“Today’s crisis is putting EU solidarity to the test” was the message of László Andor, European Commission for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, speaking at the seminar on “European Solidarity as a driving force behind the development of Europe’s territories. What are the challenges for Eu cohesion policy 2014-2020?” organised by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) at the Committee of the Regions on 10 February 2012.

Right from the start of talks on the new financial perspectives and EU budget, the CPMR has stressed that it is only by playing the solidarity card and refusing any withdrawal into self-interest that Europe will be able to emerge from the deep crisis into which it is has fallen.

“Solidarity”, which for Jean-Yves Le Drian, President of the CPMR and Brittany Region, “has created a political Europe and made it grow bigger and stronger.” However, Mr Le Drian also underlined that “cohesion policy has now become a policy for territorial investments that support solidarity, and we need to create a climate of confidence and solidarity to start recovering growth again.” Finally, he commented that Europe needs political, economic, territorial as well as social solidarity, because “we will not have sustainable development unless there is a social pillar.”

Coming back to the issue of cohesion policy, Commissioner Andor explained that it is an important policy for achieving the EU 2020 goals as well as objectives regarding economic and social cohesion. In the Commissioner’s view, there also needs to be “a link between cohesion policy and the economic governance of the EU to ensure that funds rest on a healthy economic basis.”

The Council of the EU was represented by Elzbieta Bienkowska, Polish Minister for Regional Development, Andreas Mavroyiannis, Cyprus’s Deputy Minister for European Affairs, and Stefan Ilcus, Denmark’s Chief Negotiator on Cohesion Policy. Elzbieta Bienkowska expressed reserves with regard to macro-economic conditionality, which represents “a vicious circle where imposed sanctions will force Member States and beneficiaries of structural funds to pay back funding.”

With regard to the Committee of the Regions, its President, Mercedes Bresso, pointed out the importance of the “convergence machine that is the EU” and asked for solidarity criteria to be broadened. “We must stop putting an exclusive and central focus on GDP per capita and use the situation of regions in relation to demography and health, inequality of incomes, level of education, state of the environment and physical handicaps as criteria for allocating funding.”

DG REGIO of the European Commission was represented by its new Director General, Walter Deffaa, who put emphasis on “more flexibility” in EU programmes and greater simplification “to make access to funding easier”.

For further information, please contact Enrico MAYRHOFER
Gsm: + 32 486 56 19 67 – Email : enrico.mayrhofer@crpm.org
Web: www.crpm.org