Strasbourg, 23/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Council of the EU recognises the positive lessons learned by the European Commission vis-à-vis macro-regional strategies, following an assessment of said strategies for the Danube and Baltic regions published by the Commission in July. The General Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 22 October adopted a report on the strategy and the European ministers backed the macro-regional approach currently being applied in 15 countries to deal with common problems like pollution, transport and crime.
Active engagement. EU Regional Development Commissioner Johannes Hahn welcomed what he described as member states' “active engagement,” adding: “Our study - endorsed today - shows the macro-regional approach is going from strength to strength. The Baltic and Danube strategies are already delivering concrete results despite being relatively new. Member states, regions and cities are increasingly seeing that the value of co-operating in such a close way to solve common problems is not only a highly effective approach in terms of results, but, in this time of limited resources, a very cost effective one as well”.
Programmes and administration. The member states stress above all the importance of aligning macro-regional strategies on programmes co-financed by the EU under the cohesion policy and the importance of robust administrative capacity for managing the strategies The Commissioner said: “This year's Danube and Baltic Forums in Bucharest and Vilnius on October 28-29 and November 11-12 respectively will give us a chance to follow up on the recommendations from today's conclusions: in particular how countries and regions can further improve the management of these promising strategies”.
New strategies. Other macro-regional strategies might be set up. The European Commission may submit proposals to the European Summit for a strategy in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas later this year or next year, which would be of particular interest to Italy and Greece. The Commission has not commented on the possibility of a strategy for the Alps, which France is said to favour, but Germany is less enthusiastic about because many cross-border initiatives have been set up voluntarily in the Alps and are already bearing fruit. (MD/transl.fl)