European Parliament resolution on preparing for the assent procedure for the Community's strategic guidelines for the period 2007-2013 (Cohesion Policy in Support of Growth and Jobs) (2006/2086(INI))
Date: 2006-05-18
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Union, economic and social cohesion, economic growth, economic situation, employment policy

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E. whereas, compared to 2004, there have been considerable general improvements in the uptake of alloca-
tions in the fields of structural funds, where in 2004, 232 million euro or 0,7 % of the total budget of
34 451 million euro were not spent, and internal policies, where an amount of 50 million euro (0,7 %)
of a total of 7 432 million euro was left unused in 2004;

F. whereas there is still some room for improvement, especially in the field of external action, where
181 million euro equalling 3,5 % of the total allowance were not spent in 2005, and in pre-accession
strategy where the amount unused, compared to 2004, has actually gone up to 463 million euro or
13,5 % of the allowance initially planned;

1. Welcomes the positive development in budget implementation over the last few years;

2. Calls on the Commission to continue its efforts to fully implement the budget which is even more
important in view of the limited resources that will be available under the new financial framework
2007 — 2013;

3. Has decided to accept Council's Draft amending budget unamended;

4.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

P6_TA(2006)0216

Cohesion Policy in support of growth and jobs

European Parliament resolution on preparing for the assent procedure for the Community's stra-
tegic guidelines for the period 2007-2013 (Cohesion Policy in Support of Growth and Jobs)
(2006/2086(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission communication:

‘Cohesion Policy in Support of Growth and Jobs:

Community strategic guidelines, 2007-2013’ (COM(2005)0299),

— having regard to Articles 23 and 24 of the proposal for a Council regulation laying down general provi-
sions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund
and having regard to its resolution of 6 July 2005 (1),

— having regard to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
European Regional Development Fund and having regard to the position it took thereon at first reading
on 6 July 2005 (2),

— having regard to the proposal for a Council regulation establishing a Cohesion Fund and having regard

to its resolution thereon of 6 July 2005 (3),

(1) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0277.
(2) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0279.
(3) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0278.

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— having regard to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
European Social Fund and having regard to the position it took thereon at first reading on 6 July
2005 (1),

— having regard to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council estab-
lishing a European grouping of cross-border cooperation and having regard to the position it took
thereon at first reading on 6 July 2005 (2),

— having regard to Articles 158 and 161 of the EC Treaty,

— having regard to the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000, of Göte-

borg of 15 and 16 June 2001 and of Brussels of 22 and 23 March 2005,

— having regard to the Commission communication to the Spring European Council:

‘Working together

for growth and jobs: A new start for the Lisbon Strategy’ (COM(2005)0024),

— having regard to the integrated guidelines for growth and jobs (2005-2008) (COM(2005)0141),

— having regard to the Commission communication: ‘Third progress report on cohesion: Towards a new

partnership for growth, jobs and cohesion’ (COM(2005)0192),

— having regard to the conclusions of the Brussels European Council of 15 and 16 December 2005 on the

financial perspective,

— having regard to the European Charter for small enterprises approved by the Santa Maria da Feira Euro-

pean Council of 19 and 20 June 2000,

— having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2003 on Gender Mainstreaming in the European Parlia-

ment (3),

— having regard to the Community framework strategy on gender equality (2001-2005) (COM(2000)
0335), the Commission's work programmes for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 (COM(2001)0119,
COM(2001)0773, COM(2003)0047, SEC(2004)0911 and SEC(2005)1044) and the annual Commission
reports on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union for 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003, 2004 and 2005 (COM(2001)0179, COM(2002)0258, COM(2003)0098, COM(2004)0115 and
COM(2005)0044),

— having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Regional Development and the opinions of the
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Transport and Tourism
(A6-0175/2006),

A. whereas the cohesion policy guidelines are an important component of a European policy seeking to

address global challenges,

B. mindful that the nature of the challenges facing Europe's cohesion policy has completely changed with

EU enlargement to include 10 (and later it will be 12) new Member States,

C. pointing out that conducting negotiations on regulations and guidelines in parallel makes it substantially
more difficult to include the social partners, NGOs, municipalities and regions in drawing up the
programme, but that Parliament wishes to promote their participation,

D. whereas, in view of the depopulation affecting given European regions, new economic and social devel-
opment strategies need to be drawn up in order to avert the threat of dwindling populations in rural
areas,

E. whereas the reform of the structural policy for the next programming period 2007-2013 seeks to give it
a greater strategic focus in order to avoid a situation in which specific actions are at odds with each
other,

F. whereas more emphasis must be given to the urban dimension of European structural policy in order to
ensure both that conurbations are able to play their pivotal role in boosting European competitiveness
and employment more effectively and that specific urban problems such as poverty and social marginali-
sation, including marginalisation in small and medium-sized towns, can be addressed more effectively,

(1) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0281.
(2) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0280.
(3) OJ C 61 E, 10.3.2004, p. 384.

