The rEPPorter: March - April 2015

March-April 2015

The activity report of the EPP Group in the Committee of the Regions

Energy Union: local and regional level ready to take up responsibility

Editorial The Committee of the Regions is preparing its work programme for 2015; a programme that underlines its political nature and priorities. The time is ripe to take advantage of the EU’s new political landscape; with the new Juncker Commission, new members of the European Parliament and a new leadership in the Council led by our ally Donald Tusk. We should take this chance to reorient our priorities and strive for the best political impact in the decision-making process.

Together with President Markku Markkula, the EPP Group wants to pursue a more pro-active approach, where we are also fully involved in the pre-legislative and agenda setting phases as well as delivering opinions with impact. This will be translated into more in depth debates, hearings and stakeholder consultations on the policies that matter to us, ranging from transport to energy and from the digital agenda to the economy.

All of these changes mean we need to forge even closer political alliances. We will be counting on our colleagues in the European People’s Party, the MEPs in the EPP Group in the European Parliament and Commissioners from our political family. We, as representatives of local and regional authorities, have much to offer. By identifying concrete of topics of mutual interest, we will be able to draw on our vast experience of implementing EU policies on the ground so that together we can ensure Europe comes back to growth.

The European Commission unveiled its plans for an Energy

Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, she proposed to step up cooperation between the Committee of the Regions, the European Commission and the European Parliament for better environmental policy-making. It is not the first time that the EPP Group has considered an Energy Union. During a Group meeting in Kaunas in October 2013, a declaration entitled “Towards the future with safe and affordable energy for all” was adopted.

Group hopes that the professional level of regional governments can be raised by further capacity

building and hopes that the Task Force will be able to offer further support.

Ukraine: Decentralisation and support for regions important part of EU help ”We

need to find appropriate solutions to the crisis and to share best

practices and know-how with the

Ukrainian partners in the field of de-

centralisation. These reforms cannot and will not succeed without grassroots engagement at regional and local level”.

The European Committee of the Regions has set up a political Task Force for Ukraine to advice on administrative reforms and implementation, as well as territorial cohesion and multi-level governance. The Task Force is a continuation of the CoR’s commitment

Michael Schneider, President of the EPP Group in the CoR

to be involved in the EU assistance to regional and local authorities under the Presidency of Markku Markkula. It has been created following a discussion with Volodymyr Hroysman, speaker of Ukrainian Parliament, at the June Plenary Session. The EPP

Capital Markets Union: opportunities when conducted alongside structural reforms

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY ■■ 16 April EPP Group meeting with Manfred Weber and Mikulas Dzurinda ■■ 16-17 April Cor Plenary Session ■■ 22 May 2015 EPP-CoR Group meeting: “Societal innovation in food and energy, the way ahead for regional investment” Milan (Italy)

Union on 25 February. Michael Schneider welcomed the ambi-

tion, but stressed that any legislation is only as good as its implementation. Sirpa Hertell, Vice-President of the CoR’s commission for Environment, Climate Change and Energy (ENVE) and CoR rapporteur on Framing 2030 Climate and Energy Policy, endorsed calls for increased political ownership of the Energy Union at the local and regional level. During an ENVE meeting with Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and Giovanni La Via, MEP,

The European Commission plans to better connect Europe’s businesses with investors through a

Capital Markets Union. This proposal is a key part of the EU’s €315bn strategic investment plan and will explore ways to reduce fragmentation of financial markets and remove obstacles to cross-border investments. The diversification of financial sources and strengthening of cross-border capital flows will improve access

to financing for businesses, particularly SMEs, and put currently untapped capital to work for the real economy. Commenting on the proposal, President Michael Schneider said: “Europe’s banking system is very important to local communities and it must remain at the heart of financial markets. We welcome efforts to un-

lock complementary support for businesses and especially start-ups and SMEs, but recall that there will be no quick-fire solution to our problems. If we want to have a long term impact and create real investment opportunities, access to capital must be accompanied by structural reforms on the ground.”

IN THIS ISSUE ■■ Members on the Field • EPP Group demands stronger Cohesion Policy • European Commission propose Joint Knowledge Exchange Platform with CoR

• Local and regional Partners Contributing to Europe 2020 • Latvian Presidency Conference on Occupational Safety and Health ■■ 2015: A year of political importance

• Call for Action – The UK and the EU • Societal innovation in food and energy, the way ahead for regional investment ■■ EPP Voices

• interview with José Antonio Monago Terraza, President of Extremadura, Spain ■■ Quotes from EPP family members ■■ Leading EPP regions and cities: leading examples

• Combating air pollution and helping children’s health • EER2014 Entrepreneurial success • Sustainable solutions for the transport sector

2015: A year of political importance

Members on the Field ■■EPP Group demands stronger Cohesion Policy

mind set and willingness to work together and to take up responsibility together.”

