Tag: regions

Cohesion Policy will be the main public investment instrument for Greece in the foreseeable future, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn told Greek regional governors in Athens. EurActiv Greece contributed reporting for this article.

There are still significant economic disparities within the EU, such as the ones between North and South or among different EU regions. But EU member states have a common interest in tackling those challenges together, argues Rodi Kratsa-Tsagapopoulou.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, his voters are being bled dry on all sides. At the same time, an impatient EU is piling on the pressure to inflict even more pain at speed. It is a difficult balancing act for Rajoy, who needs his voters to believe that he has their best interests at heart under relentless pressure from the markets and the EU, writes Andy Langenkamp.

European cities are planning to adapt to climate change as the risks become more severe, says a report released yesterday (28 June) by UK-based emissions measurement organisation the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and consultancy Accenture.

European regions are gearing up for the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June by drawing up a list of “key ingredients” in a bid to make sustainable urban development a focal point of the Brazil discussions.

European cities and regions are conducting numerous policies to promote gender equality, including the launch of a new observatory to monitor and address inequality and discrimination, say mayors and other representatives from across Europe.

Governments representing some of Europe’s best-known industrial regions have joined together to put added muscle behind efforts to reduce pollution and to press the European Commission for more flexible air quality laws.

The European Commission presented yesterday (10 November) its blueprint for reform of the EU's cohesion policy, linking funding for regions to the achievement of the targets set out in the 'Europe 2020' strategy for jobs and growth.

Echoing Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn, the European Parliament said the EU should take steps to ensure that regional policy is more results-oriented so that EU funds are spent more efficiently and effectively, with a clear focus on supporting sustainable economic growth, especially in urban areas.

"Municipalities and regions are the most relevant representatives of citizens as they are their voices at the European level," writes Mayor and Governor of Vienna Michael Häupl, president of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), in a May paper.

Austrian Commissioner-designate for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn impressed MEPs with his "competence and knowledge" at a European Parliament hearing yesterday (14 January), indicating that he would emphasise research and innovation in the coming years.

The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty last week (1 December) created a new role for regions and local authorities, which are now able not only to be consulted earlier in the legislative process but also refer matters to the European Court of Justice if they think the EU lacks the competence to propose new laws.

Regional parliaments will not stand still ahead of the EU elections, said Herwig van Staa, president of the conference of presidents of the regional legislative assemblies of Europe (CALRE). He spoke to EurActiv about the initiatives planned by regional parliaments to engage with citizens in the run-up to the European poll.

Visiting Brussels to lobby for the election of his city as European Capital of Culture for 2013, Mayor of Marseille and Vice-President of the French senate Jean-Claude Gaudin praised the EU's initiative, which he says has an enormous and long-standing impact on the cities selected.

EU funds have successfully boosted productivity and employment in the bloc’s poorest regions, helping them catch up with their neighbours, the Commission said in a first assessment of European cohesion policy over the 2000-2006 programming period.

The 350 billion euro budget for 2007-2013 for developing Europe’s regions will be insufficient unless more private capital is made available, according to Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner.

The Austrian Presidency has organised a conference to discuss how the EU can be brought closer to its citizens and what contributions regions, local authorities and national parliaments can make.

The GDP of the European regions has been just published for the year 2002. For the CEEC, this data makes it possible to highlight the areas which have converged to the European average level since 1995, and those which, in the longer term, exhibit serious risks of divergence, Revue Elargissement reports.

This paper gives an overview of the EU cohesion policy before the important changes it will have to undergo following the accession of 10 new member States.

If EU regional policies are not refocused, the gap between the most and least competitive regions in Europe threatens to grow ever wider, suggests the European Competitiveness Index 2004.

In their first plenary session in 2003, MEPs will consider a report calling for more involvement of regional and local authorities in EU decision-making.