Brussels, 16/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is planning to adopt, on Wednesday 18 June, the "fifth interim report on economic and social cohesion: the regions in full growth, a Europe in full growth". This report gives the results of the public consultation launched by Danuta Hübner in 2007 on the future of the cohesion policy. It also presents an in-depth analysis of major regional tendencies. This annexe to the fifth report features a working document by the services of the Commission, analysing sectors with high levels of growth in Europe. The main conclusions are: (1) Europe needs a strong cohesion policy post-2013; (2) investment is needed in innovation, education and business; (3) more coherence is needed between the cohesion policy and the other policies of the Union. Only 100 responses have been gathered to the public consultation. The commissioner for regional policy, Danuta Hübner, will present this fifth interim report to the press and to the Committee of the Regions on Wednesday 18 June.
The first part of the report deals with the extension of the public consultation on the challenges to be faced by the cohesion policy over the next years (demographic challenges, changes in economic structure, climate change, training capacity and regional disparities: see EUROPE 9472). It gathers suggestions concerning the priorities, organisation and governance of this policy. It is worth noting that the public consultation was held from September 2007 until the end of January 2008 and at the time of its launch, the commissioner indicated that she would report back to European, regional and local members of Parliament on the results of the consultation in the first months of 2008. The ideas raised by the public consultation constitute the basis of the fifth interim report on cohesion, which will feed into the work ahead of proposals by the Commission for the cohesion policy post-2013, Danuta Hübner explained at the time (see EUROPE 9445).
The second part of the report focuses on the European sectors in a position of full growth, the performances of which in the regions will do much to determine the level of regional economic development over the coming years. (G.B./transl.fl)