Brussels, 19/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - EU competitiveness, relations with Russia, energy policy, the future of the Constitutional Treaty, future EU enlargement, good governance and, above all, the promotion of regional development were all matters of priority for the Finnish Presidency of the EU, announced the Finnish minister for regional and municipal affairs Hannes Manninen to the plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (CoR). Mr Manninen highlighted the key role of the Committee of the Regions in improving EU competitiveness, pointing out that a large part of European legislation was implemented at regional or local level. The promotion of regional development came from the cohesion policy, he went on, noting that 350 new programmes would come into effect, and Finland would do all in its power for their implementation. The Committee of the Regions and DG Regional Policy of the European Commission are holding open days in Brussels on 9-12 October, at which regional and municipal representatives will be able to share their experiences and ideas for the future, and Finland will play a full part in this action, the minister said, inviting the Bureau of the CoR to meet in Turku on 6-7 July.
Responding to the representatives of the political groups in the CoR, Mr Manninen found himself on the same wavelength as Karl-Heinz Klär (PES, Germany) on winning back citizens. To Paulina Hajannen (EPP, Finland), who called for greater involvement of regional and local players in the preparation and implementation of European legislation, the minister replied that as many local players as possible should be involved and programmes should be developed from grassroots up. Instead of speaking about “flexicurity”, would it not be better speaking about the security of several jobs throughout life and propose generous re-training programmes for workers, asked Flo Clukas (ALDE, UK). Mr Manninen answered that security was the widest and most difficult notion to manage, because all the players and all levels of society had to be involved. Mr Manninen also found the proposal from Uno Silberg (UEN-AE, Estonia) for a fundamental right to use the internet, “very interesting” and considered that internet training would be needed.