Strasbourg, 15/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Council of the European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is pleased that local development is specifically highlighted in the European Commission's proposal for a common strategic framework (CSF) for European cohesion policy, which helps to enforce the local dimension in all of Europe's territories, in line with the CEMR's position on the future of cohesion policy, which backs the proposals from the European Commission on the next post 2014 programming for regional policy. The CEMR, together with many other stakeholders, formulated this demand a considerable time ago.
The Commission's working document was presented on Wednesday (EUROPE 10574) and highlights two instruments specifically dedicated to local action, which can also be combined. This involves the Community-led local development mechanism to which the partnership contract is expected to make a specific reference. The approach is expected to be defined for each of the funds covered by the CSF: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), the European Fisheries Fund (EFF), and the European Social Fund (ESF). Then, the Integrated Territorial Investment will enable the authorities to manage the European programmes and delegates implementation of the different priority areas to a single local authority, which will ensure that the investment is carried out in a way that is complementary and genuinely serves the interests of the regions. This can take the form of urban development, for example, or inter-municipal co-operation.
With regard to the work document outlining the Common Strategic Framework, the CEMR is calling for more clarity on the role of the different funds so that local and regional practitioners can better prepare and adapt their local development strategies. However, on the whole, CEMR considers that the European Commission's proposal, “comes at an opportune time as it will help CEMR's national member associations of local and regional government to better prepare for the next programming period, as they are currently working on future operational programmes and partnership agreements within their respective member states”. (MD/transl.fl)