Brussels, 10/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - A vote on the reform of cohesion policy was held on Wednesday 10 July, in the parliamentary committee for regional development (REGI). The vote was, however, incomplete, because not everything has yet been fully negotiated in trialogue, but it has, nonetheless, been welcomed positively and with considerable relief.
European Commissioner for Regional Development Johannes Hahn, the instigator of this reform, thanked the MEPs of the REGI committee for their hard work to “help us make our policy fit for purpose. Now it is up to the member states, their regions and cities to advance the preparations for the next period”.
He welcomed the fact that this reform will “equip EU regional policy to tackle the EU's main obstacles to long-term growth. They focus our investments on the key areas for economic development: SME support, research and innovation, the digital agenda and the low-carbon economy. Through these reforms, we are modernising the policy to produce tangible results and stronger performance”. He also welcomes the fact that the new legislations stress the role of the European regions in the forthcoming programming period. The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) also welcomed the vote of the REGI committee and called on the MEPs to stand firm on all points still outstanding, particularly the ex ante conditionalities, rejection of macroeconomic conditionality and a meaningful performance reserve framework. The secretary general of the association, Eleni Marianou, stressed the positive results of the work of the negotiating teams: “We particularly welcome the changes related to the thematic concentration of structural funds allowing more developed regions to invest in infrastructure projects, but we also welcome the additional flexibility for transition regions in terms of thematic concentration and the reinforced provisions on multilevel governance for the involvement of regions in the programmes”. (MD/transl.fl)