European Union News - Regional Policy

Europe's ambitious goal of taking 20 million people out of poverty will only succeed if local and regional authorities play a key role in developing national programmes and if Europe is prepared to back national, regional and local authorities in their efforts, starting with sufficient funding through the European Social Fund. This was the key message in the Committee of the Regions' (CoR) opinion on the European Platform against poverty and social exclusion, adopted today at its plenary session in Brussels.

About a half of Europe’s population lives in towns of between 2,000 and 50,000 inhabitants. For that reason it was absolutely necessary to give a united voice to carry their specific messages to the European institutions. This is the purpose behind the creation of the Confederation of Small Towns and Municipalities of the European Union (CTME), whose president will be the alternate member of the CoR and president of the Midi-Pyrenees Regional Council and of the French association of small towns (APVF), Martin Malvy.

As EU environment ministers met for an informal two-day council meeting in Hungary, Committee of the Regions' President Mercedes Bresso highlighted the vital importance of involving local and regional authorities within sustainable development programmes, proposing to enlarge the scope of the Covenant of Mayors from energy savings to the entire Resource efficient Europe agenda, in particular with regard to sustainable water management. President Bresso also suggested the use of EU Project Bonds in the sector of eco-infrastructures.

The President of the Committee of the Regions, Mercedes Bresso, and the Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, called for stronger involvement of regions and cities for a sustainable Europe.Cities are home to 80% of the population in the EU and are responsible for 70% of its greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Enterprise Awards (EEA) aim to recognise and reward the best entrepreneurial initiatives by public authorities at national, regional and local level to make Europe more entrepreneurial and business-friendly. 12 regions have been nominated to compete for the final award, whose winners will be announced on 24 May 2011 at the 5th EEA award ceremony co-hosted by the Hungarian Presidency in the prestigious National Gallery in Budapest.

At the meeting of the Agricultural and Fisheries Council celebrated in Brussels on 21 February, ministers held a third policy debate on the Commission communication 'The CAP towards 2020: Meeting the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of the future'. In this occasion, the debate - structured around a Presidency questionnaire, focused on balanced territorial development, which is the third main objective for the future CAP identified in the Commission communication.

According a recent survey presented by the Assembly of the European Regions (AER), regions have recognised positive aspects, but there are unavoidable obstacles from the regional point of view regarding the effectiveness in EU funding. The results of this survey conducted within AER members was answered by 23 regions of 14 different countries.

The European Commission has announced which countries and regions will lead priority areas of work of the Strategy for the Danube Regions, which aims to develop the huge economic potential of the Danube river. This Strategy will aim at a strong cooperation between countries, making a more optimal use of all EU funding available. I will focus on eleven concrete priority action areas, such as the improvement of navigability, water quality, security cooperation and the opportunities for tourism.