“Today Europe needs Cohesion Policy more than ever,” declared Minister for National Development Tamás Fellegi at the high-level conference on the future of Cohesion Policy held on 31 March – 1 April, 2011 in Budapest. The two-day conference was one of the highlights of the six-month Hungarian Presidency. The organisers wish to raise dialogue on this issue to a higher level in order to promote success in Cohesion Policy, cut the red tape, improve its implementation efficiency and make its achievements measurable.
Cohesion Policy was one of the important means of Europe’s integration, which had contributed considerably to the mitigation of territorial differences, harmonious development, and improvement in competitiveness and employment in the European Union, the minister said. In his welcome address he added that the 25th anniversary of the incorporation of Cohesion Policy into the Single European Act was a good opportunity for reckoning and a search for the opportunities of increasing system efficiency and achievements.
Regional Policy affected every single citizen in the European Union, Tamás Fellegi stressed and added that this policy had helped Hungary implement projects that gave a major impetus to basic and business infrastructure development, created new jobs, launched innovative and research projects and improved environmental conditions.
The minister mentioned that Cohesion Policy made allowances for the different local/regional requirements and opportunities and allowed targeted, effective interventions. Due, among other factors, to this fact, during the global economic crisis the regions could make progress along the previously set trajectory.
Tamás Fellegi reminded that the European Union must hold its ground amidst extremely rapidly changing global economic conditions. To be able to do so, we needed Cohesion Policy more than ever, the Minister added, as under the prevailing economic conditions the establishment of a cost-efficient system operating with a minimum bureaucracy in a user-friendly way was indispensable.
We are at the mid-term of the Hungarian Presidency, however, in the field of Cohesion Policy there is still a lot to do, as we have aimed to reinforce this policy. In the period past, both the trio presidency and the Hungarian Presidency initiated and moderated policy debate on the future of Cohesion Policy. As a result, on 21 February 2011, the General Affairs Council unanimously voted in favour of the Council Conclusions on the Fifth Cohesion Report, which clearly state the role and weight of Cohesion Policy in the period to follow 2014.
The minister made it clear that this conference also actively served the Presidency’s aim to create consensus on Cohesion Policy between the affected parties before the start of the EU’s budget debate. The Member States fully agree that Cohesion Policy must be carried on, as it is indispensable for the implementation of the EU2020 strategy.
The Hungarian Presidency will use the opinions and positions gathered during the conference at the informal ministerial conference to be held on 20 May, 2011 at Gödöllő.
During the programme, the European Union’s Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn and Chairperson of the European Parliament’s Commission for Regional Development also delivered addresses. Later on during the day, Johannes Hahn visited the town Sopron in the company of State Minister for Regional Co-ordination, Ágnes Molnár, to review local and regional development projects and meet local NGO representatives.
(Ministry of National Development , Department of Communication)
