The Committee
on Regional Development adopted the own-initiative report by Ricardo CORTÉS
LASTRA (S&D, ES) on the contribution of the Cohesion policy to the
achievement of Lisbon and the EU2020
objectives.
The
Cohesion policy and Lisbon Strategy: Members
observe that in the programme allocations for 2007-2013 approximately EUR 228
billion over the 7-year period has been earmarked to the Lisbon priorities.
They recall that already in the 2000-2006 period, despite the absence of an
earmarking mechanism, the link between cohesion policy programmes and the
Lisbon Strategy was strong with EUR 10.2 billion invested in research and
innovation.
The committee
takes the view that the original Lisbon Strategy, based solely on the open
method of coordination, was structurally unable to obtain its stated goals
and that it was only when it was linked to the Cohesion policy that true
results were reached. It stresses that this error should be avoided in the
proposed EU2020 strategy.
Members urge
the Commission to come up with a proposal for evaluation indicators before
2012 in order to provide the means to measure the impact produced, also as
regards quantity and quality, and to make the necessary adjustments for the
next programming period.
The main
statements made in this report are as follows:
- a
weak multi-level governance was one of the main limits of the
Lisbon Strategy, with the insufficient involvement of regional and local
authorities and civil society in the design, implementation,
communication and evaluation of the strategy. Members recommend their stronger
integration in the future at all stages;
- when
the partnership principle was applied in the Lisbon Strategy, it has
increased the sense of ownership of the objectives by the local and
regional authorities, as well as by the economic and social
stakeholders, and ensured higher sustainability of the interventions. It
calls on the Commission to monitor the implementation of the partnership
principle in the Member States more effectively;
- the weak
synergies that existed between National Strategic Reference Frameworks
and the National Reform Programmes under the strategy. It recommends
a stronger and regular dialogue at all levels, including the Community
level, between administrations responsible for the cohesion policy and
the Lisbon/EU2020 Strategies and the relevant partners from the
monitoring committee;
- the
financial engineering instruments, in particular JEREMIE and JESSICA
should be strengthened to ensure better support to business and SMEs.
Members recommend that the rules governing these instruments be
simplified to allow their greater use by beneficiaries.
Cohesion
policy and EU2020: Members consider that the
EU2020 strategy must be an integral part in the achievement of the goal of
territorial cohesion, included as a new objective in the Lisbon Treaty.
However, according to the report, the proposed EU2020 strategy, similar to
the Lisbon Strategy, does not sufficiently reflect the different development
levels of regions and Member States and therefore does not put enough stress
on economic cohesion in the enlarged EU.
Members welcome
the recognition of the role of the Structural Funds in the delivery of the EU2020
goals. They stress, however, that the cohesion policy is not just the source
of stable financial allocations but is also a powerful instrument for the
economic development of all of Europe's regions. They emphasise that a
strong and well-financed cohesion policy, embracing all European regions,
must be a key element of the EU2020 Strategy. They reject all attempts to
renationalise the cohesion policy and ask for the regional dimension to be fully
supported in the review of the EU budget.
The report makes the following recommendations:
- whilst
the cohesion policy's priorities should be aligned with the EU2020
objectives, sufficient flexibility should be allowed to
accommodate regional specificities and support the weaker and neediest
regions to overcome their socio-economic difficulties, natural handicaps
and reduce disparities;
- the governance
system should be improved compared to the Lisbon Strategy: the
report recommend its design and implementation, while using Cohesion and
structural funds, according to the multi-level governance principle so
as to ensure the greater involvement of local and regional authorities
and civil society stakeholders;
- the EU2020
strategy must be an integral part in the achievement of the goal of
territorial cohesion, included as a new objective in the Lisbon Treaty.
A stronger territorial dimension of the strategy, considering the
specificities and different development levels of the European regions
will lead to a greater sense of ownership of its goals at all levels and
ensure a better awareness of objectives and outputs on the ground;
- considers it
essential to ensure the provision of joint statistics, as well as
reading capacity in respect of the indicators, at both local and
regional level;
- the key
role of cities in achieving the EU2020 goals. Members urge that their
experience and contribution be taken into account in implementing the
EU2020 priorities, especially as regards climate change, social
integration, demographic change and investments in sustainable economic
development, energy, transport, water management, health care, public
safety etc;
- the
Commission should present concrete proposals for creating synergies
between the cohesion policy and existing sectoral policies according
to an integrated approach;
- the Union
should continue to use, as its main financing mechanisms, the Cohesion
Fund and structural funds. Members consider it unnecessary to create new
separate thematic funds to address the EU2020 goals and instead deems
that they should be included in cohesion and rural development policies;
- the adoption
of a simplified approach to the use of the Structural Funds in the
future regulatory framework;
- the
Commission is recommended to undertake an annual review of the
priorities of the EU-2020 Strategy, on the basis of the results
obtained in implementing this strategy;
- Members call
on the Commission to present to the Parliament as soon as possible a
structured working programme for the implementation of the Strategy. Moreover,
they call for a clear working document setting out the relationship
between the Strategy and the Cohesion policy.