English version
"Kryzys gospodarczy przeorał Europę w sposób bardzo negatywny. Na powierzchnię wyszły ukryte animozje, nasilają się tendencje ksenofobiczne, wzrastają nastroje nieprzychylności wobec imigrantów. Wszystko to jest nad wyraz niepokojące". Europa nie radzi sobie ze zjawiskiem imigracji. Stoimy między dwoma skrajnymi podejściami. (...).
MEPs concerned about future EU regional policy, 17 grudnia 2009
Strasbourg, European Parliament
During Thursday's plenary debate, EP members voiced concern to the European Commission that the EU may lose its say on regional policy if most of it is transferred to national governments as part of the budget reform after 2013.
Currently most of EU financial support for competitiveness and employment is part of cohesion policy, where the EU sets policy priorities and is responsible for their implementation together with regional and local governments. Unofficial proposals coming from the European Commission to change this mechanism in the light of the EU budget reform after 2013 have provoked strong criticisms from MEPs. They want to ensure that EU regional policy after 2013 is not re-nationalised, and that all European regions are eligible to get EU financial support.
During the plenary debate, Chair of the EP Committee on Regional Development Danuta Hübner said:
"For years we have talked about the need to unlock, to mobilize development potential of all European regions and cities. The experience and logic clearly shows that this mobilization turns out to be most effective and efficient if pursued through direct engagement of subnational levels of European governance. The European regional policy has already passed the subsidiarity test. Subsidiarity works for Europe. [...]
The new Treaty has cemented the new understanding of European subsidiarity already deeply rooted in the cohesion policy, i.e. subsidiarity extended to local and regional level of governance. We can do more on it, especially with regard to local level. Those who suggest that cohesion policy can be limited to Brussels and national level either do not know the European reality or do not understand that excluding local and regional Europe from the pursuit of common European objectives is economically at best unwise and politically dangerous.
Cohesion is a notion that excludes exclusion. Cohesion policy must not be divisive. For political, economic, social and legitimacy reasons it should be a policy for all. As internal market is, as common currency is. All elements of this integration triangle: common market, common currency, cohesion are mutually strengthening and interdependent. They are our common European public good. [...]"
Meanwhile, the Regional Policy commissioner Paweł Samecki reassured the Parliament that cohesion policy will be an integrated part of the Lisbon 2020 strategy. As the reform proposals are still being discussed within the Commission and Council, the Commission will state its official views on it in the next few months, having taken into account the opinions expressed by MEPs.
Zobacz pełną listę wiadomości »
Zobacz pełny kalendarz wydarzeń »
Komisja tymczasowa; zakończyła prace w dniu 31 lipca 2011r
Komisja tymczasowa; zakończyła prace w dniu 31 lipca 2011r
Professor Danuta Huebner presented the report on the
achievements of EU regional policy in the years 2004-2009.
