In Luxembourg on Tuesday 25 April, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Creţu presented EU ministers responsible for regional policy with a list of concrete actions for improving the visibility of cohesion policy for the 2014-2020 period.
"In spite of huge EU investment, which forever changed the face of thousands of EU communities, there are still many people across the Union who remain unaware of what we do and what we achieve", she said, going on to talk about the rise of euroscepticism.
Creţu thus presented seven actions to improve the situation: - launching a Europe-wide campaign to raise the profile of cohesion policy, coupled with a communication on social networks; - organising a video competition on the achievements of cohesion policy which would be open to citizens; - organising a 'Did you know?' campaign showing iconic projects; - organising photo exhibitions showing 'before – after cohesion policy' places; - organising national versions of the European Regiostars awards; - using the opportunity of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome to showcase 60 projects funded through cohesion policy in each EU member state; - holding a citizens' dialogue until the end of 2017 to listen to what people think cohesion policy should fund in their country, region or city.
The latter initiative has already taken shape with the Committee of the Regions which, at the request of European Council President Donald Tusk, is currently conducting a vast dialogue throughout Europe (see EUROPE 11646).
When questioned by EUROPE, Creţu said she hoped the member states would respond quite quickly. She would like the adoption of this list of actions by the Commission before the summer holidays, or in September at the latest.
Going by what Creţu says, the list received a warm welcome. It forms part of a request made by member states.
According to a diplomatic source, the initiative was supported by the member states. Many countries nevertheless underlined that this policy is too complex and thus said it needed simplifying to make it more accessible. If this is not the case, the communication will not change anything, however good it might be.
Future cohesion policy's budget envelope already discussed.
The question of the budget is reported to have come up during the preliminary informal talks between the member states over lunch (see EUROPE 11772). There was reportedly a debate between those who want "to do more with less" and those who believe there are limits.
Germany apparently digressed on the future cohesion policy budget, saying that in all cases, this will be reduced for the benefit of the EU's new priorities (migration management, external and internal security policy).
Poland is reported to have said that cohesion policy benefits all regions of the EU, including the richest member states.
The discussions between the member states also focused on the differentiation in the level of monitoring audits, and the ex ante conditions enabling a regional operational programme to be approved beforehand. However, little information had come through at the time of writing.
Creţu disappointed at aid to disaster-stricken regions
The commissioner told press that she was disappointed at the Council's position on amending the European Regional Development Fund rule in order to help regions affected by natural disasters.
The Council indeed decided on a 90% rate of co-financing when the Commission wanted a 100% rate of co-financing (see EUROPE 11763). According to a diplomat, this is more a political position than a real problem.
The Parliament meanwhile has a maximum co-financing ceiling of 5% of the ERDF budget allocated per member state (see EUROPE 11750). The interinstitutional discussions will start on 3 May, according to EUROPE's sources. There is unlikely to be any difficulty and a single trilogue could be enough.
Adoption of two conclusions texts
The member states have adopted two sets of draft conclusions – one on how "to make cohesion policy more effective, more useful and more visible for citizens" and the other on strengthening macro-regional strategies. No change has been brought to the drafts on which EUROPE has already reported (see EUROPE 11768).
The ministers responsible for regional policy will meet again as part of an informal meeting in Malta on 8 June. This will deal with the future of cohesion policy. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)