Focus cohesiebeleid moet worden verlegd naar groei (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Europees Parlement (EP), gepubliceerd op vrijdag 7 oktober 2011, 11:55.

How can EU cohesion policy be made a sharper investment tool for building competitiveness and creating jobs, and yet at the same time be tailored to the specific needs of each region? Regional Development Committee MEPs and their national counterparts held a preliminary debate Wednesday with Commission and Council representatives on reform plans for 2014-2020.

"We enter this debate as a full co-legislator, to shift the focus of cohesion policy from stability to growth", said Regional Development Committee chair Danuta Hübner, opening the inter-parliamentary meeting.

The new joined-up policy approach should make it easier to use structural funds, in line with common rules, to reduce disparities among regions and strengthen the internal market, by concentrating resources on 11 thematic objectives linked to the Europe 2020 strategy, explained Regional Development Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

Most MEPs and MPs said that they were confident that these measures would boost the effectiveness of Community support for regions and deliver results faster - provided that the specific needs of each region can be matched flexibly with thematic objectives.

Mr Hahn sought to allay their concerns about the Commission's wish to introduce macro-economic conditions. "This is an instrument of very last resort", he said. Taking the example of Greece, he stressed that its current plight would not "trigger such sanctions", i.e. a suspension of structural fund payments.

Next steps

Parliament's rapporteurs have already been appointed to fuel the debate from November, and Ms Hübner stressed their wish to achieve an agreement on the reform proposals by the end of 2012, so that the new rules can take effect from January 2013. This was an "enormous responsibility", she said.

The Council's Polish Presidency representative said that the working party on the six proposed regulations would start work on 13 or 14 October, with a view to presenting a preliminary report to the mid-December General Affairs Council. 

Parliament's rapporteurs 

  • - 
    General Regulation: Lambert van Nistelroij (EPP, NL) et Constanze Krehl (S&D, DE)
  • - 
    European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): Jan Olbrycht (EPP, PL)
  • - 
    Cohesion Fund: Victor Bostinaru (S&D, RO)
  • - 
    European Grouping for Territorial Co-operation (EGTC): Joachim Zeller (EPP, DE)
  • - 
    European Territorial Cooperation: Riikka MANNER (ALDE, FI)
  • - 
    European Social Fund (ESF) : Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (EPP, FR)

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