The milestones to start the flow of EU regional investments - Main contents

Today I took the podium for the first time during the Commission's midday briefing to update the journalists in Brussels about the state of play on Cohesion Policy for 2014-2020.

I must admit I was a bit nervous, standing on the podium in front of so many journalists from all over Europe, but I was glad to receive lots of diverse questions about our programs in many European countries, showing the journalists' interest in regional policy.

These are the main announcements I made today:

We now have Partnership Agreements with all Member States. The strategies for the optimal use of 2014-2020 EU Structural and Investment Funds across every region and Member State in the EU are now fixed.

This week, the Commission has also approved 3 vital investment programmes that pave the way for EU support to hundreds of cross-border and regional projects in Germany, the Netherlands and Britain:

a cross-border cooperation programme between the Netherlands and Germany, worth €444 million, aiming to bring people from both sides of the border together to share ideas and assets, and solve together common problems.

two European Regional Development Fund programmes in the United Kingdom for Wales, one of the least developed regions of the UK. I indeed believe that we should make every effort for cohesion funding to reach the European citizens that need them the most. East Wales will get €406 million and West Wales and the Valleys will get €1.8 billion.

These investments will help drive research and innovation, boost the competitiveness and access to finance of small businesses, further develop energy efficiency and renewables, and support sustainable public transport systems, such as the Metro in the Cardiff Capital City Region. The Commission is going to transfer the programme's pre-financing to the Welsh authorities very soon, in the next weeks. Now it is up to Wales' Authorities and partners to start working on the ground, by selecting and implementing projects that deliver and make the difference.

Finally, we have set up a specific task force to boost absorption and to support a number of Member States to make full use of the remaining funds from the 2007-2013 period. This was one of my first acts as Commissioner for Regional Policy. I hope that this task force will provide the necessary final push for the 2007-2013 period and will help us learn valuable lessons for the new 2014-2020 programming period.

I hope my presence today at the midday briefing convinced the journalists present that I will do my best to let EU investments in all regions flow as quick as possible since I know Europe's citizens and Europe's economy are waiting for these investments.

Check out the video from the briefing here.