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G. whereas urban areas and the surrounding countryside should be seen as an integrated economic area
forming part of the regional context and need a more integrated and symbiotic development strategy to
speed up the process of regional competitiveness,

H. whereas the social, economic and territorial cohesion of the Union must not be weakened by efforts to

implement the Lisbon Strategy,

I. whereas owing to disparities in prosperity which have become much more pronounced through enlarge-
ment, the resources set aside for structural policy are limited and they must therefore be concentrated
even more than hitherto on sustainable development concepts and the most necessary and effective
measures,

J. welcoming the fact that cohesion and regional policy are being treated as a unity,

K. pointing to the importance of reducing disparities between Member States, on the one hand, and

between European regions, on the other,

L. whereas territorial cooperation is an important component of cohesion policy and must be endowed

with an appropriate level of financial resources and included in overall strategic planning,

Stresses that the Commission's proposal on the strategic guidelines sets the Community's priorities with
1.
a view to promoting balanced, harmonious and sustained development and thereby pursues the Lisbon and
Göteborg objectives;

2. Maintains, however, that future cohesion policy must help to meet the challenges posed by the most
recent enlargement of the European Union by helping to reduce regional disparities and fostering a society
based on full employment, equal opportunities, inclusion, and social cohesion;

Takes the view that the strategic guidelines should not restrict the scope of the regulations on the indivi-
3.
dual funds, but only clarify the EU's strategic priorities and points in this connection to the need to ensure
that the regions have sufficient flexibility to be able to react specifically to requirements in the regions, since
there are many ways and means of achieving successful sustainable development, particularly where the
regions' and local authorities' experiences concerning their own development potential are fully incorporated
into regional strategies;

4. Refers in this connection to the differing needs of industrial regions, rural areas, cities and urban areas,
sparsely populated areas and the and very outermost regions and island, mountain and border regions;

5. Calls also for aid to be channelled towards areas suffering structural disadvantages such as depopulation,
population ageing, or inaccessibility and for the economic and social development of those areas to be
boosted;

6.
Stresses, however, that the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy is primarily a matter for the Member
States and that cohesion policy has to form a unified whole with the Lisbon and Göteborg objectives and
become a key factor in their attainment through national and regional development programmes;

7. Welcomes the evidence of linkage between job growth and an increase in productivity and notes that
the essential purpose underlying it is to create high-quality permanent jobs.

8. Considers it necessary to concentrate the scant financial resources available in an intelligent and efficient
manner in order to achieve maximum European added value instead of scattering funds;

9.
Stresses once again the importance of a sound partnership between all the parties concerned and calls
for this partnership to be clearly enshrined in the regulations and guidelines and thus supports the strength-
ening of civil society;

10. Calls on the Commission proactively to support public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a funding instru-
ment and not to treat the Member States differently; supports specifically the possibilities offered by
JESSICA, JEREMIE and JASPERS in this connection; endorses the Commission proposal regarding the role of
the European Investment Bank in helping to finance the implementation of cohesion policy;

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11.
Points to the importance of laying down rules to govern the formation of public-private partnerships
(PPPs) and of simplifying programme management and monitoring procedures so as to ensure that projects
can be and are implemented rapidly;

Stresses how important it is for regions to share information and best practice gained from previous

12.
programmes so that they can use them in future programming periods;

13. Welcomes the fact that the guidelines focus on three priorities and specifically requests that active
attention be given to equality of opportunities between men and women in all three priorities;

Making Europe and its regions more attractive to investors and workers

14.
Supports the decision to establish a durable transport infrastructure, including the promotion of a
railway infrastructure and local public transport services together with sea transport, which also ensures
access to these means of transport; asks for support measures to optimise traffic management, taking into
account road safety; considers it essential to complete the trans-European transport network so as to enable
the advantages of the internal market to be fully exploited;

15. Calls for an express requirement for and recognition of the principle and practice of accessibility for
disabled persons in the strategic guidelines and in the evaluation process required by the strategic guidelines;

