Comité van de Regio's blij met uitkomst stemming Europees Parlement over herziening regionaal beleid (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Comité van de Regio's (CvdR), gepubliceerd op maandag 16 juli 2012.

President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Mercedes Bresso (IT/PES), has welcomed the outcome of the vote by the EP REGI committee on the draft report on General Structural Funds Regulation. The report, which was presented by Constanze Krehl (DE/S&D) and Lambert Van Nistelrooij (NL/EPP), widely reflects the CoR's position on cohesion policy. Following its adoption, Bresso reiterated the willingness of 's local and regional authorities to support the EP team involved in the negotiations with the European Council.

"All CoR political groups are pleased to see that the EP REGI committee confirm that cohesion policy is the engine of the European growth agenda" said Bresso. "A special mention should go to the rapporteurs, who despite being elected 'net contributors' in two Member States, have succeeded in securing the general European interest and putting the European Parliament on a strong footing to launch the next phase of the legislative process, which for the first time will follow the co-decision procedure, thanks to the Lisbon Treaty" concluded the CoR President.

Like the CoR, the REGI committee favours greater flexibility in the thematic balance of the Structural Funds vis-à-vis the Europe 2020 Strategy, leaving local and regional authorities with more room to manoeuvre so that they can genuinely adapt the operational programmes to their regions' needs.

MEPs also recognised the role of local authorities in the implementation of cohesion policy since the partnership principle would be strengthened, mainly via a European code of conduct for developing partnership contracts at the level of each Member State.

The CoR also welcomes the creation of a category of "transition" regions, i.e. regions with a GDP of 75 to 90 per cent of the EU average. The CoR succeeded in convincing the members of the REGI committee that this category would help to support regions whose growth had stagnated in relative terms (i.e. regions at the "lower end" of the most "competitive" category of regions) without penalising regions which had just been phased out of the "convergence" objective but had experienced an unconsolidated growth spurt.

With regard to macroeconomic conditionality, the members of the REGI committee have confirmed the position they established when they voted on the Commission's 5th cohesion report last autumn by categorically rejecting this instrument, as CoR members had done before them, so that regions would not have to suffer the consequences of poor public accounts management at the national level. The REGI committee also took up the CoR's recommendation to reject the establishment of a performance reserve for the most dynamic regions, not only because it was contrary to the very philosophy of cohesion policy but also because its effectiveness would quite certainly be marginal.

Other points where the CoR and the REGI committee agree include the recognition of the demographic challenges facing a considerable number of European regions, the increased possibility of developing multi-fund programmes and the need for the common strategic framework to be appended to the general regulation, subject to the approval of the European Parliament and the Council, rather than a delegated act.

To find out more:

Visit the CoR's website: www.cor.europa.eu

The Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions is the EU's assembly of regional and local representatives. The mission of its 344 members from all 27 EU Member States is to involve regional and local authorities and the communities they represent in the EU's decision-making process and to inform them about EU policies. The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council are obliged to consult the Committee in policy areas affecting regions and cities. It can appeal to the EU Court of Justice if its rights are infringed or it believes that an EU law violates the subsidiarity principle or fails to respect regional or local powers.

For more information, please contact:

Nathalie Vandelle

Tel. +32 228224 499

Mobile: +32 (0)473 86 05 30

nathalie.vandelle@cor.europa.eu

Pierluigi Boda

Tel. +32 2282 2461

Mobile: +32 (0) 473 85 17 43

pierluigi.boda@cor.europa.eu

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