Brussels, 25/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Danish minister for European affairs, Nicolai Wammen, made a great effort to reassure MEPs at the regional development committee that cohesion policy would be at the centre of the Danish Presidency agenda and that the Danish Presidency would collaborate with the Parliament. He immediately sought to demolish the myth that as Denmark is a net contributor country to cohesion policy it would not make this subject one of its priorities. On the contrary, Wammen attempted to provide assurances that the Danish Presidency would do all it could to achieve positive results in this field. It is true that after the Polish Presidency, which focused on revision of cohesion policy, the Danish Presidency's programme on regional policy has had a very low profile and that no informal meeting or conference has been organised on the subject. MEPs were keen to identify what the Presidency intended with regard to its collaboration with the EP in ongoing negotiations on reforms targeting cohesion policy. Despite the minister's substantial comments on the subject, he found it difficult to reassure MEPs. Nonetheless, the idea of a REGI committee delegation in Copenhagen was taken seriously in an effort to get the subject discussed in greater detail. MEPs will certainly be sceptical about this meeting with Wammen, who proved unable to formulate sufficient answers to concrete questions from MEPs on partnership contracts and flexibility in thematic concentration, explained Constanze Krehl (S&D, Germany). Ramona Nicole Manescu (ALDE, Romania) remained unconvinced with regard to the macro-economic conditions and funding threshold set at 2.5% of GDP, and Jan Olbrycht (EPP, Poland) was dissatisfied with the minister's answer regarding the interconnection mechanism for Europe. Wammen admitted that these last few points were very delicate questions and that it was unlikely that they would be solved under the Danish Presidency. It is also true that the ongoing negotiations over the next programming period for cohesion policy in 2014-2020 are subject to what happens in negotiations on the EU's multiannual financial framework, which will be taking place throughout the year. Nevertheless, the Danish Presidency is hoping to conclude its work on cohesion policy on a positive note by placing the emphasis on management and control systems, and leaving it up to the Cypriot Presidency to conclude matters in this area. (MD/transl.fl)