Brussels, 05/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European ministers with responsibility for regional policy will be meeting informally in Nicosia this Tuesday. With negotiations continuing on the reform of the Cohesion Policy post-2014, two issues will be debated: the governance of the cohesion policy; and the best way of improving its effectiveness and added value. The Cypriot Presidency has voiced the idea of holding Cohesion Councils twice a year in future.
The discussions are likely to be tough, with the Cypriot Presidency having proposed a cut of more than €12 billion for this policy from 2014, in the revised negotiating box of the Multi-Annual Financial Framework presented last week (see EUROPE 10722).
Effectiveness and added value. In order to steer the debates on the effectiveness of the cohesion policy, the Cypriot Presidency will put three questions to the competent European ministers. Do they feel that the new elements brought into the cohesion policy will be sufficient to improve the effectiveness and quality of expenditure, or should more be done to improve the added value of this policy? The ministers will also take position on whether the new legislative framework of the cohesion policy will make it possible to ensure coordination between the various European and national policies, and indicate the additional actions which could be carried out to ensure this coordination. Lastly, the ministers will be called upon to take a stance on the best way of linking the implementation of the cohesion policy with the objectives of the “European semester” budgetary process.
The Cypriot Presidency will ensure that these discussions feed into efforts to obtain two essential guarantees for the Cohesion Policy in 2014-2020. Firstly, the revised rules should make it possible to promote greater European added value for the cohesion expenditure. Secondly, it must be ensured that the programmes of the Cohesion Policy link up properly with the objectives of the “EUROPE 2020” strategy and with the European Semester, whilst responding to the needs of the member states and the regions.
Governance: regular exchanges. As regards the governance of the Cohesion Policy, the Cypriot Presidency is launching a few areas for work which are certain to be discussed at the informal meeting. In a non-paper it suggests more regular exchanges on progress in the augmentation of the Cohesion Policy, in addition to the progress reports to be submitted by the member states in 2017 and 2019. The Presidency notes that the member states have agreed to submit additional information on an annual basis in June every year from 2016, as financial data are also available in January and July each year. On the basis of these elements, the Cypriot authorities suggest that a summary report be put together by the Commission in September, to be discussed at the Autumn European Council. As well as contributing to transparency and reliability, it will also enable peer pressure and the presentation of a general overview of progress in the policy at European Union level, the Cypriot document stresses. Additionally, still in the spirit of sustained dialogue on the cohesion policy, the Presidency is proposing to create a formal Cohesion Council, in addition to the informal meetings held under each Presidency. This new Council may be arranged under the aegis of the General Affairs Council and held at least twice a year. Data will be collected in the autumn to present a progress report to the Spring Summit. Lastly, the Cypriot Presidency underlines the importance of close collaboration between the member states and the Commission for the coordination of the five structural funds and creation of partnership agreements.
The European Commissioner with responsibility for Cohesion, Johannes Hahn, and his predecessor in this role, MEP Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland), who is now the chair of the committee on regional development at the European Parliament, will attend the informal meeting. The informal Cohesion Council will see the presentation of the Presidency's conclusions at the end of the discussions. The day before, the Cypriot Presidency hold another meeting based on the Cohesion Policy for the European island regions, organised jointly with the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR). (MD/transl.fl)