Brussels, 24/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - How can the best be got out of the EU's cohesion policy? MEPs debated this question in a joint discussion on five own initiative reports dealing with the major regional policy issues - the concept of territorial cohesion, implementing structural funds and the rural and urban dimensions of cohesion policy - at the plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday 24 March. After an excellent debate, in the words of Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner (who is a candidate for election at the European elections), the Parliament adopted the five reports, each by a wide majority.
Rapporteur on the Green Paper on territorial cohesion and the state of progress in the debate on the reform of cohesion policy Lambert Van Nistelrooij (EPP-ED, Netherlands) said he wanted to “express our wishes for post-2013: territorial dimension is very important and territorial cohesion is contained in Articles 13 and 110 of the Lisbon Treaty”. He did not want an “Asymmetrical Europe, with areas lagging behind in terms of development, and others forging ahead”. Territorial cohesion policy sits alongside economic and social cohesion: “It's an integrated concept,” he added. Van Nistelrooij thanked Danuta Hübner warmly for the political changes she announced: cohesion policy had to be greened “by establishing links to climate change and sustainable development”. The report was adopted by 606 votes to 50, with 29 abstentions.
Presenting her report on best practice in the area of regional policy and impediments to the use of structural funds, Constanze Angela Krehl (PES, Germany) highlighted the problem of unused credits in some areas and called for the rules to be observed and for monitoring of the use made of funds. She also argued for less red tape at European level, for a simplified monitoring system, and for swifter and simpler projects. As criteria for best practices, she cited the quality and sustainability of the project, the effectiveness of implementing funding, respect for equal opportunities and transferability of the project (that is, ease of transfer to other EU regions). The report was adopted by 585 votes to 35, with 42 abstentions.
In his report on the urban dimension of cohesion policy in the new programming period, rapporteur Oldrich Vlasach (EPP-ED, Czech Republic) said that it was logical to concentrate on towns where 80% of the 492 million Europeans live and which provide jobs. Vlasak supported the idea of renewable funds on the basis of the JESSICA initiative and its potential for economic growth in urban areas and felt that, over the forthcoming programming period, more use would have to be made of renewable funds offering loans. He called on the Commission and member states to put in place a platform for urban development dialogue. The report was adopted by 592 votes to 47, with 48 abstentions.
Miroslav Mikolasik (EPP-ED, Slovakia), rapporteur on the implementation of the rules on structural funds 2007-2013 and the outcome of talks on national cohesion strategies and operational programmes, was particularly pleased that more than €100 billion would be invested in environmental protection, but felt that not enough money was being allocated to energy efficiency, renewable energy (€9 billion) and measures to tackle climate change (€48 billion). The report was adopted by 565 votes to 75, with 39 abstentions.
In his report on complementarity and coordination of cohesion policy with rural development measures, Wojciech Roszkowski (UEN, Poland) stressed the modernisation of social structures, particularly in employment, in rural and urban areas. The report was adopted by 626 votes to 34, with 7 abstentions.
Zsolt Laszlo Becsey (EPP-ED, Hungary), rapporteur on the development of micro-credit to support growth and jobs, said he wanted “to build micro-credit into the Lisbon Strategy. Micro-credit has to become binding for it to bring results. Additionality is an important term from the point of view of micro-credit,” he added, highlighting, too, the need to help those who do not have any guarantees to get access to micro-credit, for example, women in rural areas, the Roma or the handicapped. The report was adopted by 574 votes to 23, with 12 abstentions.
When speaking, Commissioner Hübner stressed the need for a “better culture of assessment of monitoring”. At the end of April, the Commission will launch an independent study on the influence of culture at regional and local levels. The messages of this debate will be brought together in a policy paper which will be put to the informal Regional Council at the end of May, and in June, the Commission's 6th interim report on territorial cohesion will be published, Hübner announced. (G.B./transl.rt)