European Union News - Regional Policy

Although the European Union is one of the richest economies on the planet, there are still big differences between some of its regions, disparities which appear in the fact that one region in four has a gross domestic product per person under 75% of the bloc's average. How to deal with such differences in the future cohesion policy has been the central issue to be debated at the Fifth Cohesion Forum which took place in Brussels between 31 January and 1 February.

At the Committee of the Regions plenary session in Brussels, mayors and regional presidents urged EU lawmakers to simplify the rules for delivering cross-border infrastructures and public services to citizens, and set out ways to improve a key legal tool, the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). Representatives also launched a platform for public authorities setting up and running such cross-border bodies.

On the eve of its Plenary Session on 27 and 28 January 2011, the Committee of the Regions has invited interested regional and local representatives as well as practitioners to share good practice and discuss on topics centred around the objectives set out for the European Year of Volunteering. The forum, which will take place in Brussels on 26 January, will debate over the great potential of volunteering for the social, economic and territorial cohesion of Europe.

The Committee of the Regions presented by the end of December 2010 a programme of events in the pipeline for 2011, where as it has been the case in previous years the OPEN DAYS to be held in October will play a central role. This year, in addition to the events linked to the six Plenary sessions, there will also be some sessions and fora dedicated to some of the key issues of the year within EU agenda, as well as a number of other major events in cooperation with the incoming Presidencies.

The European Court of Auditors has put forward a Special Report pointing out a series of elements in the system of specific measures for agriculture in favour of the outermost regions of the Union and the smaller Aegean islands, whose implementation could be improved. This report assesses to what extent the new approach introduced in such scheme in its 2006 revision, has been adopted in order to improve the efficiency of the system.

The Committee of the Regions brought attention during the Plenary Session held at the beginning of December to the fact Europe's regions have a wealth of experience in developing and implementing health strategies that remains untapped at the European level. The Committee also highlighted that the failure to fully involve sub-national authorities as legitimate partners in the development of future initiatives will undermine the European Commission's efforts to improve the quality of healthcare and health services across the EU.

Committee of the Regions President Mercedes Bresso reiterated Committee's warning against an EU ‘funding freeze’ for countries that breach budget deficit rules. President Bresso made this statement before ministers in charge of regional policy and urged their support to request the Commission to fully rework this proposal.