Brussels, 18/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The implementation of the Lisbon strategy, one of the objectives of which is to strengthen competitiveness in the Europe zone, should also utilise the potential for economic development of the regions. This was reiterated by the 45 European regions which are members of the AER at the latest meeting of the Regional Policy Committee on 6 May in Ponta Delgada (Azores, Portugal).
In the view of Onno Hoes, regional minister for Noord-Brabant (NL) and Chairman of the Committee, “The ambitious objectives of the Lisbon Strategy will only be reached through coherent European policies and the EU budget adapted to the challenges emerging from the last enlargement and globalisation”. Not only should the cohesion policy be preserved, but it must be coordinated with other European policies which have an impact on cohesion in the Union (e.g. competition, transport). Regions should be encouraged to mobilise their resources and trump cards to make Europe more competitive, stimulate growth and create jobs, at the same time avoiding competition between themselves.
“The Ryanair/Charleroi Airport case has served as an example of the impact of such a lack of coordination. The European Commission heard our arguments and thanks to our active lobbying, the draft EC guidelines on the financing of airports, which represent driving force behind regional development, are currently under revision”, underlined Klaus Klipp, the Secretary General of the AER.
EUROPE recalls that Danuta Hübner, the Regional Policy Commissioner, spoke reassuringly on this subject at a meeting with the AER on 21 January: “cohesion should be at the service of the competitiveness of the regions and not a competition between the regions”, she declared.
The AER expresses its concern over the prospect of an agreement on the financial perspective for 2007-2013 by the end of June. For its “Regional Policy” Committee a reduction in the structural funds of 336 billion euros for the period would not enable the new “competitiveness” objective for cohesion policy to be realised.
The AER also announced the creation within its organisation of a working group on “Regional Economic Development” to help member regions of the AER to put in place regional development strategies which respond to the Lisbon objectives through exchanges of good practices and cooperation with regional development stakeholders, such as the European Association of Regional Development Agencies (EURADA) (Info: http://www.are-regions-europe.org ).