Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on Governance and partnership at national, regional and project basis in the field of regional policy
Date: 2008-10-09
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU policy, economic cooperation, governance, local authority, regional authority, regional policy

C 325/56

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

19.12.2008

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘Governance and partnership at national, regional and
project basis in the field of regional policy’

(2008/C 325/09)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

— calls for local and regional authorities not to continue to be put into the same category as civil society
and economic and social partners when it comes to partnerships, since they are elected bodies directly
accountable to the EU's citizens;

— points out that the absence of an EU-wide methodology for employing partnerships in the prepara-
tion, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of territorial development programming and plan-
ning documents makes it impossible to judge whether the process involved a partnership in reality or
in name only and what its real effect was;

— recommends that the EP and the European Commission assess the possibilities of using the capacity
of national and/or regional authorities in monitoring the implementation of operational programmes
and spending under the Structural and Cohesion Funds, in order to verify the costs incurred and the
results achieved;

— is convinced that the Committee of the Regions should be given a greater role in the preparation,
through the active involvement of Committee

implementation and monitoring of EU policies,
members in local and regional level dialogue;

— is committed to planning and implementing initiatives to disseminate best practices in using partner-

ship in setting policy priorities in the Member States.

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 325/57

Rapporteur: Mr Vladimir KISSIOV (BG/EPP), Member of Sofia Municipal Council

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

remarks

General
to
governance at national, regional and local level and project
planning in the field of regional policy

partnership with

respect

on

1.
wholly supports the initiative to examine and analyse part-
nership with respect to governance at national, regional and
local level and project planning in the field of regional policy, in
the preparation and implementation of programme and plan-
ning documents for territorial development;

2.
welcomes the efforts being made by the Member States
and regional and local authorities towards the establishment and
systematic introduction of partnerships between state, regional
and local
institutions and representatives of civil society, the
social partners and business in the preparation of planning
documents for developing and implementing regional planning
and development policies;

3.
especially welcomes the fact that, in the Member States,
governments are making efforts to promote a dialogue with
regional and local authorities in determining not only goals,
priorities and resources for territorial development, but also
how it is implemented, in the context of European and national
policies;

stresses the leading role of

towns and regions in the
4.
preparation of strategy documents, programme implementation
and monitoring and the implementation of EU policies;

calls for local and regional authorities not to continue to
5.
be put into the same category as civil society and economic and
social partners when it comes to partnerships, since they are
elected bodies directly accountable to the EU's citizens. For this
reason, any partnership between national Member State institu-
tions, EU bodies and local and regional authorities are on a
qualitatively different level than other forms of partnership. The
role of local and regional authorities, which are elected by the
public and entrusted with state duties, must be clearly enshrined
in general rules and documents;

6.
is convinced that the principles of good governance can
be put into practice in the field of local and regional policy
through greater involvement of representatives of civil society
and economic and social partners.

is a clear focus on efficient and effective policy implementation
which is based on horizontal and vertical
integration of the
various instruments so that clear and measurable results are
achieved;

acknowledges the role of European structural policy in
9.
providing effective support
to the process of administrative
decentralisation taking place in various EU countries as part of
the development of
regional planning and indicator-based
management processes which have greatly contributed to
improving public initiatives at local and regional level;

believes that the current governance model in the field of
10.
structural policy provides a solid basis for the future direction of
that policy;

points out that the absence of an EU-wide methodology
11.
for employing partnerships in the preparation, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of territorial development program-
ming and planning documents makes it impossible to judge
whether the process involved a partnership in reality or in name
only and what its real effect was.

Political dimensions of partnership in the management of
regional policy

12.
regards as a success the moves to strengthen partnership
with a view to developing a more sustainable policy for closer
and stronger vertical and horizontal integration of governance
and partnership at national, regional and local level;

sees

13.
in the new
the efforts made by governments
Member States to introduce the principles of good governance
into the process of drawing up and implementing programme
documents as a democratic achievement;

considers that national and regional authorities, along
14.
with the administrative authorities should draft and adopt a
methodology for the use of partnerships in regional policy in
relation to programme and planning documents. The metho-
dology should clearly define the operation and minimum extent
of partnership in all stages: preparation, implementation, moni-
toring and evaluation. Two levels of partnership which are quite
distinct in terms of their quality, need to be taken into account:

— elected bodies directly accountable to the EU's citizens —
i.e., local and regional authorities; economic and social part-
ners and civil society;

Main concerns
structural policy

regarding governance in the field of

— economic and social partners and civil society.

supports a comprehensive approach to structural policy

7.
governance within the European Union's multilevel system;

8.
believes it is crucial for good governance in the field of
regional policy that policy instruments are applied in an inte-
grated manner, all stakeholders are actively involved, and there

The partners involved differ from each other with regard to
their sphere of operation, specialisation, skills and potential
contribution. This methodology should also take account of the
fact there are various levels of decentralisation in the individual
Member States and ascertain whether their local and regional
bodies are the managing authority for
some operational
programmes;

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Official Journal of the European Union

19.12.2008

15.
considers that, through their good practices, older EU
Member States, particularly those which are highly decentralised,
have made a substantial contribution to the improvement of the
system of partnership in relation to good governance at
national, regional and local
level and project planning in the
field of regional policy and could share best practices with other
countries;

preparing national, regional and local strategy and planning
documents and the consideration and launch of initiatives to
overcome challenges such as climate change, urban transport,
life sciences and biotechnology, scientific
the development of
and research activities and innovation in EU and other regions.

