Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-13-Speech-1-189-000"
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"en.20120213.19.1-189-000"2
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"Madam President, this debate has shown that Members of this House possess an excellent knowledge of the operation and functioning of the Structural Funds. Speaking as the competent Commissioner, I can tell you that that is a very pleasant conclusion to be able to draw.
On the other hand, the debate also shows that it is clear, all in all, that the Structural Funds represent a very comprehensive and effective instrument, indeed the most comprehensive and effective instrument bar none at European level, for appropriately tackling European concerns and goals. Honourable Members, I ask you to consider President Barroso’s proposal as a very vigorous wake-up call – something that is a necessity given the volatile situation, especially when it comes to youth unemployment. It goes without saying that it was, and is, absolutely clear to him, and to everyone else, what the ground rules are when it comes to the Structural Funds. The point here, however, is simply drawing attention to the fact that a total of around EUR 80 to 82 billion is still not, as things stand, directly allocated to projects. As a result, it is therefore legitimate and more than reasonable to ask whether there is scope for refocusing by means of looking into whether monies that have not yet been specifically allocated to projects – although of course they have been allocated to regions – could be better utilised through some redeployment in the regions with a focus on promoting small and medium-sized enterprises and in particular on creating jobs for young people.
Let us not forget that the bulk of the Operational Programmes were debated, agreed and adopted in 2005 and 2006 against the backdrop of a very different economic situation. It is therefore both necessary and appropriate to ask, given the current situation, whether there is scope for a really focused fine-tuning here. That is why the Commission has offered to hold discussions with the competent parties in the Member States concerning what possibilities there may be for action – and there are already action teams on the ground in each of the eight countries with the highest rates of youth unemployment which will be in place until the end of February. We in the Commission will be providing an initial oral report on these discussions in early March.
I would invite you to bear in mind, however, that very extensive preliminary work has been done under the area of responsibility of my fellow Commissioner László Andor – from the point of view of ‘youth opportunities’ – with the aim of bringing forward proposals about everything that can possibly be done when it comes to combating youth unemployment. Precisely these proposals are now to be tailored in the discussions with the Member States in order to develop solutions that could work in each individual region and sub-region in order to bring about an improvement of the situation. That said, it is fair to mention at this point that we cannot expect to make everything better overnight. The point, however – and this is a call to arms that I am happy to endorse – is that now is very much the time to act. Initiatives need to be put in place. I hope that everyone will pull together in the way that was evident from all the contributions to the debate today. I am convinced that we could achieve the first discernible successes specifically when it comes to combating youth unemployment in Europe in just a few weeks’ time."@en1
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