Brussels, 02/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - It is vital not to lose sight during debates on enlargement of the benefits that cohesion policy has already brought and of those that it can bring in the future. This is what, in essence, Christie Campbell, General Secretary of the Scottish Trade Union Council (TUC) said when presenting the own initiative opinion on the "second report on economic and social cohesion" at the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee (ESC). The Committee, which adopted this opinion unanimously:
1) affirms that the new eligibility criteria for Objective 1 should not entail exclusion of regions that currently receive aid and whose development will continue to depend on cohesion support. The Committee therefore considers it necessary to raise the current threshold to over 75%.
2) recognises the validity of the Commission's arguments in favour of an "indirect zoning" regime allowing assistance to be given outside Objective 1 regions, but considers that, if there were changes implemented to this system, these should be accompanied by regulations guaranteeing that the principles of concentration, programming, partnership and additionality contiue to be observed by Member States, if necessary by intensifying surveillance and evaluation mechanisms.
3) recommends that the Commission: - seek ways to exploit to a maximum the activities conducted by the European Investment Bank in conjunction with private sector capital with a view to increasing the role that they play in EU cohesion action; - take measures, where necessary, to help candidate countries to conceive and implement the institutional provisions needed to facilitate not only the good functioning of surveillance but also that of partnership, which is primordial if the success of cohesion actions is to last.