Comité van de Regio's en Belgische Voorzitterschap willen territoriale samenwerking versterken (en)
EU-funded territorial cooperation delivers concrete results for citizens and should be beefed up after current programmes expire in 2013, Committee of the Regions (CoR) members and Walloon Prime Minister Rudy Demotte underlined today.
Speaking at a conference organised by the Belgian Presidency in Tournai, CoR President Mercedes Bresso emphasised that territorial cooperation improves people's lives, for instance by providing joint transport or healthcare services in border regions. While these projects have become the “face of Europe” in many regions, the EU’s INTERREG funding schemes must also live up to new globalisation challenges, Bresso stated: "What we need in the future is a more strategic approach, improved governance - for instance through ‘territorial pacts’ between different levels of government - and cooperation also beyond the European continent.” In view of the difficult economic situation under which the future EU budget will be negotiated, President Bresso said: "We are well aware of the budget challenge. But we will not accept handouts to territorial cooperation in exchange for budget cuts somewhere else. We need sufficient funding to ensure that territorial cooperation and cohesion policy can continue to deliver added value for Europe."
Walloon Prime Minister Rudy Demotte, who chairs meetings of EU ministers in charge of regional policy during the Belgian Presidency, underlined: “The Territorial Cooperation objective is an instrument which has an obvious European added value and which must be preserved, such as building European networks, cooperation development, and the exchange of knowledge and experience. This instrument allows us to capitalise on the benefits we have reaped for over 20 years”.
The CoR was a key player in setting up the European funding schemes for such cooperation, and also pushed for an EU tool to simplify their use - the "European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation", or EGTC. Regions and cities can set up such joint bodies without major administrative barriers and can then apply for any kind of EU or national funding. In 2008, Tournai, the French city of Lille and Kortrijk in Flanders became the first in Europe to work together under this framework. In the meantime many more have followed their example. Meeting yesterday in Tournai ahead of the Belgian Presidency conference, members of the Committee of the Regions' Commission for territorial cohesion (COTER) discussed how to feed this grassroots experience into the forthcoming review of the EGTC regulation. Prepared by Alberto Núñez Feijóo (ES/EPP), President of Galicia, the Committee's opinion on the EGTC review is scheduled for adoption in early 2011.
Michel Delebarre (FR/PES), Chairman of the COTER Commission, Mayor of Dunkirk and in this capacity initiator of an EGTC regrouping the Belgian province of West Flanders and the French Opal Coast, commented: "We are surely not on the defensive when it comes to the role of interregional cooperation in the future programming period. On the contrary, we believe that territorial cooperation and tools like the EGTC still have great potential, especially when it comes to creating economies of scale and alleviating public sector budgets. We want more territorial cooperation to generate more efficiency and more savings.”
Other items on the agenda of the COTER Commission were the reactions of regions and cities to the European Commission's 2010 strategy report on the implementation of cohesion policy, drafted by Constantin Ostaficiuc (RO/EPP), Chairman of Timi? Borough Council. Rapporteur Michael Schneider (DE/EPP), European Affairs State Secretary of Saxony-Anhalt discussed his draft opinion on the role of cohesion policy in implementing the new Europe 2020 strategy with COTER members.
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The Committee of the Regions
The Committee of the Regions is the EU's assembly of regional and local representatives. The mission of its 344 members from all 27 EU Member States is to involve regional and local authorities and the communities they represent in the EU's decision-making process and to inform them about EU policies. The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council are obliged to consult the Committee in policy areas affecting regions and cities. It can appeal to the EU Court of Justice if its rights are infringed or it believes that an EU law violates the subsidiarity principle or fails to respect regional or local powers.
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EU Committee of the Regions
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