Strasbourg, 24/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 23 May, the European Parliament adopted the report by Francisca Pleguezuelos (PES, Spain) on the impact and consequences of structural policies on EU cohesion. It put forward recommendations for the implementation of the new Cohesion Policy and highlighted the crucial role of the Cohesion Policy in achieving the Lisbon strategy objectives. The Cohesion Policy is set to become the EU's largest budget item, Parliament says, ahead of the budget review, scheduled for 2008-2009.
Parliament stressed the need to develop an integrated structural policy which consistently combines support from the Structural and Cohesion Funds with other Community policies and calls: (1) on the Commission to: - explore new ways of combining structural policies with other Community policies, so as to “build synergies that can boost competitiveness, research and innovation”; - analyse the leverage effect of the Structural Funds in attracting private investment, given the need for public-private cooperation; - consider ways of raising the visibility of support measures, including by more closely monitoring the application of compulsory publicity measures and taking steps to remedy any serious breach; (2) on the Commission and Council to: - assess whether earmarking at least 20% of Structural Funds for research and development, and innovation for the next programming period is viable, not forgetting the small projects that drive sustainable development in less-favoured regions; - use local and regional “technology facilitators” (financed by the Structural Funds and using existing resources, such as Euro Info Centres and Innovation Relay Centres) to foster innovation by companies; (3) on the Commission, member states and regional authorities to: - seek to secure a territorial balance between urban and rural areas, and encourage the exchange of good practice, especially within territorial and sectoral networks for improving the management of funds.
Parliament also proposes: - using “relevant indicators” to measure the impact of structural policies on cohesion, and enabling the European Spatial Planning Observatory Network (ESPON) to do this; - that indicators other than GDP per inhabitant, including “employment rate and quality, GDP disparities among neighbouring regions, decentralisation and accessibility, infrastructure and transport provision, product diversity and the level of research/innovation, education and training activity”, be used. (gb)