European Union News - Regional Policy

It has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (2008/C 257/12) the Committee of the Regions (CdR) oppingon related to Clusters and cluster policy.

The European Commission adopted the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion on the 6th october 2008, signalling the start of a major consultation with regional and local authorities, associations, NGOs, civil society and other organisations, aimed at achieving a better and shared understanding of territorial cohesion and its implications for the future of the EU's regional policy.

Following the mandate stated in the European Council Conclusions of December 14th, 2007, Commissioner Danuta Hübner and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt launched the debate on EU strategy for Baltic Sea Region at the stakeholder conference held in Stockholm on September 30th, which was attended by relevant representatives from Member States, NGOs, local authorities and financing institutions, with the aim of laying the foundations for a stronger and more coordinated Baltic Sea policy.

It has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union the Commission Regulation (EC) No 941/2008 of 25 September 2008 laying down form and content of the accounting information to be submitted to the Commission for the purpose of the clearance of the accounts of the EAGF and EAFRD as well as for monitoring and forecasting purposes.

Urban areas are spreading, minimising the time and distances between and in-and-out of cities. The International Planning Congress in Dalian, China (19-23 September 2008), addressed this ‘urban sprawl’ and sought ways to achieve sustainable urbanisation. The European Environment Agency contributed to this debate by urging policy makers to tackle underpinning consumption patterns.

The European Commission presents on the 23rd September 2008 the results of its “health check” on 321 European cities developed during 2006-2007 in 362 cities.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on a set of guidelines to assist Member States' courts in applying the EU state aid rules. The guidelines are aimed at supporting national courts and potential claimants in relation to domestic state aid challenges. Interested parties are invited to comment on the draft by October 23rd 2008.

During the celebration of the Eurofi conference held in Nice (France), Commissioner Hübner announced the launch of JASMINE, a new facility developed in cooperation with the European Investment Bank, seeking to provide financial and other assistance to support the development of micro-finance institutions in the Member States as credible financial intermediaries capable of supporting those wishing to establish or develop a micro-business or to enter self-employment.

On September 15th the Commission presented a Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund on the basis of application for assistance from the Fund made by France, after the hurricane "Dean", which affected Martinique and Guadeloupe in August 2007. The Interinstitutional Agreement of May 17th 2006 allows the mobilisation of the Fund within the annual ceiling of 1 billion Euro.

The Commission today welcomed the Colombian national regulator's (the National Commission for Television CNTV) selection the European Digital Video Broadcasting standard (DVB-T) for the country's digital terrestrial TV.

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) published on September 4th the Information communicated by the United Kingdom regarding State aid granted under Commission Regulation (EC) Nº 70/2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises.