The Road Ahead - Main contents
My priorities at the beginning of my mandate as European Commissioner for Regional Policy
I am humbled by the task awaiting us and grateful for the opportunity to lead this Commission’s Regional Policy into the next decade.
Regional Policy is pivotal to restoring EU competitiveness, to bringing back growth and job creation as part of a EU crisis exit strategy.
For most of my life I lived in a country that has enjoyed an impressive economic growth thanks to the EU’s pre-accession instruments, so I have seen first hand the effects that the cohesion policies have on the lives of the common people.
But after the crisis, the economic engines of Europe have slowed down, the regional inequalities have increased and so we must double our work in bringing the economy back on track to provide badly needed jobs in all of our regions.
I can assure you that this mandate will not be business as usual, we all want to see that reform is delivered on the ground and it is my job to make this happen. The bottom-up approach in policy making needs to be complemented by a top-down drive, with vision and determination, to be successful and you can count me on leading this drive.
I want to stress that Regional Policy, in my view, is not just about transferring funds from more developed regions to the less developed regions.
It is about empowering our regions in Europe, helping one another, learning from one another and developing together in a stronger and more competitive Europe.
There are no net payers and no net beneficiaries. There are only citizens and companies jointly benefiting from solidarity, stemming from enlightened self interest, by making the European Economy stronger. It is a win win policy which is instrumental in the European integration efforts for the benefit of the whole Union. A Union in which the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts and capable of standing its ground in the global economy leaving no one behind.
My Priorities
The three priorities of my mandate which I committed to in the European Parliament will be:
1
Our absolute priority today is to do a good job in the negotiation of the operational programmes which will largely determine European public investments for the next seven years, in particular in those countries and regions that need it most. This is key to a successful crisis exit strategy for the Union. Our funds are the only fresh new money on the table for badly needed investment efforts in the real economy.
Let me be clear about this: quality programming should not and will not be compromised - we need to ensure economic impact. We need to translate good intentions encapsulated in the partnership agreements into operational realities that can make the difference.
Moreover, we will be exploring new ways of boosting the absorption of EU funds by member states by transferring best practices from countries like Poland and Portugal to countries like Romania and Bulgaria.
We need to make sure that projects are timely adopted, while not compromising on quality.
2
Let tell Member States loud and clear that the 2014-2020 programming period can not be business as usual. It is a unique opportunity we need to take and make the most of every euro of the Community budget. In order to do so we need Member States to make full use of innovative financial instruments, such as loans and guarantees instead of grants, as a way to fund more projects, leverage private investments and create more jobs.
Moreover, institutional capacity and good governance is at the root of any successful developmental effort. It is my conviction that this is more important than money and a pre-requisite for our policy to succeed. This is why I plan to mobilise technical assistance and institutional support to facilitate the emergence of good projects, including by supporting the wide diffusion of good policy practice, inter-regional collaboration and the elaboration of an adequate project pipeline
3
Last but not least, we need further simplification, while preserving sound administrative and financial management, with zero tolerance for fraud.
I know it is difficult to square this circle but I do not want to hear again that any European SME is no longer interested in receiving support from this policy because it finds it too lengthy, bureaucratic and cumbersome.
President Juncker has spoken of the EU’s 29th state of unemployed people, many of them young people, and I want to assure you that it is with these young people in mind that today I roll up my sleeves and start working.
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