Policies

Strengthening economic and social cohesion to support the development of the EU’s less developed and outlying regions

Challenges presented by the new geographical framework

Background

Strengthening economic and social cohesion is a fundamental pillar of the Treaty on European Union. It seeks to promote the harmonious development of the entire Community area. The Treaty specifies that EU measures should aim to reduce disparities between the levels of development of the various regions and the backwardness of the least favoured regions, including rural areas.

Conceived in 1988 as a Community flanking policy operating through the European Regional Development Fund (and the Cohesion Fund), the EU’s regional policy has helped to reduce disparities between the various regions. The added value of this Community aid has been clearly demonstrated: every euro spent by the Structural Funds in the least prosperous regions has increased their GNP by €1.33.


What is the European Union doing?

The Structural Funds co-finance multiannual programmes defined in partnership with the regions. The aim is to achieve sustainable development of the regions, focusing in particular on training and access to employment, business competitiveness, investment in technologies and innovation, and the development of infrastructure and services, thus revitalising an often weak or non-existent production fabric.

The Structural Funds account for almost a third of the Community budget, totalling €213 billion for the period 2000-2006. 70% of the appropriations are earmarked for regions that are lagging behind in their development (Objective 1), 11.5% for the economic and social redevelopment of areas facing structural difficulties (Objective 2), and 12.3% for promoting training and employment (Objective 3).

There are other Community support instruments under the regional policy which aim to strengthen cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation between the various regions of Europe (Interreg), to regenerate depressed urban areas (Urban) or to come to the aid of victims of natural disasters (Solidarity Fund).


What has the EPP-ED Group achieved?

The EPP-ED Group has consistently supported a stronger regional policy and promoted its adjustment to the needs of the regions and the actors involved. After 15 years in operation some notable results have been achieved, with regional policy improving the situation of the least prosperous States and regions and creating solidarity between the citizens of Europe. Thanks to the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund the cohesion countries have enjoyed stronger economic growth than the Community average.

The Group has played a major role in revising the regulations on the Structural Funds and in simplifying procedures in order to cut red tape. The current procedures are now more transparent and better adapted to economic and social change than in the past, and there are tighter checks on how the Funds are used. Nevertheless, the Group will continue its efforts, since it appears that the procedures need further simplification and clarification if the Funds are to be used in the best and most effective way possible.

The EPP-ED Group has also played a major role in the creation of the EU’s ‘Solidarity Fund’, set up to help those affected by the serious floods of August 2002. This special standing fund was subsequently extended and it now enables help to be provided quickly for regions hit by major natural disasters and helps to restore normal living conditions in the regions affected.


Our objectives for the next Parliament

The EPP-ED Group is already preparing the new financial framework for the EU after 2006, since it feels that the cohesion policy must remain one of the Union’s priorities, both politically and financially. Solidarity between the nations and regions of Europe lies at the heart of the cohesion policy, whose ultimate aim is to eliminate economic and social disparities altogether.

Given the challenge of defining a new financial framework in a new geopolitical situation, the EPP-ED Group considers that the Union must equip itself with the tools to achieve its ambitions. It must give itself adequate funding, without which regional policy would be neither credible nor effective. Future regional policy must therefore be designed in such a way as to contribute fairly to the development of the less prosperous regions, wherever they may be in Europe.

The policy must also take account of the permanent geographical handicaps which certain regions face. For many of the Union’s regions their remoteness (outermost regions), accessibility (islands and mountainous areas) and demographic features (regions with a low population density) may all hinder their harmonious and homogeneous development. The EPP-ED Group attaches great importance to this, since it is well aware that these special geographical conditions present an added problem for the competitiveness of the regions concerned.

Lastly, the policy must also provide an effective response to the challenge of globalisation, the transformation of production and changes to the demographic structure of our societies. It must be designed so as to create more better quality jobs and to promote social integration and equal opportunities, together with the harmonious development of the territory of the EU.

The EPP-ED Group will ensure that this policy remains focused on solidarity, as it has been in the past, and that it offers real prospects for economic and social prosperity to all citizens in all the regions of our Union.