No C 339/94 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 91 
Opinion on Europe 2000: outlook for the development of the Community's territory 
(91/C 339/18) 
On 19 December 1990 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community on: 
Europe 2000: outlook for the development of the Community's territory. 
The Section for Regional Development and Town and Country Planning, which was respon­
sible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 17 September 
1991. The Rapporteur was Mr E. Muller. 
At its 289th plenary session (meeting of 25 September 1991), the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following Opinion. 
1. Preliminary comments 
1.1. The Committee welcomes the Commission's 
initiative in publishing a preliminary document on 
Europe 2000 and the outlook for the development of 
the Community territory. 
The Member States are already engaged in the irrevers­
ible process leading to the establishment of the Internal 
Market. It therefore seems appropriate, looking even 
further ahead, to optimize the formulation and 
implementation of economic and social policies which 
will promote development and prevent conflict within 
the Community. Although forecasting and anticipation 
are always difficult exercises which entail both political 
decisions and subsequent adjustments, it now seems 
essential to take a sufficiently broad and pragmatic 
look at the post-1992 period leading up to the start of 
the next century. 
1.2. The Committee is pleased to note that, before 
the end of 1991, the Commission intends to inform 
the Council of the results of initial consultations and 
discussions which it proposes to conduct with different 
bodies, including the Committee. Whilst it approves 
this procedure, the Committee would have liked the 
present document to constitute more than a sort of 
future work programme. This refers both to its content 
and the basic guidelines which it defines. 
In the land-use and physical-planning context, a more 
daring approach is called for in drawing up proposals 
for the solution of key problems, such as appropriate 
Community instruments for dealing with certain urgent 
economic, social and cultural requirements, a fair and 
realistic division of responsibilities for intervention at 
different levels and in different areas and the definition 
of a strategy for a convergent policy, while still helping 
to maintain regional pluralism. 
1.3. The Committee would, however, stress that this 
general criticism of the document does not in any way deminish the value of the Commission's initiative. 
Indeed, it regards the document as a remarkably system­
atic attempt to strengthen the basis for the co-ordi­
nation of sectoral and regional structural policies. The 
initial aim must be to provide a Community reference 
framework within a reasonable period which will allow 
genuine progress to be made in the field of regional 
development for the benefit of all Europe's citizens. 
The Committee, which has often stated what is required 
for a more harmonious development of the regions, is 
primarily concerned that this should be both compre­
hensible to and beneficial for the inhabitants of all the 
Community's regions. 
It therefore assumes that it will continue to be consulted 
on all future proposals in the context of Europe 2000. 
2. General comments 
2.1. The Committee endorses the Commission's 
basic proposal for a Community 'reference framework' 
to assist future longer-term planning and decision-mak­
ing in respect of programmes and projects having a 
territorial impact. The numerous Community policies 
with such an impact and the large volume of aid, 
financed or co-financed from the Community structural 
funds in the form of Community initiatives and loans, 
make it necessary to formulate such a framework, 
which should identify and assess probable regional 
development and land-use trends as clearly and consist­
ently as possible. To this end, it will clearly be necessary 
to proceed from a broadly-based development concept 
which, in addition to economic and social factors and 
settlement structures, takes due account of ecological 
and cultural considerations. 
31. 12. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 339/95 
2.2. The very concept of a reference framework, even 
if it is solely designed to provide information, must be 
developed from the outset with the greatest care and 
with due regard for all existing economic and social 
interests, since the selection and presentation of what 
is considered to be relevant information inevitably 
involves an assessment of its significance for the defi­
nition of political objectives and decision-making. 
2.3. The various Community sectorial policies must 
be co-ordinated and integrated with the corresponding 
national policies on the basis of a broadly acceptable 
regionally-targeted reference framework, so as to 
achieve economic and social harmony. 
The same reference framework of Community regional 
development prospects should provide a basis for 
assessing structural improvement programmes and 
measures and determining the need for a corresponding 
increase in and regulation of Community funding. This 
increase is already considered necessary in many quar­
ters. 
The Committee regards the Commission document as 
an important step towards the establishment of the 
common regional planning policy, providing for the 
necessary analyses, evaluations and co-ordination pro­
cedures which the Community must have. 
