Ministers from EU member states along with academics and representatives from the local governments and regions in Europe held a lively debate on the future of the cohesion policy and what kind of changes are needed, during a panel discussion which wrapped up the 9th Cohesion Forum in Brussels on Friday.
Kostis Hatzidakis, Greek Minister of Economy and Finance noted in his intervention that the progress achieved in the past years as regards the RRF (Recover and Resilience Facility) should not be reversed.
He said that he just arrived from the Ecofin meeting where the issue was discussed, adding that when we talk about the cohesion policy we must have a common sense approach and learn lessons from the past.
He said that the cohesion policy has helped in minimizing inequalities, but it needs to be simplified as things have changed and we have to adapt and take into account the new challenges.
The Greek Minister noted that we cannot ignore the demographic challenge, the competitiveness issues and we have to
put the funding dimension into the equation. He said that we also have to address in a more efficient way the immigration issue, with the two pillars that have to do with borders and the integration of immigrants.
Christopher Fearne, Maltese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Funds, Equality, Reforms and Social Dialogue, said that cohesion policy works and we need to ask ourselves if we need the changes.
Change needs to be evidence-based, he noted, adding that otherwise we run the risk of changing something for the worst. According to Fearne, we need to keep the level of success and we must not lose momentum.
Teodora Preoteasa, Secretary of State, Ministry of Investments and European Projects in Romania said that there is an issue with regions who have limited access to skills, limited access to innovation resources and insufficient connectivity with EU stronger regions, the so called slow growth or stagnated regions.
She also spoke of innovation diffusions and infrastructure problems, adding
that the cohesion policy has brought about huge progress but there are still issues to be dealt with.
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics, spoke of the challenges of competitiveness saying that there are regions that are slowly falling behind.
He said that some regions are facing the lack of opportunities especially among the youth, the minorities, women and less privileged groups. According to Pose we are flying the EU engine with just part of our potential. He also referred to the rise of anti-European and euroskeptic parties, saying that the glue that keeps us together is becoming weaker.
Vasco Alves Cordeiro, Head of the Committee of the Regions said that we are facing major difficulties in order for citizens to understand correctly what cohesion policy is. He said that the cohesion policy cannot be approached as a solidarity policy and referred to the need for simplification not only for beneficiaries.
Rachel de Basso, Regional councilor and Chair
of the regional board of Region Jönköping County in Sweden said that as a politician from regional level she is glad to hear about the need to strengthen cohesion policy as it is a very important tool.
She referred to the important work done, but raised the need to make it work even better in a more developed manner in the long prospective.
Source: Cyprus News Agency