Brussels, 18/04/2013 (Agence Europe) -The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has highlighted shortcomings in projects to regenerate industrial and military brownfield sites, for which 85% of co-funding is through the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) and Cohesion Funds. The Court presented a report on Thursday 18 April on the basis of an analysis of samples of 27 projects funded over the 2000-2006 and 2007-2013 programming periods in five countries (Germany, United Kingdom, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic) that received €231 million in funding, It emphasised that the results obtained could have been achieved more cheaply, particularly if the polluter pays principle had been applied. Moreover, the ECA member for the report, Henri Grethen, underlines that “EU co-financed regeneration projects have delivered the transformations they promised, but progress has often been slow and fewer jobs have been created”. In an effort to ensure that European structural action for brownfield sides is more efficient in the future (250,000 according to the European Environment Agency), the ECA has formulated a number of recommendations. It is suggesting that member states carry out preliminary market analyses and take these into account and that they also set out regeneration strategies with clear objectives. The Court also says that they should focus on brownfield rather than greenfield sites and create a register of brownfield and contaminated sites so that they can determine on which priority action should be implemented. European subsidies should be subject to the polluter pays principle and public funding should be reimbursed in the event of higher than expected revenues over the long term.
The Commission has responded by indicating that it is already advocating this approach among member states and that the regeneration of brownfield sites is part of the integrated urban development projects for the next 2014-2020 programming period (accounting for 5% of ERDF). The Commission explained that with regard to fewer jobs being created than planned, this was down to the uncertain economic context. (MD/transl.fl)