Nicosia, 06/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - European leaders responsible for regional policy held an informal meeting in Cyprus on Tuesday 6 November. They debated the importance of efficiency, “quality” spending and governance for cohesion policy, in light of two documents drafted by the Cypriot presidency (EUROPE 10723). The draft conclusions are expected to be adopted soon and presented at the next General Affairs Council.
According to the draft conclusions, ministers assert their wish to seize the opportunity presented in the next 2014-2020 cohesion policy programming period to emphasise the effectiveness of this policy by enhancing its added European value and ensuring quality spending. The Cypriot minister for European affairs, Andreas Mavroyanis, affirmed in this connection that he preferred the term “quality spending” to “better spending”, because “we have to be sure that every euro spent is spent well”. Ministers are expected to confirm their wish to link spending to the objectives contained in the EUROPE 2020 Strategy and the European Semester.
The president of the Committee of the Regions, Ramon Valcarcel Siso, attended the meeting and insisted that the multilevel principle of governance be transposed. In the perspective of efficiency and added European value, European ministers are insisting that, in the future, European funds and policies are better co-ordinated and coherent, which the new legislative framework is expected to facilitate. Ministers are also expected to reaffirm in these conclusions their support for ex-ante conditions and performance indicators. Despite significant budget reductions expected in this field, ministers are expected to demonstrate their support for the territorial dimension.
Governance. The conclusions are expected to highlight improved coordination between member states and the Commission in an effort to develop greater synergy between the different existing instruments and policies. The conclusions are also expected to propose that a debate is held on cohesion policy during informal Councils. The president of the parliamentary committee for regional development, Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland), gave her strong support for, “establishing a Council formation that would become a political platform for debating and monitoring of cohesion policy, thus contributing greatly to addressing one of the major challenges of this policy which is its accountability and transparency”. Ministers may also request that the Commission submits an annual report after 2016 on performance based cohesion policy implementation. (MD/transl.fl)