Brussels, 12/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - On the day after the Commission's adoption of the “Lisbon package” (EUROPE 9562), the European Commissioner for regional policy, Danuta Hübner, presented a communication, “Member States and the Regions delivering the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs through EU Cohesion Policy, 2007-2013”. The communication is part of the Lisbon package and was presented to the press on Wednesday 12 December. It was elaborated in collaboration with the Commissioner for social affairs and employment, Vladimir Spidla, and illustrates how the regions are implementing cohesion policy to attain the Lisbon objectives for 2007-13. This communication gives an insight in the national programmes and strategies elaborated by the EU27. It also shows that most of the cohesion policy budget (a total of €347bn) will be invested in key priorities in the Lisbon strategy, notably research, innovation, technology, helping workers adapt to changes in society, improved labour market access, mitigating the consequences of climate change.
Danuta Hübner immediately posed the question of how could 2007-13 cohesion policy help the Lisbon agenda. There are now 450 cohesion policy programmes which will be created as part of the Cohesion Fund and European Social Fund, explained the Commissioner. The main changes come through the allocation of funds. Regions covered by Objective 1 “convergence” intend to invest 65% of available resources in Lisbon strategy objectives (+11% compared to the previous period programmed). Regions covered by Objective 2 “regional competitiveness and employment” are committed to investing 82% of the total in the Lisbon priorities.
Pointing out that the figures tended to vary considerably from one member state to another, the Commissioner indicated that the “convergence” regions of Portugal and Spain were well ahead of their group, with 80% of the total of funds granted under the Lisbon priorities. Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, whose needs and investments in national, regional and local basic infrastructure are high, decided to focus 50%, 63% and 55% respectively, of resources granted to them to Lisbon strategy linked priorities. Hübner affirmed that Austria, Denmark and Sweden were very competitive regions with 90% of their envelope going on these objectives, closely followed by France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Danuta Hübner explained that: 1) €85bn will go to investment in R&D and innovation. More than half of this 85 billion, 49.5 billion would be investment in the improvement of enterprise innovation capacity. Financial resources granted in 2000-06 tripled. In new member states spending quadrupled; 2) €19bn (5% of the cohesion budget) has to be allocated in the next seven years for enterprise development, especially for SMEs; 3) €13.5bn will be used to improve employability through flexicurity; 4) €25.3bn is planned for supporting education and training reform; 5) 76 billion will be invested in the transport sector. Half of this amount will go to “Lisbon” expenditure (East/West corridor, multimodal Portugal/Spain axis, projects in the Baltic); 6) 47 billion will be invested to mitigate the effects of climate change. The Commissioner added that they would be investing “five times as much as in 2005-06 in renewable energies as part of the convergence objective and the regional/employment objective, €67bn”.
The Commissioner was pleased that this, “is not just about investment. The projects go together with novel policies. Innovation is one of the keys in growth in Europe. Therefore, a boost to innovation will take place in Europe. People are ready to accept change, regions have strategies. Regions and cities, as part of their development are becoming more and more interested in the global context. They have to internationalise their way of working”. In conclusion, Hübner said that the Commission would continue to collaborate closely withy member states and report on implementation of national and regional programmes. In spring 2008, the Commission will draft a detailed report on the conclusion of all negotiations on programmes for 2007-13. it will also announce coordination between the different ministers responsible for the Lisbon chapter and the cohesion policy chapter at national level. The Commissioner concluded that this, “is a first. It guarantees better coordination”. (G.B.)