Brussels, 16/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - “Now it is over to you! Much has already been done on the development of National Strategic Reference Frameworks (NSRFs) and Operational Programmes for the period to 2013. Austria and Latvia have already transmitted their NSRFs officially to the Commission … All other Member States have sent more or less complete drafts … I expect the first agreements to be reached on the strategic elements by the end of the year and on the first operational programmes in the early months of 2007.” This is what European Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner told representatives of the regions of the EU (including those of Romania and Bulgaria) meeting on 15 November at the New Horizons in Graz conference, the fourth best practice conference, following similar events in Sheffield in 2003, Rovaniemi in 2004 and Magdeburg in 2005. In October, the European Commission, she pointed out, adopted the Community Strategic Guidelines on cohesion, and, in December, will adopt the detailed implementing rules so that the legislative proves will finally be completed. She told the regional representatives, at this time, to be ambitious and to focus on innovation, and she welcomed the fact that twenty Member States had decided to implement innovation policies at the regional level. “I welcome this approach because the regional level is most appropriate for the design and implementation of innovative practices”. This was because, she said, it was in the regions that can be found “most of the resources essential for innovation - research centres, innovative SMEs and bodies providing for its financing”. In this context, Ms Hübner was very pleased with the interest shown by the regions in the Commission's new JEREMIE initiative, which will provide access to finance for SMEs, strengthening their capacity for innovation, and she encouraged Member States to “make maximum use of this new instrument” (Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and regions in Poland, Slovenia, Denmark and France have already drawn up Memoranda of Understanding for JEREMIE, she said).
In addition, Ms Hübner argued for the Regions for Economic Change initiative, which was adopted by the European Commission on 8 November (see EUROPE 9302) and will refocus two existing instruments of European Regional Policy - the Inter-regional Cooperation programme (INTERREG IIIC) and the Urban development network programme (URBACT). She said that a “fast-track option” would allow the rapid dissemination of new ideas, and that a first network under this fast rack option would be dedicated to the priority theme Bringing innovative ideas faster to the market, in order to “facilitate knowledge transfer from research to innovative products and services”. The selected regions will meet in Brussels before Christmas and further networks will be set up in 2007. (mg)