Speech by the President of the Committee of the Regions Mercedes Bresso

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN UNION The President's Private Office Committee of the Regions Brussels, 27 March 2012 GSPI Speech by the President of the Committee of the Regions Mercedes Bresso Interinstitutional conference on the revision of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation "EGTC ready to use" Brussels, 29 March 2012, 9.30 a.m. Committee of the Regions, Room JDE52 Gianluca Spinaci 1

2 Dear Ms Hübner, Dear Mr Delebarre, Members of the European Parliament, Members of the Committee of the Regions, Representatives of the European Commission and the Member States, Friends of the EGTC platform, I am pleased to welcome you to the Committee of the Regions. We are honoured to be hosting this interinstitutional conference, which coincides with the annual meeting of the EGTC platform. Thank you for your participation. Today we are going to try to link the results of projects carried out in the regions with the work carried out in Brussels, at a crucial moment for the future of territorial cooperation. I would like to say how much I welcome the commitment of the institutions which have worked with us on this project, and in particular, the European Parliament, co-organiser of this meeting and a firm supporter of the EGTC, through the work of its REGI committee. I would also like to thank the European Commission and the Danish presidency of the European Union, on whose support we will continue to depend in the coming months. Historically speaking, the EGTC was born of intense interinstitutional dialogue. This led us to compare proposals when we convened this conference and we decided that we would either dedicate it to the legislative review of the EGTC Regulation, or to a wide-ranging review of the use of the EGTC with an eye to

3 Ladies and gentlemen, Ten years have gone by since 14 March That is, since the day when the CoR plenary session adopted its opinion calling for the establishment of a legal instrument for cross-border cooperation. Some of us have followed the various stages and contributed to the joint effort leading up to the adoption of the EGTC Regulation. Since then, several new sources of energy have joined us and the diversity of their projects has enriched our "shared construction site". The review of the EGTC Regulation should now allow us to secure working conditions on our "construction site" and make it accessible to an even wider public than the currently authorised personnel. In other words, by correcting a set of restrictive and confusing provisions in the 2006 Regulation, we can once again place this law at the service of territorial development, and not vice-versa. As a result, it is important for today's conference to help us make progress towards swift interinstitutional consensus on solutions. The Committee's position is well-known. We would like this regulation to be adopted as soon as possible. 3

4 We therefore call for regions and cities to be able to return to their work in the light of the new rules. In other words, we need to be able to update or establish new EGTC partnerships in good time to manage programmes and projects during the period. In order to move discussions forwards, we need to bear in mind the respective political positions and understand whether Member States or EP groups have set any red lines. The Committee adopted its opinion in February. The rapporteur was Michel Delebarre. At this point, I would like to praise the courage and creativity of the European Commission's proposal, which already incorporates many of the comments set out in the opinion adopted at the beginning of 2011 (rapporteur: Alberto Núñez Feijóo). I therefore ask you: What do you think of these proposals? And if you have any comments or reservations regarding a particular point, what alternatives do you suggest? The Committee of the Regions is convinced that a good legislative revision of the regulation should be combined with a shared vision of the EGTC's development in the medium to long term. This implies to work together for a stronger mainstreaming of EGTC also in other pieces of EU legislations and strategic documents. 4

5 For this reason, I ask you: What role do you see for the EGTC in 2020? What suggestions do you have regarding its action towards European integration? On this point, allow me to explain some of our expectations: We would like to see EGTC cooperation arrangements developing throughout the EU. The permeability of borders varies among Member States. But we must work together to ensure that the required information and support is available everywhere. We need to make sure that it is possible, in actual practice, for regions and cities to establish territorial cooperation by involving universities, chambers of commerce, technology districts and socio-economic stakeholders. We would like, moreover, EU strategies and programmes to make systematic use of EGTC potential. We need to complete the single market and the Europe 2020 Strategy, including through more stable cooperation between regions and cities. At cross-border, macro-regional and interregional levels. Solutions are within our reach. I would like to mention a few: using EGTCs to invest in major cross-border infrastructure; transferring a good number of territorial cooperation programme managing authorities to them. Today many of these are in the hands of the central authorities involve EGTCs in new regional policy instruments such as local development actions and urban and integrated territorial investments. 5

6 We would also like to see EGTCs playing a key role in good EU neighbourhood relations. If the EGTC instrument were more accessible to our third-country partners, we could strengthen our projects in order to help bring candidate countries closer to the EU; to promote democracy and local development in eastern and southern neighbours of the EU; and to better integrate their outermost regions in their geographical areas. Ladies and gentlemen, Today, the Committee of the Regions is renewing its commitment to supporting the EGTC. In doing so, we are relying on a set of instruments we have developed together, such as the EGTC register and platform. We are also relying on a renewed cooperation agreement, co-signed in February with Commission President Barroso, wherein the Committee of the Regions and the Commission undertake to strengthen their joint action to improve awareness of the EGTC instrument. Also among the services of the EU institutions. This interinstitutional conference is therefore another fundamental step. It will allow us to compare the results we have achieved with initial expectations, but it also pushes us to renew our aspirations. 6

7 I therefore urge you to make the most of this meeting and to be generous in sharing your experiences. I am very curious to hear your ideas because, in the spirit of the EGTC, I am "ready to use!" them. 1 I wish you well in your work. 1 Note: the title of the interinstitutional conference is: "EGTC: ready to use". 7