2.4. The need of a general overview and evaluation 
of regional development trends and appropriate 
regional programmes and objectives also derives from 
fundamental changes in the overall context of economic 
and social development, which will increasingly influ­
ence decision-making by the Community and its Mem­
ber States in the coming years. These fundamental 
changes concern: 
— Firstly, the completion of the Internal Market, 
although its consequences for regional structures 
and development, despite being partly visible 
already, will not become fully apparent until after 
1993. Thus, there could be an increase in the trend 
towards concentrations and inter-regional dispari­
ties, but there could also be increased co-operation 
and improved co-ordination. 
— Secondly, the Community's changing economic 
relations with the European Free Trade Association 
(EFTA), which, in particular, highlight the import­
ance of Northern Europe for pan-European devel­
opment, and its relations with the countries of Cen­
tral and Eastern Europe arising from the new overall 
political situation. 
— Thirdly, the EEC's joint responsibility for the devel­
opment of the Mediterranean area, involving an 
increasingly important role for the regions of 
Southern Europe as the Community's 'interface' 
with the South. — Fourthly, the economic restructuring which will 
follow after the completion of the present round 
of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 
(GATT) and which can be expected to lead to a 
permanent change in production conditions, 
especially in many areas of agriculture. 
— Fifthly, the now general awareness of society's 
responsibility for the protection and preservation of 
the natural world, leading to a new attitude to 
natural resources and a more differentiated 
approach to the development of differently equip­
ped areas. 
— Sixthly, changing Community population trends, 
which are characterized by a general fall in the net 
birth rate, and whose consequences, in particular 
for the less populated areas, could lead to new calls 
for Community action. 
— And seventhly, the virtually incalculable future 
developments in migration, both within the Com­
munity—from large urban centres to the surround­
ing countryside and from some rural areas to the 
major conurbations—and from Central and Eastern 
Europe, the Mediterranean region and the Third 
World to the Community. These migrations are 
likely to create problems for the different regions 
(whose absorption capacities differ) and, as a result, 
are likely to have a considerable impact on the 
development of the Community's regional struc­
tures. 
All these changes will take effect at a time when techno­
logical upheaval is forcing businesses—particularly in 
the manufacturing and services sectors—to carry out 
fundamental and far-reaching adjustments to estab­
lished structures. 
2.5. The Committee thinks that the probable conse­
quences of these fundamental changes must be carefully 
analyzed and taken into account in future regional 
planning and any associated measures which may be 
necessary. The Community should seek to evolve a 
coherent concept of a «citizens' Europe», which will 
enable individual Europeans to influence shaping of 
their living and working conditions and, consequently, 
the development of the area in which they live and 
work. 
This will involve in particular: 
— the preservation and development of the cultural 
variety and traditions of the regions, 
— environmental protection and development 
measures and the rational use of resources—with 
due regard for specific regional characteristics and 
potential, 
No C 339/96 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 91 
— support for and development of cross-frontier 
regions against the background of the new European 
context and mutual co-operation, 
— measures with regard to the population and settle­
ment structure and transport links. 
2.6. In view of these trends, and the Community's 
wide responsibilities for structural policy, the Com­
mittee considers it advisable for the Community to 
draw up a blueprint covering all the major sectors and 
all the regions of Europe and clearly indicating the 
regional and national instruments and resources which 
can be used to enhance the desirable effects of the 
changes on regional structures, whilst reducing their 
undesirable side-effects and the extent and form of 
any additional Community programmes and measures 
which may prove necessary. The Commission should 
adopt a step-by-step approach involving, in the first 
instance, the preparation of the reference framework as 
a basis for the subsequent co-ordination of Community 
policies and application of the structural funds. It seems 
likely that a long-term regional development plan can 
be evolved and agreed with the parliaments, govern­
ments and economic and social interests concerned only 
over a fairly lengthy period and could not, therefore, 
form part of the Commission's 'Europe 2000' follow-
up document which is due to be published in December 
1991. This makes it all the more urgent for the Com­
mission to indicate and invite comment on its intentions 
and proposed gradual approach in good time. 
2.7. In this connection, the Committee expects due 
account to be taken of the principle of subsidiarity in 
formulating Community proposals. From the stand­
point of a Community physical planning policy, this 
principle means that the Member States, and in particu­
lar their regions, are to retain political and financial 
responsibility for the formulation and implementation 
of development policies, with regional powers and fin­
ancial resources being increased where necessary. The 
Community should undertake those activities which 
cannot be carried out at all, or cannot be carried out 
satisfactorily, at national or regional level. This would, 
in principle, necessitate recognition of the general Com­
munity-wide validity of such activities. In this context, 
the Community should confine itself to the definition 
of general conditions or objectives and the provision of 
finance, leaving the Member States and regions to take 
action within this general framework in the light of 
their specific requirements and resources. 
