Namur, 13/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The meetings by the EU 15 dedicated to regional policy are very rare, and European Commissioner Michel Barnier welcomed that the informal Council, this Friday and Saturday in Namur, would permit, for the first time, to listen to the Ministers talk of cohesion, of what they expect from regional policy after 2006, their priorities for the more or less poor regions… .
The talks started in the morning on a topical ground, that of the programming of regional aids for the 2000-2006 period. The debate, based on the Communication on the programming of Objective 1, which the Commission has just adopted (see EUROPE of 11 July, p.13) was concrete, and critical. Each explained their difficulties in their relations with the European Commission, as to the working methods and procedures, according to the entourage of Jean-Claude van Cauwenberghe, Minister-President of Wallonia, which chaired the Council. In general, each felt that things went better than during the previous period, according to these indication, though, according to agreeing sources, the criticisms have been numerous in the absence over simplifications and over the timeframes. The Spanish Secretary of State, Mrs Rodriguez-Herrer, thus spoke to the press of the "displeasure expressed over the bureaucracy". Several ministers criticised the Commission's attitude to planning documents (which complete the texts already adopted and those being adopted) to stress that, if it is necessary to negotiate these documents fully with the Commission, then "one loses the benefit of improvements made by decentralisation". Commissioner Barnier assured the press that he had himself evoked problems of "bureaucracy" in his opening speech. "We had new regulations, and therefore new habits to be formed", he declared. Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe gave his assurance that the Belgian Presidency was willing to consolidate these discussions in a working group at Council.
During the afternoon, the ministers entered the heart of the subject to tackle the period after 2006. Ministers were invited to give their points of view on specific questions. In addition to a first question of a general nature on the need for the EU to have a strong economic and social cohesion policy, there was the essential issue of how to define regions "lagging behind in development". Such a definition opens up eligibility to the more important aid schemes under Objective 1. Should there be strict application of the current criteria of GDP lower than 75% of the Community average, strict application together with aid on a declining sliding scale for current Objective 1 regions whose eligibility would be phased out, the fixing of a higher threshold, the adoption of different thresholds for the new and the older members, or any other mechanism? The ministers were also invited to express their views on improvements to the functioning of Structural Funds and to the coordination between Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds, and to specify their position for keeping or not keeping aid for the less developed regions of the Fifteen, if they automatically exceed the threshold of 75% to a great extent (and if this threshold is maintained). The Member States were above all to indicate what the priorities of aid to such regions were to be and how these regions should be determined.
Karl-Heinz Lambert, Minister-President of the German community of Belgium, speaking on behalf of Belgium, spoke in favour the 75% criterion for phasing out, stating that it was "unthinkable that aid to the regions should diminish brutally at a time when we want to rekindle the debate aimed at reducing the gap that exists between European institutions and the citizens". Portuguese Minister Elisa Ferreira was, for her part, to raise the question of the budget: "I believe that it is possible to find a balance between enlargement and cohesion, while maintaining the possibility of a catch-up. It is not a question of choice (…). If the need for cohesion is double, it cannot be resolved with the same means as before", she told a few journalists. The Italian Minister for European Affairs, Rocco Buttliglione also told the press that, like Spain, his country wanted to speak of the impact of enlargement on the regions of the Fifteen, "different to some, who do not want to". Italy "will not allow Mezziogiorno to leave the cohesion policy", he added. The new French Minister for the Environment and town and country planning, Yves Cochet wanted the same eligibility criteria for all, but considering that they should possibly review the calculations of these criteria, based now on the GDP alone. Early evening, Ministers were to adopt a text on cohesion policy after enlargement. Jean-Claude van Cauwenberghe, Minister-President of the Walloon Region, who chaired the Council, placed emphasis on the fact that, for the first time, a regional minister was chairing a Council. In Liege in November, the Presidency will organise a conference of the 73 regions with legislative powers, one year after the first meeting of these regions, as a continuation of the declaration adopted in May by the 7 EU regions of a "constitutional" nature.