Brussels, 04/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The role of local and regional authorities in the new European governance and the solutions they can bring to European and global challenges were at the centre of the issues addressed at the conference, “Bordeaux 2010: A time to reflect”, organised by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) in Bordeaux on 28-29 October.
Louis le Pensec, President of the French section of CEMR and former French minister, highlighted the importance for local and regional elected representatives “to meet with citizens, to remind them how essential Europe is and that EU must find the necessary drive to preserve its social model by linking progress to solidarity and democratic efficiency”.
With Europe “on the verge of a disaster”, Enrique Barón Crespo, the former president of the European Parliament and President of the European Foundation for Information Society, stated: “The Lisbon Treaty, however, offers possibilities to increase solidarity from an economic standpoint and we need to develop a political decision that expresses this solidarity. Indeed, with the help of the Lisbon Treaty, we must assert our identity as well as that of our social model”.
“Focussing our efforts on EUROPE 2020 is not only a question of coherence in EU action; it is also a question of good economics,” said Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn, going on: “In the upcoming debate about the EU budget, we must ensure that expenditure is more efficient, European added-value is increased, and implementation is simplified”. For Hahn, “the size of the budget of cohesion policy will ultimately depend on our collective capacity to convince national governments and critics that the policy has been keeping pace with modern challenges”.
Patrizio Fiorilli, spokesman for European Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski, suggested that “local and regional authorities should not ask what the European Commission can do for them but rather, what can they do for the European Commission to help them”.
French Socialist MEP Françoise Castex said: “Today, 27 member states 'want their money back' but the EU is off on the wrong track if it goes on like this. The European Parliament is to urgently study the issue of the EU's own resources, as the current budget does not measure up to today's needs”. (G.B./transl.rt)