2.8. The Committee notes that the 'preliminary over­
view' of the still pending 'Europe 2000' document con­
tains neither an adequate explanation nor a definition 
of the content of the Community's future physical plan­
ning policy. The Commission's initiative and the need for a European reference framework would be more 
widely appreciated if the Commission could provide a 
sufficiently detailed and clear indication of the reasons 
for and provisional content of this policy so as to 
allow a thorough political discussion thereof. In this 
connection, it must be made clear that this policy must, 
in particular, be so devised as to enable due account to 
be taken of different regional and economic conditions 
by adopting a suitably differentiated approach. The 
references in the present document to the evergrowing 
economic integration and the additional infrastructural 
needs which this creates are not, in themselves, suf­
ficient. 
2.9. The Committee thinks that a Community physi­
cal planning policy which pays adequate attention to 
distinctive regional features must be based on a clear 
concept of the tasks to be undertaken by political and 
administrative bodies at national and regional level in 
future, too. This concept must recognize the existence 
of national differences and traditions. The competence 
of the regions must therefore be increased, where this 
is still inadequate, so as to involve the grass-roots as 
far as possible in physical planning decisions affecting 
the regions. The 'Europe 2000' document makes no 
discernible proposals in this respect. The Committee 
feels that in this respect, to the extent that it has not 
already been done, it would be appropriate to enlarge 
the competence of the regions so as to involve people 
at the grass roots as far as possible in affecting urban 
and rural development in the region. 
3. Specific comments 
These comments relate to the points raised in the Com­
mission document and should not therefore be regarded 
as exhaustive observations on Community policy in the 
areas in question. The Committee also expected to be 
consulted on the follow-up document which has already 
been announced by the Commission, and will then 
consider these issues more thoroughly, taking due 
account of the outcome of the Study Group hearing in 
Stuttgart. 
3.1. The Common Agricultural Policy and Physical 
Planning 
3.1.1. The common agricultural and fisheries policies 
will clearly have a major direct impact on the future 
development of rural and many coastal areas, by virtue 
of their influence on production and income conditions 
in agriculture and fishing. Although the future shape 
of agricultural policy is still not clear, it is obvious 
that, for example, increased emphasis on direct income-
support measures plus greater attention to the protec­
tion of natural resources will make it necessary to 
give far greater consideration to the specific natural 
conditions and other inherent features of individual 
areas than was the case under a strategy essentially 
orientated towards price policy. 
31. 12. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 339/97 
3.1.2. In this connection, the Committee thinks it 
essential for the concept of the 'rural world', which 
implies a comparability that does not really exist in the 
areas concerned, to be differentiated for the purpose of 
formulating development programmes tailored to their 
needs. This should allow a more flexible approach to 
the different conditions and opportunities encountered 
in individual rural areas based on the application of 
more precise, programme-related concepts. The Com­
mittee also thinks that such differentiation would stiffen 
the resolve to increase independent regional initiatives. 
3.1.3. For these reasons also, the Committee would 
welcome a Community reference framework, insofar 
as this ensures that all relevant development factors— 
including those pertaining to non-agricultural sectors— 
are incorporated in the preparation of specific assist­
ance plans in future so as to preclude the worsening of 
existing imbalances and the creation of new ones. 
The Committee therefore thinks that—when regional 
aid and development programmes are drawn up—an 
agricultural structures policy should be devised which is 
tailored to the peculiarities and economic development 
levels of the different regions. This would not, of course, 
rule out appropriate attempts to seek out new oppor­
tunities for rural development and specific regional 
restructuring measures which could generate new 
sources of income to complement those already pro­
vided by agriculture and fisheries in the strict sense. 
At the same time, the Committee would warn against 
the growing tendency to set aside fertile, productive 
land for infrastructure projects, which since they take 
no account of agricultural factors, can threaten both 
the balance of the natural environment and regional 
development. 
