Cohesion policy should be more than a handout, says Spanish Presidency

Removing cohesion policy from the EU's list of top priorities would be a mistake, though changes may be required to prevent it from being a mere redistributive tool, Spanish EU Presidency representatives and regional experts meeting in Spain declared yesterday (16 February).

Cohesion policy is considered by many – and particularly regional authorities – to be one of the EU's flagship strategies.

The policy's future has lately been the subject of heated debate in Brussels. It remains unclear whether regional policy will retain its large proportion (currently one third) of the EU budget, whether and how the regions will be included in the EU 2020 strategy for growth and jobs, and how a future policy should reformed to be more effective and cost-efficient.

Many regional stakeholders have placed great faith in the ability of the Spanish EU Presidency – which runs from January until June 2010 – to reinvigorate the debate. Spain, as a highly regionalised country, appreciates the importance of bottom-up decision-making, and will make an improved cohesion policy a central plank of its presidency, or so the logic goes.

Cohesion policy must remain atop EU agenda, says Spain

Indeed, the Spanish yesterday (16 February) went some way towards outlining their regional strategy. Speaking at a meeting of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) in Gijón, Spanish Territorial Minister Manuel Chaves said it would be an error for the EU to renounce cohesion policy as a top priority.

Rather, he argued, it should become part of the backbone of the EU's new 2020 strategy, which will underpin European growth efforts for the coming decade.

However, he railed against the attitude of certain member states, particularly those "in Eastern Europe," who believe that only the poorest regions should benefit from cohesion funds. The money should not be viewed as a mere distributive tool or a hand-out, he argued.

Instead, Spain's centre-left government would like a reformed cohesion policy to benefit all regions and become a force for sustainable development and tackling social exclusion.

Don't limit cohesion policy – improve it

Chaves also lashed out at member states which are pushing to limit or "renationalise" the future cohesion policy. The Spanish minister warned that his country's EU presidency would strongly oppose moves by certain national governments – he declined to mention which – that are seeking to overtake their regions as the main interlocutors of cohesion funds.

Influential regional commentator Fabrizio Barca, director-general of the Italian Finance Ministry and author of the Barca Report published by the Commission in April 2009, concurred.

"Cohesion policy, conceived as a place-based development policy, is the only modern way for the EU to perform its development task," Barca argued, adding that "a development policy for all places of the Union is indispensable for the Union's very existence. Those who limit EU interventions to 'poor' member states wrongly assume that cohesion policy is a mechanism for financial redistribution".

However, Barca specified that regional policy requires a change of direction especially with regard to assessingthe results obtained through specific indicators. He called for the role of the European Commission should be strengthened.

(With additional reporting from EURACTIV Spain.)

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