Delebarre and Hübner warn Member States to stop dragging their feet over EGTC regional cooperation initiative

Mrs Hübner voiced her concerns over delays to the scheme, known as the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), during a plenary session debate in Brussels today (7 June). EU capitals were asked to put legal procedures in place to ensure the scheme could start, as scheduled, on 1 August, but no Member State is likely to be ready on time. "This is definitely not good news," she said.

M. Delebarre, Mayor of Dunkerque, France, shared the Commissioner's sense of frustration. "Do Member States want this instrument? National authorities have to meet deadlines."

The Commissioner and CoR leader made their plea on the same day as the Committee hosted a conference aimed at assessing the EGTC's potential and providing further examples of initiatives which could benefit once it becomes operational (see CoR website for report tomorrow).

Mrs Hübner said "a lot" of potential EGTC projects had already been identified, including a hospital in Limburg on the Dutch-German border as well as one on the French-Spanish border. The idea is that that they will provide medical services for people living on either side of the border. EGTCs can run for unlimited periods and involve little or no red-tape once they are set up. As well as local or regional authorities, EGTC partners can include Member States or any other public body.

Mrs Hübner was principally at the plenary to present the main findings of the Commission's recently-adopted Fourth Report on Economic and Social Cohesion. Published every three years, the report provides a detailed analysis of the economic, social and territorial situation of the enlarged Union of 27 Member States and 268 regions for the first time.

The Commissioner stressed that it should be viewed against the backdrop of the Berlin Declaration, signed by EU leaders in March, which explicitly recognises the role of Europe's regions and local authorities in the Union 's system of multi-level governance. The Cohesion Report bears this out in many ways – for instance, Mrs Hübner highlighted that, across the EU as a whole, the share of public investment among local and regional authorities had risen, compared to the level of spending at national level. "This process is driven by a raising awareness of efficiency gains, implied by better use of subsidiarity - one of the key principles of the European regional policy," she commented.

The Commissioner said the report clearly demonstrates that cohesion policy has had a proven effect in reducing economic disparities between regions. Estimates for 2004-2103 suggest that the policy will help bring about an increase in GDP of around 9% in the Czech Republic and Latvia, 8.5% in Lithuania and Estonia, 6% in Bulgaria and Slovakia, 5.5% in Poland, 3.5% in Greece and 3.1% in Portugal.

Responding on behalf of the European People's Party group, Michael SCHNEIDER, State Secretary of Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, said the report's findings were important in the context of the Commission's 2008-2009 budget review. "It is a question of ensuring that all regions, including the wealthier ones, remain part of the future cohesion policy and that it is appropriately funded," he remarked.

He hailed the policy as "a broad success story" and recalled that other countries, including China, the Russian Federation and Brazil, had adopted a similar approach. The EU should go on the offensive rather than being defensive about cohesion investment, he added.

Claudio MARTINI (European Party of Socialists and President of Tuscany, Italy ) said the cohesion policy was the "condition for proper balanced development in the future", pointing out that it did not just benefit the poorest countries and regions, but also the donor countries. He also stressed that the policy was not simply a matter of increasing GDP per capita, but also about the leverage effect on environmental, social and cultural standards.

Flo CLUCAS (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group and member of Liverpool City Council, UK), said would like to see a more accessible and less technical version of the Commissioner's report, so that CoR members could share the policy's success with "ordinary citizens and ordinary businesses". Mrs Hübner agreed with this idea and said she would ask her services to prepare a smaller, reader-friendly version.

Witold KROCHMAL (Union for a Europe of the Nations-European Alliance group and Mayor of Rynek, Poland) agreed with the need to make the policy more visible and emphasised that it should also anticipate future challenges for local and regional authorities in areas such as climate change.

The Commissioner said looked forward to more responses from the CoR, both in its opinion on the Fourth Cohesion report, and in the run-up to the Commission's 'Cohesion Forum' in Brussels on 27-28 September. She also welcomed the findings of the CoR's opinion on the Commission's ' regions for economic change' initiative, aimed at harnessing local and regional best practices and promoting their dissemination . In response to the opinion, presented by Alvaro ANCISI, member of the municipal Council of Ravenna (IT/EPP), she urged local and regional authorities to prepare partnerships ready to submit project applications to the INTERREG IVC and URBACT II Structural Funds' programmes and to work with managing authorities to ensure that the networks fit the regional operational priorities.



For more information, please contact:

Dennis ABBOTT
+32 0)2 282 20 99, +32 (0)2 282 20 85, E-mail: Dennis Abbott

Estelle POIDEVIN
+32 (0)2 282 22 70, +32 (0)2 282 20 85, E-mail: Estelle Poidevin