16.
Believes that transport infrastructures should be developed, particularly at the EU's former external
borders with the new Member States and between Member States where they are not yet adequately devel-
oped; refers in this respect to particular regional problems and requests that intelligent and sustainable trans-
port concepts be put forward;

17. Calls for a specific reference to the secondary road networks to be included in the Community stra-
tegic guidelines, given that support for the construction of regional roads can be of importance in increasing
the mobility of workers and thereby in improving access to employment opportunities;

18.
Stresses that sustainable development in all Member States means complying with environmental legis-
lation on water, waste, air, and the protection of the environment and biodiversity and calls for a sustainable
use of natural resources, in particular water; further calls for specific support for the implementation of
environmental priorities such as Natura 2000, the Water Framework Directive and the sustainable preven-
tion of natural disasters;

19. Also believes that smaller scale infrastructure projects in all areas should be taken into consideration
and strongly supports investment in secondary connections to major networks;

20.
Specifically supports the possibility of the funds intervening in the sphere of sustainable energy policy
and specifically welcomes the use of all renewable energy in electricity, heating, cooling and transport; calls
for support for energy saving and efficiency; stresses the importance and the potential, especially for SMEs,
of the use and generation of renewable energy and the development of energy efficiency technologies, with
their special role in local and regional development potential;

21. Refers in this connection to the need to adopt an integrated approach to urban development and to
the development of urban areas in order to achieve greater energy efficiency; in this context, investments
improving the energy efficiency of large-panel prefabricated housing estates in the new Member States are
especially important;

22. Notes that housing makes a major contribution to the production of greenhouse gases and that an
effort must consequently be made in this sector too in order to attain the Kyoto objectives and encourage
the process of sustainable urban development; recalls in this connection the above-mentioned positions and
resolutions it adopted on 6 July 2005 in connection with the reform of the Structural Funds;

23. Demands that sustainable urban development and the specific links between towns and cities and
their surrounding areas be strengthened, with account being taken of existing partnerships; further supports
the implementation of strategies aimed at complementary development at every level;

24. Notes that there are great opportunities for rural areas in particular to boost their prosperity by step-
ping up the use of renewable bio-resources both for energy and as materials, and that agriculture too stands
to benefit greatly from reinforcing sustainable structures;

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Promoting knowledge and innovation for growth

25. Welcomes the specific focus on research and development (R&D), in particular support for the forma-
tion of high technology clusters, innovative industrial regions and SMEs in the information and communica-
tions technology (ICT) sector; points, however, to the need to reduce the technology divide within and
between regions and Member States by strengthening technological cooperation networks;

26. Urges, firstly, that measures and investments to promote innovation should not be confined to techno-
logical innovation but should apply to all types of innovation enabling businesses to carry out economic
and social modernisation, and secondly, that specific efforts should be made to develop the innovation
potential of small and micro-businesses, particularly in traditional sectors;

27. Urges the Commission to accord special importance to programmes to promote ICT, given that these
have far-reaching social, territorial, and cultural implications, and make them fully accessible to citizens;

28.
Points to the close ties existing between R&D and training and calls on the Commission to make
provision for simple and transparent means of joint financing through the funds in the case of integrated
projects, for instance by making joint financing more attractive to private investments by fostering coopera-
tion between universities and businesses, and calls on the Member States to use instruments such as risk
funds and micro-credits for this purpose;

Stresses the decisive contribution which will be made by the improved access to funding being
innovation and entrepreneurship, and establishing new and

29.
proposed in terms of promoting research,
expanding existing European companies;

30. Repeats its demand that all regions should be able to carry out PPP projects under the same conditions
in the R&D, innovation and ICT fields, since this would help to reduce the technology divide;

31. Notes that rural areas must not be cut off from the development of the information society;

32.
Supports the principle of developing business support services; considers that information, advice and
assistance activities carried out by intermediary organisations, particularly for small and micro-businesses
and craft businesses, are essential if these businesses are to achieve the objectives of the cohesion policy;
calls, therefore, for support to such activities to be treated as a priority at regional level;

33. Calls for regions to build their research and innovation capacities by ensuring complementarity and
synergy between FP7, CIP and the structural and cohesion funds;

More and better jobs

34.
Emphasises the importance of investing in human capital, particularly in view of the demographic
change facing our society over the next few years, and of focusing particular attention on the full integration
of immigrants;

35. Demands that the European Social Fund support those Member State policies which are in line with
the integrated guidelines and recommendations within the framework of the European employment strategy
and with the relevant Community objectives as regards social inclusion, anti-discrimination, the promotion
of equality and general and professional training;

