Brussels, 15/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - It was an impassioned performance that the commissioner-designate gave on Thursday 14 January, setting out, for the regional policy committee, his political priorities and the areas where he would like to take action over the next five years. Cohesion policy at the service of the EU 2020 strategy, a new European urbanisation policy, zero tolerance on misuse of EU money, no to any thought of renationalisation, thinking “cross-border”: these were the main messages delivered by Commissioner-designate for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn (see EUROPE 10047).
“Regional policy is a success story of European integration, but it does not just have friends. Some people are sceptical,” he said in his opening remarks. There was no choice but to continue with it making it even better, with an integrated approach, he said. He went on that regional policy was necessary and indispensible. He called for it to be given wide support. The regions and those living in them had to be supported, argued this former Austrian science and research minister. Thanking his predecessor, Pawe³ Samecki, who had laid some interesting foundations, Hahn took note of “what we have”, that is to say a sustainable, strategic earmarking course, the fact that there was a willingness to adopt rules when collectively it was felt that a certain social laziness had to be overcome, and also the fact that, for the first time, consideration was being given to funding instruments. Over the last few years, the cohesion of Europe had become bigger and it could be seen that “Europe is a community of solidarity”, meaning that the outermost regions were at the centre of our concerns. Everyone must be given a fair chance to participate in progress and prosperity, he noted. However, and this was a major current challenge, no region of Europe can be guaranteed never-ending prosperity, he warned. Each region had to defend its position to ensure its competitiveness, he went on, stating that he opposed any attempt at renationalising regional policy.
With regard to his areas for action, Hahn said that: (1) the new cohesion policy had to serve the EU 2020 strategy, particularly in competitiveness, the knowledge society, the energy shift, protecting the climate, research, training and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - this would bring added value and maximise cohesion policy, he said; (2) particular stress must be laid on the implementation of a new European urbanisation policy, since, for example, cities are major consumers of energy and very wasteful; he announced that he would immediately launch a major consultation exercise on this issue; (3) work has to continue to find the right balance between checking for irregularities and the administrative burden: the level of error revealed by the Court of Auditors sounded an alarm, he said, adding that he felt there should be zero tolerance of such errors. He argued that a sound financial administration system was not in any way at odds with simplified rules, and he called on MEPs to work with him in future, “because you know the problems the regions face”. Working together they would do everything possible to help the men and women of this continent, he said.
Responding, thereafter, to a flurry of questions from MEPs, Hahn said:
EU 2020 strategy: Cohesion policy must have greater visibility in this strategy. It must also be made clear that an integrated policy was the only one that could take the strategy to the people on the ground. Funding, therefore, had to be made available, he told Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP, Netherlands). To Oldrich Vlasak (CRE, Czech Republic), who pointed out that the document made no mention of local and regional authorities, Hahn reiterated that there had to be more involvement of cities, since that would be the best way to get things moving at local level, and that local authorities and civil society had to be involved too. Taking subsidiarity seriously and working with various partners can sometimes take time, but “it pays and the impact of our measures is bigger”, he stated.
Territorial cohesion: Again in answer to Lambert van Nistelrooij, Hahn said that he was not against a White Paper on cohesion, but he added that he felt that such a White Paper would, in fact, be simply a duplication of the report on cohesion which will come out this autumn. It had to be built into a new planning schedule.
Budget: Franz Obermayr (NI, Austria) and Jan Olbrycht (EPP, Poland) asked about the future funding of regional and cohesion policy. Hahn stated that he considered the current level of funding as a “good guideline” for future negotiations and that he would fight for a strong budget - “but I need your support for that”, he told MEPs.
Use of funding: Addressing concerns expressed by van Nistelrooij about the “increasing trend to chop up funds on a sectoral basis”, Hahn claimed that only an integrated policy approach with adequate resources could meet the policy objectives. Hahn told Constanze Angela Krehl (S&D, Germany) that “Europe needs well educated people” to boost successful business. Creativity “should be promoted from the kindergarten” and the EU “has a role to play” here, he added, stressing the need to invest more EU regional policy money in research, education and innovation, but also infrastructure in order to help Europe get out of the current crisis. This was what Hahn understood by a progressive policy
Simplification of funding rules and procedures: To Evgeni Kirilov (S&D, Bulgaria), who felt the regions often had difficulty in accessing structural funds, the commissioner-designate expressed hope that the third simplification package, to be adopted soon, would improve the situation. He supported simplification of funding rules and procedures, at the same time advocating “zero tolerance for errors” in using EU money. Elisabeth Schroedter (Greens/EFA, Germany) asked how he intended to deal with any information indicating the improper use of EU regional funds. Hahn said he would follow it up and encourage the Court of Auditors to investigate the matter and that he strongly backed the fight against fraud, adding that recent developments would, however, result in a “tremendous catch-up” and improvements.
Support for the outermost regions: Hahn promised Elie Hoarau (GUE/NGL, France) and Nuno Teixeira (EPP, Portugal) that the outermost regions would continue to enjoy special EU attention. Saying that one had to be fair, he also promised continuing support for so-called “transitional” regions, some of which were in the restructuring or phasing-in process.
Support for the poorest regions: Quizzed by Oldrich Vlasak on whether he was going to develop a new generation cohesion policy to help poor regions catch up or whether he felt external policy was more important in terms of cohesion policy, Hahn said that working on one must not mean that the other was neglected. He explained that the poorer regions had to have opportunities to catch up with the rich regions, which would not, themselves, be marking time. There had to be investment in all the usual things, such as infrastructure and the environment, but also in the social development of knowledge, research and innovation, he argued, adding that commitment had to be stronger.
Cross-border co-operation: “I support any kind of policy that transcends borders, any kinds of borders,” the commissioner-designate told Marie-Thérèse Sanchez-Schmid (EPP, France). The worst thing was, he said, to think in terms of borders: his way was to think cross-border.
First reactions to Commissioner-designate Johannes Hahn's hearing
For the EPP Group, Lambert van Nistelrooij and Jan Olbrycht said that Johannes Hahn was “an example of reliability and balance” and they particularly applauded his firmness on the need to give cohesion policy a stronger position within the EU 2020 strategy. French MEP Sophie Briard-Auconie welcomed the commissioner-designate's firm stance on a strong, simplified regional policy which continued to work for the benefit of all the regions of Europe.
In a statement, Committee of the Regions President Luc Van den Brande (EPP) called on Hahn to “believe more in the real importance of multi-level governance as it will be the only way to succeed” and “to consider regions and cities as real partners”.
Claudio Martini, President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) was pleased that Hahn had confirmed that cohesion policy should not be restricted simply to the poorest parts. “We are on the same wavelength as the commissioner-designate and we are sure that Mr Hahn, if confirmed by the European Parliament, will be with us in defending a regional policy for all regions of Europe and against any kind of nationalisation or sectorialisation of the policy”. He added, in a press release: “Member states cannot use the economic crisis as an excuse for allocating less aid to the regions. On the contrary, today the role of regional policy is more and more important to boost regional economies after such a severe crisis”. (G.B./transl.rt)