Brussels, 03/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - “The European Social Fund (ESF) probably has to be given greater visibility, but that will not be achieved by taking it out of cohesion policy”: that is the view that Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) President Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed to Social Affairs Commissioner László Andor when they met in Brussels on Wednesday 3 November. “The commissioner listened to us. He shares our view,” Le Drian told press. The meeting focused on the future of European cohesion policies after 2013. The CPMR president set out his organisation, the action he was taking and his priorities for the commissioner. This visit, Le Drian said to journalists, “has become particularly important as preparations are being made of the 2014-2020 timetable and for the new multiannual financial framework”. He highlighted the “need to ensure a cohesion fund for all of Europe's regions, not just a few less developed regions, and also the need to coordinate the ESF and the ERDF. Rumours are going about that there could be some separation, which would be like a backhand way of re-nationalising” European social policy. Le Drian also told Andor that it was through the regions that the profile of the ESF could be best raised. (“If this is something that hasn't already been achieved, it is because governments have, in a way, taken ownership of the ESF.”) The commissioner told Le Drian that he wanted to reflect on innovative ways of funding for the ESF and called on the CPMR to contribute to the discussion. (G.B./Gp/transl.rt)