Eurocommissaris Hübner in Champagne-Ardenne (Frankrijk): naar een nieuw bestuur voor Europa (en)
Danuta Hübner in Champagne-Ardenne (France): towards a new governance for Europe The European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner, is visiting the Champagne-Ardenne region at the invitation of Jean-Marie Beaupuy MEP and the prefect of the region, Gérard Moisselin. In Reims, the Commissioner will be taking part in a European Parliament symposium on territorial governance, in other words the distribution of powers between the European, national, regional and local levels in the same territory. The regional authorities will also be taking the opportunity to show her some projects receiving support from the European Funds. Between now and 2013, a total of 185 million euros will be invested in the Champagne-Ardenne region through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) alone.
Commenting on the debate on governance, the Commissioner said that “Our aim is to achieve two important objectives in the context of European regional policy: to be even more effective and to increase the involvement of European citizens in decision-making. That is why we have to be inventive and find original forms of European governance. This coordination of our activities, based on partnerships that transcend institutions, sectors of policy and the various levels of decision-making, already exists, but we need to go even further: the report by Mr Beaupuy and the Green Paper on territorial cohesion which the Commission is preparing to publish will help in this regard. 185 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), 83.3 million euros from the European Social Fund (ESF) and 148.8 million euros from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), or a total of 417 million euros, have been provided for the economic development of our region.”
The symposium in Reims, entitled “Towards a new governance of territories”, will discuss ways to better coordinate the action of all those who contribute to managing territories: local and institutional players, public and private partners, representatives of the State, local and regional politicians, professionals, civil society. Jean-Marie Beaupuy MEP is the author of a report on governance and partnership at national, regional and local levels which will be put before the European Parliament in October. The report recommends, in particular, greater decentralisation of the cohesion policy. For its part, the European Commission will be adopting a Green Paper on territorial cohesion in early October, to fuel the debate on territorial governance. This subject will also be at the centre of the discussions when the EU Ministers for housing, urban development, territorial cohesion and regional policy meet in Marseilles on 24, 25 and 26 November 2008.
Visit to projects cofinanced by the European Funds
In addition to attending the symposium, the Commissioner will be going to Bazancourt-Pomacle, near Reims, one of the 71 pôles de compétitivité in France, where she will visit, in particular, the ARD (Agro-industry Research and Development) centre with its research programmes on “plant refineries” and “green chemistry”, supported by the ERDF to the tune of 2.5 million euros between 2007 and 2013. These refineries extract fibres and sugars from beet, cereals or plants and transform them into source materials for the development of industrial products. These projects reflect the desire of the French authorities to direct European funding towards projects based on research and innovation.
The new regional programme for 2007-2013
The programme drawn up by the regional authorities in the context of the European cohesion policy does indeed focus on developing innovation and research, making companies more competitive and promoting new information and communication technologies (see MEMO/08/563). One of the aims is to increase the proportion of regional GDP invested in research and development, from 0.8% at present to 1.4%. The programme represents a total investment of 682 million euros, of which 185.5 million will come from the ERDF. Over the period 2007-2013, the Champagne-Ardenne region will also benefit from assistance of 83 million euros under the European Social Fund (ESF). Alongside neighbouring Belgium, the Champagne-Ardenne region is also taking part in the France-Wallonie-Vlaanderen cross-border cooperation programme, which will also be an important source of dynamism for the entire region (MEMO/08/74).
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