Umea, 26/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - As the reformed cohesion policy is gradually falling into place, the regions are keen to see the principle of multi-level governance respected, even though it should now be guaranteed under the code of conduct. The Conference of the Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) has promised to keep a close eye on this, and on the potential threat posed by the pressure of EU economic governance on the use structural funds.
The European Commission has already signed 16 partnership agreements with member states with a view to releasing the structural funding that is due to them. Local and regional authorities are supposed to be involved in the negotiations on these investment strategies. This is the principle of multi-level governance that was agreed in the reform of cohesion policy. However, member states do not seem to be playing the game. “We are watching how far this is properly done”, said outgoing CPMR President Annika Annerby Jansson at the association's general meeting in Umeå, Sweden, on Friday 26 September. “We are hearing differing messages. Some regions are more successful than others in their communication with national agencies”, she said. The declaration adopted at the meeting underlines that consultation with local and regional authorities on the partnership agreements and operational programmes has been marked by rather poor dialogue between stakeholders, regions and central government and very little time to respond to consultations. The CPMR should work closely with the Parliament's regional development committee to monitor how cohesion policy is being implemented.
Economic governance. The regions also argue that monitoring of whether macroeconomic rules are “counterproductive on the ground” is essential, Annerby Jansson noted. The declaration adopted on this issue says that conditionality implies that cohesion policy should support national reforms. However, this is to ignore that, within the same state, there may be regions facing specific social, economic and territorial challenges. The CPMR regrets that the new economic governance rules ignore the fact that, in many countries, cohesion policy, and the co-financing that goes with it, contribute significantly to public investment. The CPMR calls for investment co-financed by European structural funding to be excluded from the stability and growth pact and deficit calculations. The Committee of the Regions has also recently taken up the call for revision of the investment clause (our translation throughout). (MD)