fires and floods). EUR 51 billion will be invested in these areas.

Transport: Total allocation is EUR 76 billion. Around half will go towards promoting Trans-European Networks (TEN-T). Other priorities: investments in secondary connections to improve accessibility; promotion of environmentally sustainable transport networks, particularly in urban areas. The aim is for more balanced development within regions. Depending on national, regional or local situations, the focus has been put on cities, rural areas, islands, tourism assets or cultural heritage.

Strengthening institutional capacity of public administration: Seen in almost all frameworks for countries with regions eligible under the Convergence objective. Support focuses on improving the quality of regulation by strengthening capacity to create and enforce legislation, carrying out impact assessments, creating one-stop-shops for citizens or simplifying regulation concerning economic activity. The NSRFs also address the need to improve quality and accessibility of public services both at national and regional level. Total allocation: EUR 3.6 billion.

Involvement of partners: Evidence suggests national, regional, local authorities as well as economic, social partners and NGOs have been actively involved in defining strategies. The more decentralised management of cohesion programmes in 2007-2013 will also offer scope for stakeholders to take part in implementation. This should lead to wider, more transparent partnership arrangements, and underlines the key role cohesion policy will play in ensuring ownership of the Lisbon strategy objectives on the ground.

Consistency with National Reform Programmes under the Lisbon strategy: In preparing their NSRFs, Member States ensured a high degree of cooperation with those responsible for implementation of the National Reform Programmes, and have described how this was done, important as only in a few countries the same Ministries are responsible for both policy fields.

Coordination with other Community policies: All NSRFs contain precise information on the mechanism for ensuring coordination between the Cohesion and Structural Funds, on the one hand, and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Fisheries Fund, on the other. Coordination of cohesion interventions with other Community policies is crucial in order to achieve genuine impact on the ground.

Negotiations on Operational Programmes, with their detailed provisions for cohesion policy support at regional and sectoral level, are well advanced. An in-depth analysis of the results will be presented to the College in spring 2008.