Strasbourg, 02/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner Michel Barnier said on Tuesday that he was open to reform of the Union's cohesion policy. He repeated: "We agree to renovate, even radically, but not to do away with or renationalise this policy". During the debate on the Mastorakis and Pomes Ruiz reports, Mr Barnier swore that the Commission works in transparency, that "we do not have a hidden agenda, and we do not have a secret card on structural funds - everything has been on the table" since the Commission solicited contributions in 2001 for renovating this policy, "one of the very best Union policies". While accepting the criticism, Mr Barnier rejects the reproach made by Efstratios Korakas (GUE, Greece) for whom cohesion policy is "a failure", while he agrees with Spanish Socialist Rosa Miguelez Ramos, who is highly critical of the Sapir report, namely the "absurd idea of doing away with the instrument that makes up regional policy" (although he does agree with some of the aims set out in the report, such as competitiveness, innovation, a greater effort for research and training: see EUROPE of 9 August, p.3).
The "reality of the enlarged Union", Mr Barnier warned, is a Union with 1/3 of citizens more and 1/3 of territory less, but "only 5-6% of wealth more". To this backdrop, Mr Barnier notes six points, the "backbone of reform that we can imagine together", saying: - intervention will focus on new Member States but "I shall find an equitable solution for regions affected by the statistical effect";- the new Objective 2 policy will be better targeted on Lisbon and Gothenburg objectives; - cooperation on crossborder projects will be substantially reinforced; - account will be taken of the territorial dimension of cohesion policy (you do not need to explain the problems of mountain areas to me, Michel Barnier from Savoy told Forza Italia member Giacomo Santini. He also raised the problems of northern regions posed by Piia Noora Kauppi (EPP-ED, Finland); - territorial cohesion will appear in the future Constitution; - and the system of management and control will be simpler and more effective.