Seville, 21/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - The aim of the seminar organised by the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 18 January in Seville was, as explained at the beginning of the conference by CPMR president, Claudio Martini, to “begin to use the space for freedom and discussion, which the Commission proposed to us with the launch of two consultations on the future of the cohesion policy and the Community budget, to an optimum participatory level”. Representatives from national governments, European institutions (the CoR, European Economic and Social Committee, European Parliament, European Commission, European Investment Bank) and inter-regional and inter-urban associations all made a contribution on the different issues such as: what future for post 2013 cohesion policy? What kind of regional policy for the EU27?
Claudio Martini stressed that the theme of the seminar suggested a “transition, reflexion and listening period on subjects such as the budget, which at a local level is regarded as a priority”. He pointed out that the elements for the reflection day's framework were: 1) the different global situations today and their contrast with those existing in 2000, which would also be very different from those in 2013. The CPMR president affirmed that “this profound change requires as profound a change in the policies responding to this change. Adapting existing policies is not enough”. In this context he gave the example of the fact that “no-one today would imagine using a brand new computer with 1980s software. The world computer is becoming more powerful and therefore needs modern and adapted European software to be devised”; 2) the new treaty, which focuses on the principle of regional cohesion; 3) democracy and the demand for participation from citizens in the EU. Martini added that “no European policy, no matter how adapted it is, will work if it is not approved by citizens. We have to think about the visibility and legibility of regional policy”.
Danuta Hübner, the European commissioner for regional policy, said that “globalisation has created new challenges - such as climate change, energy and migration, which are now at the centre of the European debate. Solidarity and competitiveness, cohesion and growth are at the heart of this reflection”. Hübner affirmed that she intended to publish a report at the end of the year depicting the different socio-economic scenarios in the European regions up to 2020. The commissioner added that “cohesion policy has developed a very strong system of multi-governance that makes local and regional authorities essential players in setting up and devising current cohesion policy”. She called on participants to submit their contributions on the future of post-2013 regional policy “by the end of the month”. It should be pointed out that on 7-8 April the Slovenian presidency of the EU is organising a seminar on the future of cohesion policy, which brings together very senior experts in the task of ensuring that the work of the Seville seminar is followed up.
Michel Delebarre, the president of the Committee of the Regions, identified the problem as “not being a matter of responding to demographic, climate, security and migratory challenges up to 2020. It is a matter of creating the room for manoeuvre in the coming years, before 2013”. He expressed the CoR's very strong opposition to “anything involving re-nationalisation, which would inevitably lead to insufficient, inefficient and incoherent responses at a continental level”. Delebarre also opposed “any reduction in the EU budget”. He underlined that “the EU mission cannot restrict itself to responding to new challenges and has to maintain its aim of integration. It has to continue completion of the internal market within the logic of sustainable development, equity and inclusion, by taking advantage of Europe's regional richness and cultural diversity. Therefore is has to have a budget in keeping with this and the current downward trend in the size of the European budget appears to us to be absolutely unfounded”. Mr Delebarre said that “a stable multi-annual financial framework, well above five years, is an essential condition for guaranteeing the effectiveness of EU action. That's why there may be a proposal to extend the programming period to 10 years, by allocating the total amounts for the first 5 years alon, and re-allocating some of the funding kept in reserve to new needs - up to 25%, for example - as part of a genuine mid-term review”.
After welcoming last December's agreement on the new treaty, which he said was “better than all the fundamental rules governing the EU”, Manuel Chavez Gonzalez, the president of the regional council of Andalusia, affirmed that in connection with cohesion policy, “the more globalisation was irreversible, the more they needed concrete and efficient action”. Gonzalez added: “We believe that cohesion policy provides a suitable framework to face this problem. We need to draw on an integrating economic and social development, in the implementation of which the regions must participate”. He concluded that the “EU is a narrative, a didactic account, which links the past to a future that is as full of potential or illusion as we want to make it. An effort is needed to make our Europe capable of writing its own account. This Seville reflection day has to be an encouragement to accomplish this unanimously shared wish”.
Alberto Navarro, the Spanish secretary of state for European affairs, cites his country as an example in highlighting the importance of maintaining cohesion policy. Navarro pointed out that in 2000-06, Community solidarity allocated to Spain was around €57bn. He said that contributing to the Community budget had to be calculated on the level of wealth. He added that the success of the integration process for the EU27 would only be guaranteed if the countries and regions became closer at a level of social and economic wellbeing.
Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP-ED, Netherlands) said that the regional agenda “is essential for locating the sectoral dimension in the agricultural area”. He asserted that he wanted the new European Commission to have a “core or group of commissioners that represents sectors from industry, competitiveness and cohesion” and that “rural funds, based on the partnership principle and working on innovation, encouraged the spirit of enterprise and shared the same approach as cohesion funds. They should not be separated!”
At the end of the conference, Xavier Gizard, CPMR Secretary General, affirmed: “We can start work. Many doors are open, the foundations have been laid. We have put down the first beacons of cohesion policy in 2014”. He called for a meeting in 2012 “to ascertain whether the work we will be doing over the next 5 years will contribute to a European summit which would promote the continuation of cohesion policy!” Cohesion policy in 2014 has to exist because “without it, regional imbalances will worsen”, explained Gizard. Julie Gourden, the CPMR director, indicated that the CPMR would be working on European regional cohesion in 2008, in view of the Commission's Green Paper on the place of regions under new European governance. She added that concrete proposals would be formulated at the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010, before being presented to the next European Commission and new European Parliament.
In conclusion, Danuta Hübner indicated: 1) we have to tackle a series of visible challenges. Cohesion policy is an important element offering multi-level governance to tackle challenges; 2) CoR conclusions are essential: there can be no conflict between growth and competitiveness; 3) we must continue and complete the ratifications of the Lisbon Treaty, with effective clarification about regional cohesion. (G.B)