Brussels, 27/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - With its seminar of the reform of regional policy, organised in Brussels Monday and Tuesday, the Commission is testing among representatives of the regions and Member states the idea of a pick-and-choose Objective 2. Opening the debates, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Michel Barnier, defended continuing the Community policy beyond helping the regions most lagging behind (Objective 1), while pleading in favour of a more decentralised and simplified policy than the current Objective 2, intended for regions undergoing re-conversion. The Commissioner recalled, as he had done when presenting the interim report on cohesion, end-January, that he was in favour of Objective 2 being replaced by some targeted objectives: urban areas, areas undergoing re-construction, rural areas, areas with a natural handicap, inter-regional co-operation, , the new economy, sustainable development, possibly jobs priorities… Especially, he mentioned this idea referring to a "new menu of Community priorities for regional and territorial competitiveness", recalling that he was prepared to abandon zoning", that is to say the Commission determining areas beneficiaries of aid.
Michel Barnier proposes that on the basis of the "menu" priorities determined at European level, sustained priorities of each country by the EU programme may be different. For territorial priorities (urban and rural areas), he suggests the beneficiary areas be selected by national authorities "in close partnership with regional and local authorities". In that case, the European rule could, as for the Urban initiative, consist in setting parameters such as the population covered and the intensity of aid per capita. For thematic priorities (new technologies…), the rule could be that the region has to devote a minimum of Community aid to a priority to be chosen. The whole would be framed in the limits of national financial allocations "determined from objective criteria". The planning and management would be decentralised, but framed in tripartite contracts concluded for programmes between the State, the region and the Commission (see Europe of 25 May, p.16).