Fifth cohesion report
COTER-V/011
Fifth cohesion report
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- appreciates the fact that the future cohesion policy could cover all European regions, regardless of their level of development, and supports the creation of a new intermediate category of regions, based on the principle of equal treatment of regions;
- hopes that additional indicators to GDP can be taken into account in implementing and assessing cohesion policy, so that the development of each region is better reflected;
- reiterates its wish to keep the ESF incorporated within the Structural Funds in the context of cohesion policy and believes that it must be implemented at territorial level;
- believes that the objective of territorial cooperation should be strengthened, especially in financial terms, and recommends distributing the funds allocated for the various programmes at Community level rather than nationally;
- supports the general principle of linking cohesion policy with the Europe 2020 objectives, but highlights that cohesion policy should not serve solely to support the Europe 2020 strategy, as it has its own objectives established by the Treaty;
- calls for the territorial cohesion objective to be reflected with a territorial priority included in the EU "menu", in addition to the thematic priorities relating to the Europe 2020 strategy;
- supports the establishment of a common strategic framework, and proposes that the "development and investment partnership contracts" involve the local and regional authorities in each Member State, in accordance with the principles of multilevel governance;
- is opposed to the provisions on (external) macroeconomic conditionality and to the proposal to establish a performance reserve; accepts the need to establish new forms of results-based financial conditionality, provided that the criteria chosen are general, fair, proportional and based on the principle of equal treatment.
- appreciates the fact that the future cohesion policy could cover all European regions, regardless of their level of development, and supports the creation of a new intermediate category of regions, based on the principle of equal treatment of regions;
- hopes that additional indicators to GDP can be taken into account in implementing and assessing cohesion policy, so that the development of each region is better reflected;
- reiterates its wish to keep the ESF incorporated within the Structural Funds in the context of cohesion policy and believes that it must be implemented at territorial level;
- believes that the objective of territorial cooperation should be strengthened, especially in financial terms, and recommends distributing the funds allocated for the various programmes at Community level rather than nationally;
- supports the general principle of linking cohesion policy with the Europe 2020 objectives, but highlights that cohesion policy should not serve solely to support the Europe 2020 strategy, as it has its own objectives established by the Treaty;
- calls for the territorial cohesion objective to be reflected with a territorial priority included in the EU "menu", in addition to the thematic priorities relating to the Europe 2020 strategy;
- supports the establishment of a common strategic framework, and proposes that the "development and investment partnership contracts" involve the local and regional authorities in each Member State, in accordance with the principles of multilevel governance;
- is opposed to the provisions on (external) macroeconomic conditionality and to the proposal to establish a performance reserve; accepts the need to establish new forms of results-based financial conditionality, provided that the criteria chosen are general, fair, proportional and based on the principle of equal treatment.