Societal innovation in food and energy, the way ahead for regional investment

■■European Commission propose Joint Knowledge Exchange Platform with CoR

EU Cohesion funds have enormous potential, but the recurrent problem of payment backlogs and the late adoption of programmes by the European Commission were criticised by the EPP Group in the European Parliament during a hearing on 5 February. President Michael Schneider added: “Local and regional authorities in Europe would like to see more innovative and ambitious support methods for EU public investment. We also need enhanced synergies between the EU, national and sub-national budgets. This should improve the efficiency of public spending.” “The involvement of the regions in science and discovery is one of my priorities” ■■Local and regional Partners Contributing to Europe 2020

Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, proposed­to gather knowledge and expertise from regions across the European Union together in a Joint Knowledge Exchange Platform at a meeting of the European Committee of the Regions’ SEDEC Commission on 26 February. Speaking about political ownership of the Juncker investment package at the regional level, Commissioner Moedas said: “For regions to take part in raising the European knowledge economy of tomorrow, we will need both their insight and commitment to investing in Europe’s common research and innovation capacity. Your opinions and support will be extremely important and constructive.”

Raffaele Cattaneo, President of the Lombardy regional Council

Expo Milano 2015 is the Universal Exhibition that Milan will host from May 1 to October 31, 2015. Its ambition is to be a platform for the exchange of ideas and shared solutions on the theme of food, stimulating creativity and promoting innovation for a sustainable future. The EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions will take part in this

discussion focusing on how the Investment Plan for Europe could enhance the innovation capacity in Europe’s regions and cities with regards to food and energy policy, thanks to an invitation from Raffaele Cattaneo, President of Lombardy regional Council.

Call for Action – The UK and the EU

■■Latvian Presidency Conference on Occupational Safety and Health

The EU level has a direct role in setting important regulations in some policy fields (i.e. on energy efficiency), whereas in other policies the main policy tools are found predominantly at national or regional level (i.e. social protection and education policy measures targeting social inclusion). “Multi-level governance is not only helpful but necessary to reach the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy” Luc Van den Brande began his closing remarks at an event organised by DG REGIO of the European Commission with the aim of stimulating learning and exchanging experience of governance between cities and regions.

“Multi-level governance is not an institutional theory but a functional concept to align the policies of all layers of responsibility. The Europe 2020 Strategy will only deliver value added when there is a common

2

Mauro D’Attis will take part in a Latvian Presidency conference, which focused on active implementation of the European Commission’s Communication on the Strategic Framework for Safety and Health at Work 20142020 in Riga on 27 April. On this occasion, he will propose a European central board, which is responsible for defining, coordinating and developing health and safety at work issues, and improved data collection so it is possible to compare health and safety at work services across all regions in the EU.

Neale Richmond, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Councillor, Ireland

This May the British people will go to the polls to vote in a General Election. Every Member State’s General Elections are important to the EU. However, this General Election is different; the out-

The activity report of the EPP Group in the Committee of the Regions

come of the Election could lead to the biggest ever threat to the European project. In 2013, incumbent British Prime Minister, David Cameron, under pressure from the Eurosceptic wing of his own Conservative party as well as the outside impact of UKIP declared that if re-elected he would hold a simple in or out referendum on continuing British membership of the EU by 2017.

If Cameron’s Tories are re-elected and a referendum is held then there is a strong chance the British people could vote to exit the EU. This would be disastrous for the UK and the EU. For those of us

in the EPP the issue is made even more distant as we have no members from the UK within our own political family but it is absolutely in our interests for a possible Brexit to be avoided.

So what can we do?

London is arguably the financial centre of the world, we all know people living there or around the UK, indeed some of our political parties have active communities in the UK. We need to get our network of Europeans to register to vote in the UK for the referendum and join the campaign to keep the UK in the EU!

EPP voices

Less developed regions: Growing by Sharing

An interview with José Antonio Monago Terraza, President of Extremadura, Spain centres, SMEs, government and civil society. We are convinced that this way of working will generate successful initiatives and projects.

The more than 30 members from 11 Member States belonging to four different political families provide us an extraordinary diversity that will result in the quality of our work.

3. The Intergroup was formally approved at the extraordinary session of the Bureau in Riga (Latvia) in March. What are the next steps?

1. W hat is a less developed region and what features can be observed in Extremadura?

the coming years and where funds from cohesion policy will be key.

