European union

EUROPEAN UNION Committee of the Regions

COTER

The Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy held its 19^th meeting in Brussels on 23 June 2009, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

SLAWOMIR, Najnigier

CARTIER, Gérard

NOORKOIV, Rivo

VON BRESKA Eric, DG REGIO

BERKOWITZ Peter, DG REGIO

PESSOA E COSTA José Pedro, DG REGIO

RUSCHE Tim, DG TREN

SCHULZE Gudrum, DG TREN

GUSSETTI Lucio, Director

NEILL-COWPER Marie-Claire, Head of Unit

CORNIDE Pablo, Administrator

KIENEL Christof, Administrator

LABBE, Carole, Administrator

LOLLO-GROTTI Claudia, Assistant
Political group secretariats

FORNEA Aliona PES

ENDRIK Marfia UEN-EA

SCHEUREN Marcus ALDE

WILLEMS Paul EPP
National Delegations

PELLUL Wolfgang DE

BÜRGER Harald AT

1.Adoption of the draft agenda (CdR 142/2009)

The agenda was adopted with the following changes:

• 
  Item 8 of the agenda was cancelled.
  
• 
  As Prof. Barca could not attend the meeting, the Chair announced that the presentation of the Barca report was to be made by Mr Peter Berkowitz and Mr Eric von Breska, respectively Head of Unit and Deputy Head of Unit, Unit "conception, forward studies, impact assessment", DG REGIO, European Commission.
  
• 
  Items 6 and 7 were exchanged.
  

2.Approval of the minutes of the 18^th meeting (CdR 143/2009)

The minutes were adopted.

3.Statement by the Chair

4.Organisation of future work (CdR 144/2009)

5.Presentation of the Barca report "An agenda for a reformed cohesion policy"

After emphasising that the recommendations contained in this report did not necessarily reflect the Commission's position, Mr Eric Von Breska felt that the report should serve as a basis for the ongoing debate on the future of cohesion policy and he set out the main aspects of the report:

• 
  In the context of the discussion on the budget and the serious likelihood that it would be capped at 1% of GNP, cohesion policy had to justify itself fully, particularly with respect to other sectoral policies; the report underlined the high added Community value of this policy, even in those regions and Member States that were "richer" than the European average.
  

• 
  The need to revise the system for assessing this policy in order to measure actual results, both quantitatively and qualitatively; the report thus called for a political debate on the outcome of this policy that went beyond solely financial irregularities and was based on verifiable statistical indicators.
  

• 
  Despite the results achieved over the 2007-2013 period with the "earmarking" exercise and strategic programming (CSG¹), it was essential to concentrate financial resources more on limited priorities with a high European added value.
  

• 
  The main thrust of the reform proposed in the report centred on:
  

• 
  the choice of 3-4 priorities² that would make it possible to achieve the objectives of both "effectiveness" and "equity", after a very broad-based political debate (Member States, regions, CoR…);
  
• 
  a new contractual relationship between the Commission, the Member States and the regions, together with a stronger role and powers for the Commission;
  
• 
  a more effective audit system focused on practical results and not just financial aspects;
  
• 
  greater awareness of the principle of additionality at the political and financial levels;
  
• 
  steps to reinforce a system of political checks and balances, particularly within the Official Council of Ministers responsible for regional development and within the Parliament, in order to secure a better debate on the results of cohesion policy.
  

• 
  One of the conditions for the success of such a reform was the need to carry out, simultaneously and in parallel, negotiations on the policy content and on the budget. The one (on the budget) should not pre-empt the other (on policy).
  

• 
  Contrary to what the report suggested, DG REGIO felt that a strict separation between "equity" and "effectiveness" was not entirely appropriate, since equity could lead to greater "effectiveness" for example. Nevertheless, separating these two goals made it possible to facilitate implementation of cohesion policy by making it easier to 1) choose which public policies to implement and 2)  measure their results.
  
• 
  Without anticipating the outcome of the discussions on the budget, the key issue of the debate was either to draw up a regional (or "place-based") policy to meet regional needs, or to concentrate Community funding on sectoral policies of Community interest.
  

• 
  The concept of "place" for implementing cohesion policy related, above all, to the idea of a "functional region" whose borders (often) went beyond administrative boundaries and altered depending on the public policies to be pursued.
  
• 
  The proposals for making rules more flexible referred to the need for simplifying and limiting the number of implementing rules, more tailored to the local context by means of contracts between the Commission, the Member States and regions.
  

6.Draft opinion on the "Green Paper on TEN-T: A policy review – towards a better integrated transeuropean transport network at the service of the common transport policy"

COM(2009) 44 final

Rapporteur: Mr Jean-Michel Daclin (FR/PES)

CdR 103/2009 COTER-IV-025

• 
  the Green Paper met the need for improving European transport policy, particularly TEN-T, since to date only 30% of the budget allocated had been spent;
  

• 
  the TEN-T policy should radically shift its thrust to concentrate Community action on priority networks and steps to link these up to local networks;
  
• 
  TEN-T played a crucial role because of their contribution to territorial cohesion and the fight against global warming (particularly with respect to rail transport).
  

41 amendments were tabled. In the examination of the draft opinion the amendments were dealt with as follows:

Amendments adopted with a compromise: 21 (1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32, 36 and 38)

Amendments rejected: 1 (31)

Amendments withdrawn: 2 (2, 9)

Amendments fallen: 1 (4)
The draft opinion, duly amended, was put to the vote and adopted by a majority. It will be submitted for adoption at the Plenary Session on 5-7 October 2009.

7.Draft opinion on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a European rail network for competitive freight

COM(2008) 852 final

Rapporteur: Mr Witold Krochmal (PL/UEN-EA)

CdR 102/2009 COTER-IV-024

• 
  The creation of trans-national freight corridors was very important, as it would make goods transportation in Europe more efficient and environmentally friendly. Although they were often less relevant in economic terms than other forms of transport, railways should be given more funding because of their low impact on global warming.
  

• 
  Some difficulties with the introduction of these corridors should be underlined, in particular:
  

• 
  the absence of a common language for the trans-national administration responsible for these trans-European corridors;
  
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  border crossings; and
  
• 
  the absence of common safety standards.
  

• 
  There was a need to involve local and regional authorities more closely, since the impact of these corridors on their development was crucial.
  

26 amendments were tabled. In the examination of the draft opinion the amendments were dealt with as follows:

Amendments adopted with a compromise: 2 (2 and 7)

Amendments rejected: 6 (8, 9, 11, 12, 14 and 15)

Amendments withdrawn: 0

8.Any other business

None.

9.Confirmation of the date of the next meeting: 24 September 2009 in Brussels.