Brussels, 13/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - MEPs from the European Parliament's regional development committee and their counterparts from the national parliaments of the EU held a meeting on Monday 12 July in Brussels, under the presidency of Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland), to debate the practical implications of the Lisbon Treaty on cohesion policy. Most of the participants considered that cohesion policy should continue to promote prosperity and reduce disparities between regions. They also believe that this policy should take regional specificities better into account and make them less bureaucratic. The debate is expected to help reshape cohesion policy, particularly within the framework of discussions regarding revision of the EU's financial regulation for 2013 and EU long-term budget planning for 2013-2020. Danuta Hübner also noted that the Commission was preparing to publish after the holidays, its fifth report on cohesion policy, which would be sent to the informal “Cohesion Policy” Council in Liège on 22 November.
As a rule, subsidiarity distributes competencies between the EU and member states but from now on it will have to be interpreted differently: it involves more cooperation between the different levels of European government. How can competencies be better shared and better governed, and how can multiple-level governance be developed (European, national, regional)? All these questions require the support of national and European parliamentarians in an effort to facilitate the development of a more efficient cohesion policy in the future. Danuta Hübner launched Tuesday's debate by stating that “without involving local bodies in the process and without cooperation between regional and European levels, we will not be able to help Europe find an exit strategy to the crisis or find a way towards progressing to sustainable development and competitiveness”.
The commissioner for regional policy, Johannes Hahn, noted that with the treaty, cohesion policy was both an objective and “an obligation”. He also said that they needed stronger multi-level governance and greater involvement of the regions, as well as better cooperation between them. Johannes Hahn highlighted the need to resolve problems in all of the regions and to develop an approach that encompasses all growth-promoting measures in a given region, rather than focusing on specific sectors. The commissioner underscored the fact that the need for a regional policy to address to all regions in Europe would continue to be felt in the future. He concluded that “it is important to have an integrated regional approach, as well as local and regional identification. The Lisbon Treaty provides us with a lot of possibilities but it is up to us to see what we can do with them”.
The president-minister of the Walloon government (Belgium) in charge of coordinating structural funds (also the president of the EU Council for regional policy), Rudy Demotte, underlined the importance of getting regional and local political decision-makers to take part in the institutional debate. The Belgian minister pointed out that the new treaty provides the opportunity of re-evaluating the role of local and regional bodies, as well as strengthening the role of national parliaments, by drawing upon the subsidiarity principle, as well as the consultation power of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the fact that the latter has the right to go to the European Court of Justice. He also indicated that the Belgian Presidency of the EU had invited representatives from the European Parliament and the CoR to take part in major events, particularly the conference on territorial cooperation (30 September - 1 October, Tournai) and the informal Council (22 November, Liège).
The president of the budget committee from the Chamber of Italian Representatives, Giancarlo Giorgetti, said that there was no way of verifying the efficiency of these funds and said that “this has to change. Funds for specific regions or all?” He referred to Article174 of the treaty, which underlines that member states had to take into account their responsibilities in the domain of cohesion policy. The president of the state and local authorities committee at the Lithuanian parliament, Vytautas Kurpuvesas, emphasised implementation of EU policy with regard to the Baltic Sea and underlined that 11% of the structural aid Lithuania received from the EU was redistributed to the regions.
Danuta Hübner summed up the meeting's conclusions and illustrated that the Lisbon Treaty: - brought added value to cohesion policy in both its conceptualisation and execution; - it will enable the EP to become more involved in the development of policies. She said that everyone agreed that national parliaments were “precious partners”. Cooperation between national parliaments and the European Parliament should be strengthened and made more efficient.
Participants also highlighted the following points: (1) “the development aspect of this policy, which will influence growth, and help mobilise all potential and help Europe to grow”; (2) cohesion policy “is not a cost, but a new opportunity, which we must take advantage of and which will allow us to choose the best elements for making Europe more competitive”.
In response to her colleague Jan Olbrycht (EPP, Poland) on the question of sectorialisation of the budget, as envisaged by the EP and the Commission, Hübner reiterated the warning she had made a few days ago and said that this was “dangerous and risks cancelling out the added value of the integrated approach, as well as being very expensive and taking a lot of time. If we remain sectoral, we will be going backwards. We need to keep structural funds integrated. The ESF has to remain part of these funds”. (EUROPE 10173) (G.B./transl.fl)