Brussels, 12/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Baltic Sea macro-regional strategic objectives do not appear to be sufficiently reflected in the partnership agreements that member states will begin concluding with the European Commission for the 2014-2020 programming period for cohesion policy.
On 11 November, the European Commissioner for Regional Development, Johannes Hahn, expressed his concerns to stakeholders involved in this macro-strategy (which brings together eight European countries), at their annual meeting in Vilnius.
The macro-regional strategy brings together the authorities from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and Poland to find solutions to common problems experienced on the Baltic Sea coast (maritime, environment and transport). So far, the results have been positive and around 100 different projects are ongoing. The Commission, however, is afraid that the pace will slow during the next cohesion policy programming period, which partly contributes to funding these projects.
This is why the Commissioner expressed his concerns to the 700 macro-strategy players at the meeting in Vilnius, after receiving the initial versions of the partnership agreements from all the member states in the Baltic Sea region. At the forum, he declared that “the macro-regional objectives are not sufficiently reflected. We need to see more Baltic thinking in every single one of them”. He argued that “the new Baltic Sea Region transnational programme must be designed to support implementation, though its funds alone will never be enough to cover all our ambitions. National allocations must be brought into play”. He also affirmed that he would like to see a more proactive involvement of the member states in the macro-strategy (just as he had emphasised earlier this month during the Danube Strategy Forum) and that he would like to see “the transport ministers of the Baltic, the tourism ministers or the energy ministers come together in the margins of this forum - to seek consensus, and to give strategic guidance for the future”. (MD/transl.fl)