Brussels, 17/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Tuesday 16 February, the European Parliament's regional development committee adopted the own initiative report by Ruza Tomasic (ECR, Croatia) on the new territorial development instruments by the very wide majority of 37 votes to 2, with 1 abstention. In so doing, the MEPs called for the bottom-up approach in integrated territorial investment (ITI) and community-led local development (CLLD) to be strengthened.
These two instruments were introduced in the new cohesion policy 2014-2020. They relate to all the funds of the common strategic framework for cohesion (Regulation 1303/2013) and seek to more closely involve local and regional authorities in territorial development policies, particularly with regard to CLLD (Articles 32-35 of the regulation). ITI, to which Article 36 is devoted, focuses on urban and geographical areas that present similar characteristics, including cross-border as part of European territorial cooperation.
MEPs believe that the bottom-up approach promoted in these instruments is not seen on the ground as a result, inter alia, of widespread distrust between the various levels of governance when these two instruments have to be implemented. The rapporteur says that the member states are fearful of an increased influence for local and regional authorities in territorial development.
More generally, MEPs highlight the complexity of the rules and concepts related to these two instruments, the direct consequence of which is to significantly increase red tape. This administrative overload prevents some small local authorities, in Ireland with ITI and in Luxembourg with CLLD, for example, from making use of the instruments. Here, the MEPs await the conclusions of the high-level group on simplification, chaired by Siim Kallas, which presented its initial conclusions to the Parliament the same day (see EUROPE 11491).
In the view of MEPs, the budget allocated to the two instruments is too limited, given the objectives sought. Consequently, they ask the European Commission to conduct an evaluation for the current period and to re-assess their place in the forthcoming cohesion policy post-2020, discussions on which have only just begun (see EUROPE 11377). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)
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