Europe needs a strong Cohesion Policy after 2013. That was the consensus in over 100 contributions to a public consultation on the issue, Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, said today. She was speaking at a presentation of the Fifth Progress Report on Economic and Social Cohesion. The two-part document comprises a report on the public consultation, and an analytical report on regional economies, which shows that less developed regions continue to show strong growth, underpinned by a shift towards sectors of the future.

Part One of the Progress Report synthesises contributions received between September 2007 and February 2008 in a public consultation the Commission launched on the future of the policy. Over 100 contributions were received from national authorities (17 Member States participated, accounting for more than 80% of the EU's population), regional and local authorities, economic and social partners, academic and research institutions. The contributions are being analysed in the context of the Budget Review and reflections on the EU's spending priorities.

Cohesion Policy after 2013: Report on public consultation

• Consensus on need for ambitious European Cohesion Policy available to all EU regions; firm rejection of idea of re-nationalisation.
• Call for investment to focus on European priorities such as innovation, education, support for small and medium enterprises, EU-wide infrastructure and the fight against climate change. Call for further "greening" of the policy.
• Call for stronger coordination between Cohesion Policy and other EU sectoral policies in the light of complex challenges, and, in this context, a call on the Commission to reinforce the link between Cohesion Policy and rural development policy.
• Call for further simplification of the policy, more involvement of local and regional authorities.
• Territorial cooperation cross-border, trans-national and interregional exchanges seen as one of the best examples of Cohesion Policy's European added value; respondents call for more resources to be allocated to it.

Part Two of the report shows continued strong growth in poorer regions. Between 2000 and 2005, the Convergence regions (GDP per head under 75% of the community average) showed GDP growth per head that was 50% faster than the rest of the EU. The unemployment rate in these regions also dropped by 3 percentage points. This process has been driven by a shift to sectors of the future, as below.

Need for more investment in innovation, education, training: In the most developed regions, the share of GDP going to Research and Development (R&D) is three times higher than in convergence regions, but 15% lower than in the United States. The European Union also invests a much lower share of its GDP in higher education: 1.2% compared to 2.9% in the US.