3.2. The Internal Market and Physical Planning 
3.2.1. Community trade and industry policy, which 
is of direct relevance for the completion of the Internal 
Market, has immediate consequences for regional devel­
opment. On the one hand, it affects rural and coastal 
areas, where action to develop industry and services 
constitutes a necessary addition to measures for restruc­
turing former agricultural holdings, etc. and, on the 
other, it affects the major urban conurbations, 
especially when renovation and conversion work is to 
be carried out. In this connection, it should be noted 
that the locational factors which are so important for 
successful development tend to encourage concen­
tration on urban centres, the advantages of which are 
constantly growing in importance; Community indus­
trial and technological policy, in conjunction with infra­
structure policy, should seek to redress the balance in favour of the less-developed areas and their urban 
centres. 
3.2.2. So that contradictions and imbalances in the 
deployment of the structural funds are avoided in future 
structural policy, a carefully targeted and balanced 
regional development policy could be framed with the 
aid of a Community reference framework, which would 
also have to identify priority locations for Community 
support. In this connection, it would be particularly 
important to increase the attractiveness of locations 
for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are an 
important factor in overall regional development. 
3.2.3. The Committee thinks that a Community ref­
erence framework would facilitate the co-ordination of 
sectoral support and restructuring programmes, both 
among themselves and in relation to prevailing regional 
conditions. Cross-border co-ordination, which has so 
far been lacking in many sectors, could as a result be 
promoted both between Member States and through 
the social dialogue in individual sectors. 
3.3. Community Environmental Policy and Physical 
Planning 
3.3.1. Community environmental policy has so far 
concentrated on standards and procedures aimed at 
controlling environmental damage. The Committee 
thinks that, in future, greater attention should also be 
given to the special natural features of individual 
regions and to minimizing additional damage associated 
with development. This would mean that special atten­
tion would have to be paid from the outset to large-
and small-scale regional interdependence—for example 
the consequences of groundwater pollution are fre­
quently felt far from the source. 
3.3.2. By identifying the factors and influences to be 
taken into account, a Community reference framework 
could give considerable impetus to the adoption of 
comparable, and possibly even equivalent, Community 
standards for the evaluation of resources meriting pro­
tection, with particular reference to water, the soil and 
the atmosphere. This could also lead to a systematic 
use of structural policy instruments to compensate for 
basic natural differences and the unequal prospects for 
economic development thus created. 
3.4. Development of Human Resources and Physical 
Planning 
3.4.1. The Committee thinks it important for special 
attention to be given to the furthering, for development 
purposes, of each region's human resources. This con-
No C 339/98 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 91 
stitutes a crucial precondition for the establishment of 
adequate long-term viability and dynamic economic 
and social cohesion. The provision—where necessary 
with Community support—of adequate vocational 
training facilities (in terms of both quality and quan­
tity), is becoming increasingly important at all levels. 
Similarly, more attention must be given to intra-
regional access to training and research establishments 
as a basis for the economic development of innovative 
and expanding sectors. 
3.4.2. In order to ensure that regional development 
proceeds as harmoniously as possible, the Community 
must therefore encourage the expansion and extension 
of training and research facilities in such a way as to 
achieve the fullest possible geographical coverage. Such 
a geographically-orientated revision of the training and 
social policy measures accompanying regional develop­
ment programmes could be significantly enhanced by a 
Community reference framework setting out regional 
development goals. 
3.4.3. In conjunction with a forward-looking 
regional labour-market policy, such vocational training 
and educational measures should help to create a situ­
ation in which entire regions are no longer depopulated 
as a result of inadequate training and employment 
opportunities. Special attention should be paid in this 
connection to the development of cross-frontier labour 
markets, the establishment of cross-border 'observ­
atories' and the implementation of corresponding pilot 
projects. 
3.5. Regional Policy and Physical Planning 
3.5.1. A Community regional policy which takes 
greater account of distinctive regional factors with 
regard to agricultural structures, natural and human 
resources and economic conditions and progress and 
which seeks to tailor its support for infrastructural 
development, the development of industry, crafts and 
trade and the creation of supra-regional services accord­
ingly, will have to be founded on a clearer concept of 
an efficient longer-term system of major European cities 
and conurbations and the transport, transmission and 
telecommunications systems needed to connect them. 
The regional planning problems of tourist areas war­
rant special attention, since the infrastructure (e.g. 
power and water supplies and roads) required to deal 
with the huge seasonal influxes cannot be used to 
capacity at other times. Consideration should therefore 
be given to possible ways of spreading the peak loads 
more evenly over the whole year. 