2. Why do you think that this Interregional group of less develEurope is not uniform neither from the perspective of Member States oped regions is necessary and how nor from the regional level. It is it could help regional and local important to note that Article 174 politicians to address the specifof the EU Treaty establishic challenges faced by less developed regions? es reducing disparities The European between the levels cohesion policy deof development of Our slogan is fines the less developed regions particularly ‘Growing by Sharing’ regions as those ones disadvantaged as a and sums up well with a GDP per capita particular target. what we do, which below 75% of the is to share experiencEU average.

Therefore, in the es, best practices, joint multiannual financial diagnosis and to fix common framework 2014-2020, the 72 positions with the target of growth European regions included in this of our regions and to improve the category will receive over half of the quality of life of our citizens. total budget of cohesion policy.

It is very important that the reEvery European region has its own gions where more than half of the challenges and capabilities, but there funds from cohesion policy will are elements where we find a lot of be allocated not only are connectsimilarities between Extremadura ed among them but also conand other regions. Improving our nected in an organized way with transport links, making progress European institutions and with the toward more innovative economies Committee of the Regions itself. and facing demographic challenges are some of the elements We will work to promote exchanges where we have to work hard in between our universities, innovation

I would like to highlight the extraordinary reception given to the proposal for this intergroup by the President of the Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, and all the political groups. We will hold its inaugural session on 17th April, coinciding with the plenary session of the Committee of the Regions. It is also important to note the willingness shown by the Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, for working closely with this group and so she communicated to me in her recent visit to my region, Extremadura.

At our first meeting we will count on the presence of a representative of DG Regional and Urban Policy from the European Commission with whom we will continue to work closely from now, sharing our experience and know-how, and raising proposals and joint initiatives.

Our first meeting will serve to approve the first working document and roadmap for the following sessions. Doubtlessly the implementation of the Regional Operational Programmes and the development of Smart Specialisation Strategies will be very present at this stage. We will strengthen our cooperation in drafting amendments to those opinions of the Committee related with issues of particular relevance to us.

4. The resolution of the CoR on the European Strategic Investment Fund noted that some Less Developed Regions suffer from the lack of a strong private sector.

Do you think this will make it difficult for these regions get financial support from this fund?

Europe must go for growth policies; the Investment Plan is a need for the whole union and may represent a fundamental turning point.

The growth and job creation are the ultimate objectives to be pursued by policies of fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and investments.

5. D o you think that solidarity should remain a cornerstone of Regional Policy in the next programming period with most of its funds for the less developed regions of the EU? The words Union and Solidarity go hand in hand. Without the principle of territorial solidarity, Europe would be something very different from what we know, in social and economic terms, and would certainly be less competitive. The economic crisis has left many wounds in Europe, one of which is that it has been too questioned the concept of “European solidarity” so citizens have lost the sight one of the European Union’s defining features. This has facilitated the progress of strong anti-European movements, both in the developed and less developed States-Regions.

We all have to get citizens back to the perception the European Union as a positive and supportive process.

All European regions have made a major effort to identify objectives, key industries, competitive capabilities, etc. that are embodied in our smart specialization strategies. These strategies pursue the goals set in the Europe 2020 strategy to achieve smart, inclusive and sustainable growth.

I have no doubt it will reThe Investment Plan must consider all this to ensure main a major European Cohesion Policy the aims of efficiency policy, naturally, is one of Europe’s and effectiveness that however, it will have major policies and it has all public investment to be adapted to had positive results in should pursue because the new challenges. the transformation it is crucial to mobilize We must be able to of Europe. private investment. make Europe’s regions competitive in the global world and able to make a Extremadura has internalised cohesion policy flexible to changes. It this message. We are aware that the best contribution of a regional govern- is likely that the major challenges we face in 2020 have not yet been idenment in the development of the territified and some we even do not know tories is to create a clear, simple and them. The changes are too rapid so effective legislative framework that when we talk about development and serves to attract investors through the elimination of unnecessary bureaucra- welfare levels is very risky to make long-term forecasts. In 2020 there cy and promoting entrepreneurship, will be priority regions and we don’t innovation and the internationalizaknow which ones. I would not dare tion of our production. Only this way to make predictions. For my region, we will be able to overcome the disadExtremadura, I think we’ve laid a vantages we start with, and highlight our competitive advantages contribut- solid foundation to change things. ing to economic, social and territorial cohesion of the European Union.

Quotes from EPP family members

Europe does not want to lose the game in the digital revolution. We want to win.”

Günther Oettinger, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Digital4Europe Stakeholder Meeting, 26 February 2015

A true digital single market is vital to developing the digital economy in Europe. A scaled digital economy is a must. Europe cannot lag behind other regions in the world. Growth and jobs are at stake, there is no case for business as usual. On the contrary, it is time to move up a gear.”

