07/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - 43 NGOs call for improvements to cohesion policy. On Wednesday 7 November, WWF and 42 other partners signed a letter to European leaders asking for a genuine improvement in the partnership principle in the EU's cohesion policy. “Between 2007 and 2013, regional policy invested €350 billion across Europe without a clear stakeholder oversight mechanism. This is despite the fact that relevant stakeholders can improve effectiveness and delivery of this policy”, they say in a press release. The open letter calls for the full participation of the relevant actors in the preparation and implementation of the future project partnership contracts and programmes. In addition, the NGOs want stakeholders to become active in the monitoring and steering committees. Lastly, they call for a partnership approach that should become compulsory and be specified in the proposed code of conduct on implementing cohesion policy. (LC/transl.fl)