Date: 12 July 2005
 
Speaker: Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy
 
 
Commissioner Danuta Hübner began her speech by lavishing praise on the Luxembourg Presidency, for the remarkable work it had done on the budget negotiations. She recalled that, whereas in January of this year no one would have believed in the possibility of reaching an agreement, by the spring Council the mood had changed and there were high expectations for a successful outcome of the European Council in June, which made the failure of the latter all the more disappointing. On the content of the financial perspectives, Hübner noted that the main remaining stumbling block was on the revenue side, since the expenditure had been mostly settled, and in particular that the Commission proposal concerning cohesion policy had been retained.
Having said that, the Commissioner turned to the future, and stressed that it was now paramount to come to an agreement under the British Presidency. The sense of urgency springs from the consideration that even after a decision on the budget is taken, there would be a gap of at least 18 months before the various policies could actually be implemented. Indeed, the decision represents the legal basis for a whole set of implementing measures, beginning with the Regulations (that have to be adopted under co-decision), followed by Community strategic guidelines and the member states’ strategic reference frameworks and operational programmes. In order to reduce the gap, the Commission, in agreement with the Parliament, has started working ‘in parallel’, on the strategic guidelines and the regulations being discussed at the same time as the negotiations on the new budget. This would save time, provided of course that the new deal would not radically depart from the latest Luxembourg proposal. And on this occasion time is fundamental, because of the scale of the funds to be allocated, which in the case of many of the new member states would amount to approximately 15% of primary government expenditure.
As for the kind of agreement that could now be envisaged, Hübner pointed out that, rather than starting from scratch, the Council Conclusions had encouraged the incoming UK Presidency to take work forward using as a starting point the latest proposal advanced by the Luxembourg Presidency. This was sensible, since in her view the likelihood of mustering a consensus on a completely restructured budget within a one-year time-frame would be very low indeed.
Concerning the cohesion funds, the Commissioner reminded the audience that, because of the macroeconomic limits to the absorptive capacity of the member states, it was impossible to concentrate money and resources on poorer member states any more than the Commission had already proposed (the new members would already receive almost 4% of their GDP per year). She then stressed the importance of the objective of ‘territorial cooperation’, which is aimed at making regions across national borders work together, sharing best practices and developing new ideas and partnerships. These are all benefits that derive from regional policy and on which it was difficult to put a price.
Finally, Commissioner Hübner explained that cohesion policy needed to be better aligned with other EU policies. For example, it could acquire an increased role within the framework of the Lisbon strategy, since it has proved one of the most effective tools to create jobs and growth, which are by now the key aims of the strategy. In this respect, there were three main goals that the Commission was pursuing: i) to make the old regions of Europe more attractive for investors and jobs; ii) to boost the innovativeness of European enterprises, and in particular to improve the system’s performance when it comes to technology transfer; and iii) to move more people into the labour market and increase their productivity.
Commissioner Hübner concluded by emphasising that cohesion policy has an important role to play in the continued development of the EU, but for it to fulfil its potential, there is “an urgent need to reach an agreement [on the financial perspectives] soon and avoid the costly delays that would otherwise result”.
 
Full text of Commissioner Hübner’s speech.