Pilar Del Castillo Vera, MEP on the adoption of the EPP Group policy paper on the digital agenda

I will work with the Covenant of Mayors to give a boost to community energy initiatives. These will create more options for consumers” #energyunion #EN4Cit Miguel Arias Cañete, Commissioner for Climate Action & Energy, via Twitter 12 March 2015

In the EPP Group, we know that a firm response to terrorism is absolutely necessary. We constantly focus on the necessity of ensuring greater security for all our citizens and protecting them from fear and hatred.”

Esteban González Pons, MEP on the EPP Group roadmap on terrorism

January-February 2015

All Member States should support scrapping roaming charges. This is what we campaigned for in 2014!”

Joseph Daul, President of the EPP, via Twitter, 5 March 2015

ONGOING OPINIONS

Leading EPP regions and cities: leading examples

SEDEC

■■ Cristina Mazas Pérez Oleaga: Towards an integrated approach to cultural heritage for Europe

Combating air pollution and helping children’s health

■■ Mauro D’Attis: Employment guidelines

Bruno Hranic expressed concern regarding air pollution, explaining that 30% of EU citizens are exposed to polluted air, during an ENVE meeting with Commissioner Vella on 3 March. Two days later, he hosted the closing conference of the EU funded ATOPICA project, which has tried to understand how global and regional climate, land use and air quality changes will impact human health. It involves the Children’s Hospital Srebrnjak in its attempt to help children who suffer from allergies and Bruno Hranic’s Municipality of Vidovec is actively involved in promoting its work.

■■ Luis Gomes: The role of the Social Economy in combating unemployment and restoring growth NAT

■■ Jesus Gamallo Aller: The future of EU aquaculture COTER

More about the project: www.atopica.eu

Entrepreneurial success for Noord-Brabant In 2014 the province of NoordBrabant was the proud winner of the European Entrepreneurial Region Award (EER Award).

This is a European recognition of the leadership and strategy of entrepreneurs in the region. During a visit by the EER jury one year later, Markku

Markkula, chairman of the jury said: “Our visit to Pivot Park and the High Tech Campus, as well as all the entrepreneurs we have spoken to, have shown us why the province of Noord-Brabant is so successful in the fields of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and cooperation.” The King’s

Commissioner, Wim van de Donk, added “The EER Award has helped to involve all the actors in the development and implementation of our entrepreneurial spirit strategy… Although the EER year is ending for Brabant we will continue to work robustly on our entrepreneurial spirit and be involved in the EER network.”

Read more about the projects Pivot Park is the pivot in a flourishing network of companies and knowledge institutions involved, either directly or indirectly, in innovative life sciences research. Pivot Park provides an optimal infrastructure, state-of-the-art facilities and a wealth of knowledge and experience. www.pivotpark.nl

Sustainable solutions for the transport sector The New Public Procurement Directive must be implemented by regions next year. At conference entitled “Promoting Sustainable Infrastructure in EU Regions” on 3 March, which was organised by the European Union Road Federation, Witold Stępień encouraged the road infrastructure industry to promote more innovative and sustainable solutions. The conference was organised in the context of the NEW JERSEY project, which aims to validate a new generation of eco-friendly barriers made from recycled rubber from tyres, recycled plastics and concrete. The project is co-financed by the European Union LIFE Programme and coordinated by the Region of Madrid.

More information on the project is available here: http://lifeproject-newjersey.com

High Tech Campus Eindhoven is the smartest km² in the Netherlands with more than 135 companies and institutes, and some 10,000 researchers, developers and entrepreneurs working on developing future technologies and products.

■■ Marek Woźniak: Improvement of the implementation of the Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020 ■■ Ivan Žagar: Outcome of the negotiations on the partnership agreements and operational programmes ■■ Adam Struzik: Financial Instruments in support of territorial development ■■ Spyros Spyridon: Implementation of the White Paper on Transport ENVE

■■ Pascal Mangin: Energy Union package ■■ Csaba Borboly: Resource efficiency opportunities in the building sector CIVEX

■■ Hans Janssen: a decent life for all: from vision to collective action ■■ Franz Schausberger: the enlargement strategy and main challenges 2014-2015 ■■ Nikolaos Chiotakis Towards a new European Neighbourhood Policy

www.hightechcampus.com

Secretary General: Heinz-Peter Knapp | Editor in chief: Kathryn Owens, kathryn.owens@cor.europa.eu, +32 2 282 2400 | Press Officer: Dominik Krakowiak This issue is also available at www.epp.cor.europa.eu | Join us on

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