Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-12-13-Speech-1-181"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20101213.20.1-181"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, in particular, Mrs Mănescu and Mr Luhan, I would specifically like to thank both of you for your two reports, which are once again constructive and very positive towards regional policy and have come at absolutely the right time in view of the ongoing debate on the future structure of regional policy, particularly looking ahead to the Cohesion Forum at the end of January/beginning of February.
It is important that we constantly view regional policy in particular as an investment policy – as a policy of investing in regions, in people, in Europeans. In the area of innovation and regional policy, a total of EUR 86 billion has already been earmarked for this financial period, and this is intended to help small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, to improve the quality of their workforce, their production methods and the services that they are able to offer. However, what we need to do – and here you are both absolutely right – is to improve our strategy further in the future, so that in addition to the controls that will continue to be necessary in the future – in other words, alongside correct financial conduct – we focus much more on a results-orientated assessment of our work. I always say – and it is at the core of the cohesion report and its conclusions – that there is no contradiction between focusing on a few priorities as laid down in the EU 2020 strategy and flexibility in implementing these in the very varied regions of Europe.
Territorial cohesion is enormously important. For me, it is a key issue and provides us with information as to how we can improve living standards in the regions further, which is our task, in order to ensure that people have prospects in the regions in which they were born. That will also contribute to further internal cohesion in Europe.
In this context, it is important – and this should be accentuated in the coming programming period – to bring back the focus more to the role of towns and cities, in view of the fact that around 70% of Europeans live in an urban environment, but at the same time, it is essential that we do not forget the importance of town and country relations. Here it is a matter of using other funding to continue to improve the interfaces and to prevent unnecessary overlaps.
It is also important – as we debated very comprehensively and, in my opinion, very well in this House some time ago – to pay attention to areas with specific geographical circumstances and, naturally, to consider the matter of demographic change in Europe, which is something that we will encounter very often and need to deal with. On the one hand, we are seeing very serious tendencies towards depopulation in rural areas and, on the other, a great increase in the attraction of urban areas – with the result that we have not only more and more people living in a small space, but also a corresponding depopulation. To a certain extent, this can be countered by investments in old and new infrastructure. This will make a very important contribution to ensuring growth.
The matter of partnership – of cooperation – is very important, as was mentioned in particular in Mrs Mănescu’s report. Yes, it is important to develop multi-level governance. However, I would specifically like to point out to this House the importance of the regions also involving the local level. When I am in the regions discussing things, I sometimes get the impression that the local representatives are not being involved by the regional representatives, and that the regional representatives are not being involved by the national representatives. We need to develop instruments here.
I am with you but
I must also state quite clearly that naturally, we must respect the constitutional framework of each Member State and give it its due. However, I support you on the matter of involving as many levels as possible – but also as many stakeholders as possible, including NGOs – in the development of our partnership and investment programmes.
I will perhaps go into the matter of financial controls in more detail in my closing remarks, since I have already exceeded my speaking time. I would also like to warmly welcome the new president who has taken the chair."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples