Tackling the economic crisis still high on the agenda of the EU's economic policy

Met dank overgenomen van Comité van de Regio's (CvdR) i, gepubliceerd op maandag 29 februari 2016.

This is how cities and regions can help

​On 29 February the commission for economic policy (ECON) of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) set out the local and regional point of view on the role of promotional banks in supporting the Investment Plan for Europe, the Five Presidents' report, the Single Market Strategy and the Trade and Investment Strategy.

Europe is slowly emerging from the economic crisis. How to deal with the aftermath is still the main issue in the debate, and creating growth, employment and investment is the common goal in a series of different initiatives. The members of the ECON Committee of the CoR want to make sure that cities and regions are part of the process of supporting and benefiting from these initiatives.

Promotional banks

In 2014, the European Commission launched its proposal to mobilise EUR 315 billion in public and private investment through the Investment Plan for Europe, which came into effect in 2015. National Promotional Banks (NPBs) are necessary for enhancing its impact on investment, growth and employment, due to their knowledge of local contexts, businesses and investor communities, as well as national policies and strategies.

While the rapporteur of the draft opinion, Adam Banaszak (PL/ECR), member of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Regional Assembly, welcomed the support of NPBs and investment platforms, he argued that banks at national level, without autonomous local branches, do not always meet the needs of local communities. This would lead to the interests of less developed regions in particular being overlooked which have a greater need for capital and substantive support.

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)

The Five Presidents' Report* sets out a plan on how to deepen the EMU by 2025 to make it more resilient to economic shocks. Addressing regional disparities is for Paul Lindquist (SE/EPP), rapporteur of the draft opinion and Commissioner of Stockholm County Council, of utmost importance in order to tackle social inequalities, boost growth and jobs and improve competitiveness and cohesion within the EMU and the EU.

He further called for the structured involvement of local and regional authorities in the European Semester through a code of conduct, a golden rule for keeping long-term investment separate from current expenditure. and stressed the need to improve the quality of public spending across all levels of government.

Trade and investment policy

A more responsible trade and investment policy and its potential for supporting the recovery of the EU's economy was discussed on the basis of the draft opinion by Neale Richmond (IE/EPP), member of the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

He highlighted the pivotal role of SMEs for Europe's economy and thus stressed the need to properly inform local and regional chambers of commerce about the challenges and opportunities of upcoming trade agreements. This is especially important for SMEs, as they are more likely to lack resources for monitoring developments in world trade themselves.

Single Market

Improvement to the single market for goods and services was the topic of the draft opinion by Alessandro Pastacci (IT/PES), President of the Province of Mantova (Lombardy). The opinion supports EU efforts to make the single market work better and calls for improved monitoring of the implementation within the European Semester process. It welcomes the Commission's commitment to providing guidance on how EU law applies to the collaborative economy and underlines the need for territorial impact assessments.

The draft opinion also supports a range of measures aimed at helping SMEs and start-ups and draws attention to the role of the European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) and their experience in cooperation across borders, which can help in identifying single market barriers.

The rapporteur expressed regret at the fact that the social economy, which represents 11 million jobs and 2 million businesses, is missing from the European Commission's proposal for upgrading the single market and that the Labour Mobility Package is not being published simultaneously, as rules governing labour mobility are one of the most relevant issues for the success of Europe's single market.

*Report by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker i, together with the President of the Euro Summit, Donald Tusk i, the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem i, the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi i , and the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz i.