Brussels, 12/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption of the report by German Green member Elisabeth Schroedter on the Commission's first progress report on economic and social cohesion, the European Parliament affirms that European cohesion policy and the solidarity it implies between rich and poor EU Member States must remain a constituent element of an enlarged Union. As enlargement becomes imminent, cohesion policy must be reviewed, improved and adapted to the new conditions, the Parliament says. On one hand, it reminds candidate states of the absolute need to improve their administrative capacities still further as well as their coordination mechanisms in the context of preparing the management of structural funds. On the other hand, it calls on the Commission to strengthen effectiveness and to make the planning and implementation of cohesion policy more flexible. According to the EP, it would be appropriate to gradually decentralise fund management, on condition that effective and rigorous control is foreseen to monitor the use of funds. The Parliament considers that, in order to avoid what, in the context of the future cohesion policy, one calls the "statistical effect", it is appropriate to take into account, alongside GDP per capita, other indicators that reflect territorial problems and development difficulties. It also calls on regions that will become more eligible during the next programming period, to carry out "phasing out" measures adapted to their economic situation, whereas the regions undergoing conversion should continue to benefit from a renewed Objective 2. The Parliament reaffirms the importance of cohesion policy that is not limited to giving support to regions lagging behind with regards development but which is also attentive to regions suffering from serious geographical or natural disadvantages (islands, mountainous or scarcely populated areas). It insists on the fact that the regions which are permanently handicapped because of their geographical location must be a priority in the new regional and cohesion policy, mainly the most remote regions through more complete implementation of Article 299 of the Treaty. The Parliament proposes that programming for the period 2007-2013 should be undertaken early in order to ensure that, from 1 January 2007, Community resources are available for regions for launching projects. The EP therefore calls on the Commission to propose a timetable that meets this objective.