Brussels, 17/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - Next Monday (23 July), Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner will go in person to the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, the General Affairs/External Relations Council, to present the 4th report on economic and social cohesion, thus concluding her round of European bodies. Adopted by the Commission on 31 May (EUROPE 9435), the report is compulsory (Article 159 par.2 of the Treaty). Published every three years, it presents a cohesion inventory of previous years and, as the commissioner told the plenary European Economic and Social Council (EESC) last week (EUROPE 9469), it is the “most important policy paper in this field”. It launches a debate on the future of economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU.
In the commissioner's opinion, cohesion policy is both necessary and useful. It is fundamental in that it concerns all EU regions and not just the poorest EU regions. The cohesion policy instrument must be kept but it can still evolve, said Ms Hübner. As far as the current developments are concerned, one cannot fail to see that, for the first time, Community Strategic Guidelines (CSG) on cohesion, which define areas in which the new programmes will invest as a priority in line with the EU agenda for growth and employment adopted in 2005, were adopted by the Council (see EUROPE 9232 among others). Before this, it was only a matter of the Commission's indicative guidelines. Growth and employment are the basis for cohesion and this is not detrimental to competitiveness, Ms Hübner went on, pointing out that the priorities of the CSG are above all to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, employment and risk prevention. When it comes to the convergence (or poorest) regions, their needs are different, if only for basic infrastructure such as transport. The European Commission therefore suggests a framework for priorities. It will then be up to member states and their regions to decide, in line with the principle of decentralisation. It will not therefore be up to the Commission to decide where the Community funds should be invested. This decision would be up to the national and regional authorities of member states, the commissioner said.
Ms Hübner's two main priorities for 2007 are: (1) adoption of the National Strategic Reference Frameworks (NSRF) of the ten remaining countries - Luxembourg, Finland, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Belgium and Ireland - the remaining 17 member states have already adopted them; (2) the setting in place of programmes valid for 2007-2013. While 20 operational programmes out of 328 have already been approved by the Commission, 39 have still not been put to the Commission (these are mainly cooperation programmes). Other priorities for the Commissioner are to: - continue partnership with the regions and fuel the debate launched with this 4th report on cohesion. Other workshops scheduled for 2007 relate to the adoption, in September, of a communication on very outlying regions and, in November, a communication on innovation in the regions. In 2008, the Commission will adopt a communication on territorial cohesion.
In the context of the 4th report on economic and social cohesion, Ms Hübner underlined the importance of having a common vision on the main challenges confronting the European regions after 2013: globalisation, demographics, structural economic changes, climate change, training, regional disparities etc. The 5th economic and social cohesion report will be published in 2010, and the first Commission proposals for the next financial perspectives for 2014-20 will be presented in 2011. In connection with the new treaty, Danuta Hübner expressed hope that “territorial cohesion will be added to economic and social cohesion”. (gb)