Brussels, 12/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - During a visit to Brussels, where he was participating in a Committee of the Regions (CoR) plenary session, the Czech minister for regional development, Cyril Svoboda, presented the press with the Czech presidency of the Union's priorities on Union cohesion policy and its post-2013 definition.
Minister Svoboda said that it is clear that they had to focus on two priorities: 1) resolving questions linked to the economic crisis they were now confronting. He noted that, “in this context, we want the recovery plan to be adopted as quickly as possible. W want an agreement between the Council, Commission, European Parliament and Czech Republic so that citizens can see that European can resolve these problems”; 2) a long term cohesion strategy is required, which is not accession, “accession meaning adhering to something, while cohesion means unity and working together. In this context, what counts is Europe becoming a Europe without barriers”. The Czech minister highlighted the fact that, “cohesion must be cohesion between different peoples”. He affirmed that they should not ignore poor regions, which are an integral part of cohesion policy. Mr Svoboda also said that they should wait for the conclusions of the informal regional development ministerial meeting on 23 April in Marienbad. He asserted that, “our common hope is that the ministers' declaration is short but decisive, with a content that shows the way forward”. He added that national parliaments are affected by the issue and that they should adopt measures that simplify life in the crisis. They should also examine post-2013 cohesion, he said.
Cyril Svoboda announced that the monitoring system would continue to function in the Czech Republic. “The European institutions are our friends and if there is an institutions that can help countries, it is indeed the Commission”. The Czech minister also said they attached a lot of importance to financial perspectives. In response to a journalist, Svoboda indicated that the Czech Republic still received European funds and citizens will be informed about it. He affirmed that, “we want an operation legal framework”.
The president of the Committee of the Regions, Luc Van den Brande, then spoke and presented three priority activities for his organisation and the Czech presidency in the regional field. Firstly, holding a European Summit of the Regions and Cities on 5-6 March in Prague, with he main theme of combating the economic and financial crisis. Van de Brande said that, “sometimes, it is necessary to adopt anti-crisis measures and move forward in partnership”. CoR will present its main concerns at this summit and make “concrete and pragmatic” proposals on what has to be implemented in the future. The Marienbad informal meeting the CoR is invited to will then show that, “cohesion is also coherency. Fairness and openness is necessary. Those who are with us should be helped”. Mr Van den Brande did say, however, that, “we also see cohesion as the free movement of people. Europeans have the right to choose where they want to live”. Thirdly, the Czech presidency called on the Council to make two recommendations: the first on the partnership with the East from an economic and energy perspective, with a local and regional contribution and the second on the economic impact on tourism.
The mayor of Prague, Pavel Bem, is an increasingly important figure on the national Czech scene and indicated that around 700 representatives from more than 250 European regions and cities would be participating at the European Regions and Cities Summit. Irrespective of the fact that very serious problems such as the financial crisis would be discussions (which has a direct impact on European cities experiencing mounting unemployment), political discussions will also take place during the summit, explained the mayor. Bem explained that, “we want to invite citizens from Prague and the Czech Republic” to listen to Europe breathe”. During the two day summit, parties in Prague's roads will be organised, with rock and folk groups., “We think that it is like this that we will make good the democratic deficit - by getting citizens to participate in Europe”.