Minister of State for Development Policy Coordination Ágnes Molnár participated in the consultation of heads responsible for cohesion policy in the Visegrád countries and Slovenia on 22 March 2012 in Prague. During the meeting the parties accepted a joint statement on their position regarding the proposed regulation package on the future of cohesion policy.
The development policy heads delegated from the Visegrád countries and Slovenia agreed in the consistent joint representation of their common position, set out in their statement, at various platforms in the future.
Ágnes Molnár pointed out that the V4 countries stand for a sizeable region which may soon become the driving force of development in the European Union, and can contribute to the long-awaited recovery of Europe and the Union from the most depressing crisis of the past few decades.
She stressed that: “In our countries people are resolute, they strain every nerve to work, find business and the way to prosperity, as in smaller dimensions they have the same goals as Cohesion Policy on a large scale: to catch up with the other parts of Europe and approach what was previously considered unattainable: the achievement of the old Member States. This strong determination will tide us over all obstacles.”
In Ms Molnár’s opinion the objective and most important outcome of the meeting was the improved and tighter coordination of the various national positions regarding cohesion policy. “If we join forces and act wisely, we have good chances to be able to use Cohesion Policy in the next budget period even more efficiently than to date in the service of solving the crisis.”
The two competent commissioners of the European Commission, Johannes Hahn and László Andor also participated in the meeting, with Germany’s main representative attending as an observer.
The draft legislative package on Cohesion Policy between 2014-2020 was disclosed by the European Commission on 6 October 2011. Regular discussions on the proposed regulations are expected to close in mid-2013.
(Ministry of National Development , Department of Communication)