3.5.2. Such general concepts, which would be 
important for fixing priorities for intra- and inter­regional infrastructural projects warranting Com­
munity support, could be derived from a corresponding 
Community reference framework. A regional policy of 
this sort, implanted in a Community-wide context, 
could help to correct the misconception of the funda­
mental contradictions between 'urban' and 'rural' 
areas. It would ensure that the special features and 
problems of individual regions were directly addressed 
and dealt with in specific programmes covering both 
some of the densely populated urban areas affected by 
structural problems and certain less densely, or even 
thinly, populated areas in which the development of 
urban centres varies greatly. This would also promote 
awareness of the fact that the development problems 
of conurbations are not only due to the need to convert 
long-established industrial structures but can also be 
attributed to a wide variety of causes which, accord­
ingly, call for different responses. At the same time, 
both private and public decision-makers at regional 
and local level would acquire a source of clear basic 
information which would enable local and regional 
programmes to be planned and implemented in a more 
concrete and realistic ways. 
3.5.3. The Committee believes that a well-defined 
geographical reference framework would underpin the 
Community's efforts to promote the extension of 
major European infrastructure in support of its trans­
port policy. Such an approach would also make it 
easier to link local public transport and private feeder 
traffic in the different regions to the European 
networks. 
3.5.4. Since Community telecommunications policies 
can significantly improve the links between peripheral 
and central regions, the Committee calls for the system­
atic development of the potential thereby created in 
peripheral regions. 
3.5.5. The opening-up of energy markets and the 
resultant closer links between distribution networks is 
increasingly raising questions concerning the need for 
a European concept for those networks and the future 
of regional energy production and distribution. In this 
connection, the Committee would point out that the 
need to encourage all forms of rational energy use— 
which will vary depending on the respective level of 
regional development—and the significance of energy 
supply schemes for the strengthening of regional 
development potential must be considered and taken 
into account in a Community reference framework. 
31. 12. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 339/99 
3.6. Community Policy covering the Establishment of 
Links between Towns and their Surrounding 
Areas and the Promotion of a System of European 
Cities 
3.6.1. The Committee thinks that the proposed refer­
ence framework should make it possible to assess the 
role of urban centres in the European context. To this 
end, analyses should be encouraged which indicate, how 
particular cities are to be assisted in their relations with 
their surrounding areas and within the association of 
European cities (European cities' system) with a view 
to making the advantages of major centres available to 
the economies and populations of all regions. 
3.6.2. The implementation of a coherent Community 
policy in the areas covered by 'Europe 2000' would 
have considerable consequences for future decisions by 
private and public investors concerning the location of 
businesses and transport routes and the decisions of 
individual citizens with regard to where they want 
to live. These decisions have a decisive influence on 
regional, urban and rural development prospects. 
3.6.3. The Committee therefore thinks that the net­
works linking the European centres—for example, in 
the transport and telecommunications sectors—should 
be defined in the reference framework to enable them 
and the regional and national authorities to identify the 
role and potential of such focal points of a European 
cities' system and take appropriate action to assist the 
development of the smaller regional centres. 
3.6.4. The Committee welcomes the fact that the 
Community encourages the swapping of experiences 
and cooperation between regional, urban and rural 
areas and sees an urgent need for the extension of such 
activity—particularly in frontier regions. 
3.6.5. The Committee recommends closer cooper­
ation between research centres, universities, and 
regional development agencies with regard to settle­
ment policy, regional development and urban planning. 
This cooperation should also be made a part of existing 
programmes (e.g. Comett, Erasmus). 
4. General assessment 
4.1. The Committee broadly welcomes the Com­
mission initiative and calls for preparatory work on the 
proposed document to be continued with the necessary 
thoroughness, so as to provide a comprehensive draft 
for a future reference framework for regional action by 
the Community. Whilst the process of structural change 
will clearly be spread over a longer period and continue 
beyond the year 2000, the Committee thinks it both 
realistic and acceptable to limit the assessment of trends 
to the next decade for the time being. 4.2. The Committee thinks that this draft should be 
submitted to all the interested parties—i.e. national 
and regional authorities and employers' and workers' 
representatives—and that their comments and sugges­
tions should be obtained before decisions are taken 
on the specific regional development objectives which 
should continue to be pursued, the Community struc­
tural instruments that are to be used and the tasks to 
which they are to be assigned. 
