Irish Regions Office Website

June 28, 2010

Belgian Presidency looks to shape Cohesion Policy

With the rotating Presidency of the EU Council switching to Belgium from July onwards, the shape of regional support post-2013 will come into sharper focus. As a highly devolved country Belgium has already pledged to make Cohesion Policy with its interlinked economic, social and territorial elemEnts into one of its strong priorities.

The discussion will centre on the fundamental question of how widely EU support should be shared among regions. Like the outgoing Spanish Presidency, Belgium is known to favour Structural Funding not being restricted to being a redistribution measure for the exclusive use of only the poorest parts of the Union. This is on the basis that funding through Regional Programmes is seen to have a role to play in meeting key EU aims in policy fields such as innovation and energy. By carefully 'earmarking' a portion of the overall Cohesion Policy package for these purposes it is argued by both the new Presidency and the European Parliament's Regional Policy Committee that highly beneficial grassroots actions which might not otherwise easily get off the ground.

According to its recently published Programme of the Belgian Presidency, the 6-month period will ''place greater emphasis on the role of the Cohesion Policy and Structural Funds, as a long-term instrument aimed towards achieving priority targets for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth at member state and regional levels'' - in line with the 'Europe 2020' strategy. This will entail a refocusing of ''the connection between cohesion and regional competitiveness'' in determining objectives and geographic and thematic targeting.

The Belgian Presidency will also work on building ''the partnership between the EU, Member States, local and regional authorities and, more specifically, through 'multi-level governance'.'' As such. the programme commits to ensuring ''that the main stakeholders, including those at regional and local levels, are brought together in order to implement the Europe 2020 strategy in such a way as to obtain optimum results.''

Another area being emphasised is ''the dynamic role'' to be played by towns and cities and sustainable social and economic urban development in responding to Europe's major demographic and environmental challenges.

As to the size of the future Cohesion Policy budget - thought to be under pressure from both the agriculture and research lobbies - EU Council President Hermann Van Rompuy is known to be supportive of maintaining its current level of influence. The relevant Ministers are to meet to informally discuss these issues in September in advance of the Cohesion Policy meeting in Liege in November. In the meantime the crucial 5th Cohesion Report is set to be published in October.

Programme of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council

Posted by iroronan at June 28, 2010 02:35 PM