36. Calls for accompanying and support measures seeking to prevent the social exclusion of disadvantaged
groups to be incorporated in support measures, with a view to enhancing their employability;

37. Welcomes the three action priorities of the employment policy guidelines and stresses that they must
not under any circumstances be accompanied by a deterioration in the situation of workers;

38. Calls on the Commission to explain what it means by ‘an employment policy approach that is geared
towards the entire life-cycle’; assumes that it means projects specifically intended to support young people,
women and elderly workers;

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39. Welcomes the Commission's commitment to active policies, especially for the purpose of fostering
entrepreneurship at every level of education and continuing training; calls, in this connection, for greater
support for ‘lifelong learning’ projects involving support both for improvements in educational infrastruc-
tures and staff qualifications, and support for new options starting as early as the school and preschool
stage;

40.
Points out that qualified workers are not the product of vocational training alone, but that the founda-
tions are already laid in childhood and adolescence, and therefore expects that access to preschool facilities
and school education will be improved;

41.
Expects further training and lifelong learning to be viewed as an investment in people and not there-
fore considered and registered as a form of assistance to be notified, where appropriate; supports the
Commission's approach, as in the past under the Equal programme, of giving all migrants, including asylum
seekers, greater access to the labour market, for example through the recognition of qualifications or
through language acquisition;

Emphasises the need to improve the matching of training and education actions to labour market

42.
needs;

43. Calls on the Commission, particularly as regards the development of human capital, to support the
cooperation of Member States and to notify cohesion policy players of the most innovative projects in an
appropriate manner; points to the special importance of exchanges of information between the old and new
Member States;

44. Welcomes the possibility of investing in health infrastructures and in averting health risks;

45. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the strategic guidelines only contain items which can be
supported through Structural Fund investments;

46. Calls on the Commission, in the event of a general failure to meet the criteria of:

— sustainable development,

— gender mainstreaming,

— the rights set out in Article 13 of the EC Treaty (prohibition of discrimination based on sex, racial or

ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation),

— environmental law,

to demand improvements or the repayment of monies already disbursed;

The territorial aspect of cohesion policy

Supports, as a matter of principle, the importance of the objective of territorial cohesion as an essen-

47.
tial and integral supplement to the objective of economic and social cohesion;

48. Reiterates its demand for an increase in aid for urban areas; supports particularly, in this connection,
the need for the flexibility of regions in developing projects, since it is not necessarily clear at the beginning
of a subsidy period which urban areas will need support for their projects during that period; stresses the
important role cities and their surrounding areas play in realising the objectives of the European Union's
regional policy, including their function as motors of economic development in Europe; calls on Member
States to foster multi-level governance by including cities, their functional urban areas and rural peripheral
areas in both the development and the implementation of national strategic reference frameworks and
operational programmes;

49.
Points to the need to recognise the diverse nature of European local players; notes that Europe is
distinguished by a unique multicentric structure consisting of large, medium-sized, and small towns and
cities and that most Europeans live in medium-sized and small towns; considers it essential that measures
for urban areas should extend beyond traditional metropolises and also allow for the role of the cities, satel-
lite towns, and urban marketplaces linked to the leading urban centres;

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50. Confirms its support for cross-border cooperation as a key instrument of European integration and
calls for due attention to be paid, within the framework of this instrument, to the following sectors, inter
alia: culture, the environment, R&D, ICT, exchanges between administrative authorities, disaster prevention
and health;

51. Calls on that Member States to specify a priority for innovative measures and transnational coopera-
tion in their operational programmes;

52. Calls for clear and transparent rules on both resource allocation and spending controls and for
Member States to take full responsibility for expenditure of cohesion policy funding;

53.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

*

*

*

P6_TA(2006)0217

Financing Instrument for development and economic cooperation ***I

European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parlia-
ment and of the Council establishing a financing instrument for development and economic coop-
eration (COM(2004)0629 — C6-0128/2004 — 2004/0220(COD))

(Codecision procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission proposal

to the European Parliament

and the Council

(COM(2004)0629) (1),

— having regard to Article 251(2) and Articles 179(1) and 181a(2) of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the

Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C6-0128/2004),

— having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs on the proposed legal basis,

— having regard to Rules 51, 168 and 35 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Development and the opinions of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, the Committee on International Trade and the Committee on Budgets (A6-0060/2006),

— having regard to the second report of

the Committee on Development and the opinions of

the

Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on International Trade (A6-0109/2006);

1. Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend the proposal
substantially or replace it with another text;

3.

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission.

(1) Not yet published in OJ.