In this connection, account must be taken of the follow­
ing principles. 
4.2.1. The Economic and Social Committee feels it 
necessary to stress its crucial role and the need for its 
involvement in the different phases of the development 
and updating of the 'Europe 2000' reference framework. 
4.2.2. National and regional participation in the 
preparation and subsequent fleshing-out of a Com­
munity reference framework must be ensured in good 
time. The aim of encouraging more independent initiat­
ives by regional bodies would be thwarted if their 
energies were to be checked by an unduly rigid frame­
work imposed at Community level. At the same time, 
however, senior decision makers must be adequately 
involved in the definition of objectives by individual 
areas. 
4.2.3. Since regional planning policy directly affects 
the lives of individuals, their right of involvement must 
be secured. The Committee calls on the Commission 
to examine the question of rights of participation and 
appeal—including cross-border rights— and to submit 
appropriate proposals. 
4.2.4. The representatives of economic and social 
interest groups must be adequately involved at all levels 
in the formulation of Community regional planning 
policy. 
4.2.5. The Committee sees a need for clarification of 
the resources and machinery to be deployed in 
implementing such a policy. The crucial question here 
is on whom and to what extent should conditions laid 
down at Community level be binding and what scope 
should national and regional bodies have for action 
using the instruments at their disposal. 'Europe 2000' 
makes no mention of these points. The centralized 
regulation of the different types of development scen­
arios would appear from the outset to be a relatively 
unrealistic proposition. 
4.3. The preparation of a Community reference 
framework should also give explicit consideration to 
special development problems at internal Community 
frontiers. With the completion of the Internal Market, 
the continuing existence of different national rules must 
not mean different opportunities and restrictions for 
No C 339/100 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 91 
businesses and individuals in frontier areas which 
appear unjustified from the European standpoint. The 
Community must establish a clear legal framework for 
the formulation and implementation of cross-frontier 
programmes which will enable the desired activities to 
be pursued without restriction, even where the insti­
tutional infrastructure of the regions concerned differs. 
4.4. At the same time, efforts must be made to facili­
tate the structural development of extra-Community 
frontier regions, particularly in Eastern Europe, in view 
of the infrastructural interdependence of adjacent terri­
tories. 
4.5. The Committee considers, in this context, that 
the precise objectives and content of a future Com­
munity reference framework and the extent to which it 
is to be mandatory must be clearly defined; it should 
also be made clear how far and under what conditions 
the goals and content of the reference framework should 
be binding with regard to Community structural poli­
cies and national and regional measures. To this end, 
practical expression will have to be given to the princi­
pal Community objectives, particularly those relating 
to the harmonious development of all regions and econ­
omic and social cohesion, and the principle of subsidiar­
ity will have to be heeded. 
4.6. The establishment of a European 'observatory' 
for physical planning enjoying a certain independence 
vis-a-vis the national and Community authorities and 
backed up by a network of research institutes and 
bodies in all the Member States could make a valuable 
contribution, in a European context, to the definition 
of objectives for all the national territories, and the 
development of uniform analysis and evaluation 
methods. 
Done at Brussels, 25 September 1991. 5. Recommendations 
5.1. The Committee calls on the Commission to 
ensure the regular updating of the document in conjunc­
tion with all the governments and institutions con­
cerned in the form of an 'Outlook for the development 
of the Community's territory' as a constant back-up to 
efforts to improve the coordination of regional planning 
policies. 
5.2. The Committee would ask the Commission to 
explain, in the light of the existing concept of an 'infor­
mation-based reference framework', its intention to 
develop a reference framework which both facilitates 
and promotes coordination among all the parties 
involved. 
5.3. The Committee therefore thinks that the final 
version of the 'Europe 2000' document should specify 
or suggest the bodies which are to be responsible for 
t the coordination requirements stemming from the sys­
tematic preparation of the reference framework and 
which procedures they are to adopt for this purpose. 
5.4. The Committee endorses the Commission's ear­
lier attempts to create a Community-wide minimum 
data base of regional information as a basis for the 
improved coordination of development policies 
between the Member States and the Community, on 
the one hand, and the various Community departments 
concerned, on the other. The Commission should resol­
utely continue these efforts within the framework of a 
long-term plan, not least because of the widespread 
underestimation of the importance of the availability 
of reliable and comparable regionally differentiated 
statistics. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francois STAEDELIN