Poznan, 25/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Laszlo Andor, the European employment commissioner, who was speaking during a conference dedicated to integrated territorial development organised by the Polish Presidency of the EU Council on Thursday 24 November in Poznan (Poland), said that, despite the fact that a common language and guidelines have been provided, this will only be effective if local needs are met. Ministers responsible for regional development and European Commissioners Andor and Hahn had an opportunity to express their views during discussions ahead of the informal Council on regional policy, on Friday 25 November. They agree that, in order to have a successful integrated territorial approach, one must go beyond the sectoral approach, which must be completed in relation to the specific features of each region.
Integrated approach. Territorial cooperation, supported by funding provided for in the legislative package for the future cohesion policy 2014-2020, as proposed by the Commission, aims to better meet the needs of the regions that are the furthest removed from their country's decision-making centre.
The Hungarian, Latvian, Czech and Swedish ministers for regional policy spoke of how territorial development is applied in their countries, and what the best practice in this respect is, while bearing constantly in mind talks that have been initiated on the legislative proposals of the Commission on structural funds. Gyorgyi Nyikos, the deputy secretary of state for development affairs in Hungary, believes the advantages of the integrated approach are obvious but that that this must become a general principle for cohesion policy. He said that, at this stage, it remained an isolated element. His Latvian counterpart, Edmundus Sprudzs, who is in charge of regional development, nonetheless delights in the fact that proposals allow this approach to be promoted, with practical solutions for it to be established at national and sub-national level. “Strategic choices have still to be made in order to gain most benefit from it”, he said. This echoes the statement made by Johannes Hahn, European Regional Policy Commissioner, who opened the session, saying: “The Common Strategic Framework shall provide member states and regions with guidance to design integrated territorial approaches which respond to the challenges that our territories face: how to develop truly territorial strategies, how the different funds could better interact at regional level and how other territorial objectives can contribute to those strategies.”
The most important thing of all, however, is to take into account the diverse nature of the regions, and therefore go beyond the sectoral approach, the Czech regional development minister, Daniel Braun, said. He is backed on this by Annie Lööf of Sweden, who feels that it is necessary to find the right political “mix” for each individual region. She goes on to add that, in order to better use the potential of the territories, good cooperation is required between regions, sectors and the different administrative levels.
Legislative package in broadest sense. Johannes Hahn, who was also invited to comment on the legislative package as the Council on regional policy draws near, said during the conference that it was better not to spend too much energy discussing competences but rather focus on work programmes. “Funding for rural development means the development of rural zones and not just of funds”, he said. The commissioner is having to increasingly listen to discordant voices raised, not only from EU bodies but also from member state bodies, criticising a number of points of the legislative proposal. However, he assures that “the Commission has no interest in complicating things. On the contrary, we have a common interest to make this policy leaner, simpler and quicker to deliver needed investment on the ground”. Still recalling that the package is ambitious, Hahn above all draws attention to budgetary talks for the upcoming multi-annual financial framework, on which cohesion policy depends. Jean-Yves Le Drian, who presides over the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, and who was also invited to the discussion table, seized this opportunity to ask for the budget and architecture of the policy, as proposed by the Commission, to be enshrined, opposing any pressure on the part of net contributor states calling for a considerable decrease in the budgetary framework. (MD/transl.jl)