16.
argues that the inclusion of networks of partners in the
elaboration and implementation of regional development poli-
cies provides considerable opportunities for the various actors
and participants to express their interests and increases people's
trust in government. It must be ensured, however, that the part-
ners concerned have the right mandate to act, as well as the
necessary expertise and capacity, and that their participation will
make a real contribution. They must also have the necessary
funding to play a proper role in the discussions. This funding
could form part of the technical assistance and should also
cover the drafting of truly warranted studies and research at EU,
national and local level;

17.
calls on the European Commission, since this is some-
thing not included in a number of operational programmes, to
authorise and encourage regional and local authorities, their
national and supranational associations and other relevant part-
ners
in the present
programming period; this will enable them to carry out studies
and analyses at local, regional, national and EU level to identify
the needs and priorities for a new cohesion policy;

to use technical assistance resources

18.
is convinced of the increasing importance of strength-
ening partnership in relation to governance and project plan-
ning at all stages of EU policy making in the field of local and
regional development — preparation,
implementation and
monitoring and evaluation;

considers

that governance

19.
and partnership in the
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
preparation,
EU territorial development policy should be given an increas-
ingly significant place in the EU's communication strategy;

20.
calls on the European Parliament and the European
Commission to make broader use of partnership and govern-
ance and the open method of coordination in developing
EU policies, so as to include a maximum number of stake-
holders, especially local and regional authorities, as the level of
government where a significant proportion of Community poli-
cies are usually conducted. Calls on the Commission to ensure
that all regional and local authorities who are interested and
have the skills required to manage European regional develop-
ment programmes are designated Managing Authorities of
operational programmes;

21.
governance and partnership at national and regional

insists that a connection be made between the issues of
in

level

Encouraging partnership in relation to governance

considers that,

22.
in the context of preparing the new
economic, social and territorial cohesion policy, especially for
regions with severe and permanent natural or demographic
handicaps, it will be of crucial importance to ensure that parti-
cularly the local and regional authorities and their national and
supranational associations, but also economic and social part-
ners and civil society have an input at the earliest possible stages
in formulating national positions and priorities and preparing
documents and that their views be given appropriate weight;

23.
considers it appropriate to continue the thorough exami-
nation of the Member States' practices and experience of using
partnerships to set priorities for local, regional, national and
supra-national development. The evaluations will support the
implementation of simpler and more efficient forms of commu-
nication between the partners at local and regional level;

24.
considers that, given the varying degrees of decentralisa-
tion in the Member States, there are also differences in the
process of consultation and in the way governance is conducted
in relation to project planning;

recognises the need for the participants in governance
25.
and partnership at national and regional level in the Member
States over the next planning EU period to be prepared for
doing so through tried and tested and effective methods for
consultation with partners and civil society players, such as the
handbooks on good practice, public-private partnerships and
cooperation with civil society partners in consultations on
future local and regional development planning;

26.
in accordance with the Lisbon Strategy's objective of
developing a knowledge-based economy, recommends targeted
measures to involve universities, scientific and research institutes
and technology centres in the preparation of national positions
and documents for the new programming period, not only at
the national, but also at regional and local levels;

27.
considers it imperative that, as part of overall efforts to
strengthen administrative capacity, the priority be to introduce
targeted measures to include young people at the earliest stages
in the preparation, discussion and programming of territorial
development policies. This would have a profound and
long-lasting impact on the implementation of EU policies as
well as encouraging young people to take an active role in civic
life;

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C 325/59

28.
recognises the need to continue to enhance active part-
nership (at the initiative of local and regional authorities, and of
non-governmental organisations) in the process of governance.
To this end, considers that the Member States need to take
action, adapted to their specific national circumstances,
to
encourage their communities of partners to organise themselves,
so as to increase the involvement, responsibility and interest of
civil society stakeholders;

29.
recommends that the EP and the European Commission
assess the possibilities of using the capacity of national and/or
regional authorities in monitoring the implementation of opera-
tional programmes and spending under
the Structural and
Cohesion Funds, in order to verify the costs incurred and the
results achieved. This would help both to simplify procedures
and to reduce their cost;

30.
considers that there is a need to develop institutional
instruments to facilitate the implementation of horizontal and
vertical approaches. These might include platforms, regional-
level policy management and round tables, which facilitate
communication within sector-based networks at political and
administrative levels;

31.
considers that the role of the European Groupings of
Territorial Cooperation should be taken into account, and given
fresh impetus,
in the field of governance in regional policy.
These new groupings are not simply an instrument for mana-
ging EU funds; above all they are a horizontal cooperation tool
available to civil society in neighbouring regions;

32.
considers that, in evaluations of partnership in govern-
ance and project planning, the focus should increasingly be
placed on qualitative rather than quantitative indicators. It is
therefore essential that central, regional and local authorities'
partners in the process of governance not be assessed in the
same way, but categorised according to their capabilities and
potential contribution;

33.
given the difficulty of ensuring that regional policies have
a public impact, it is of the utmost importance that the requisite
interfaces be developed at the different levels where policies
connect with the various sectors involved;

one of the major tasks of

34.
local, regional and central
authorities must be to strengthen and bring about continuous
improvements in administrative capacity. Annual evaluations of
administrative capacity must be changed from a formality into

Brussels, 9 October 2008.

an analysis of what has been achieved, which should then be
made public and serve as the basis for future capacity-building.

The role of the Committee of the Regions

35.
is convinced that the Committee of the Regions should
be given a greater role in the preparation, implementation and
monitoring of EU policies, through the active involvement of
Committee members — in their capacity as representatives of
the interests of local and regional authorities — in local and
regional level dialogue with the public and civil society organisa-
tions. This is a prerequisite for the successful planning of terri-
torial development as well as for building and extending admin-
istrative and communication capacity at local and regional level,
with a view to overcoming the administrative deficit often cited
in EU documents as an obstacle to development;

will draw up annual recommendations for improving
36.
regional and local-level partnership, which will be incorporated
as a matter of course into the annual high-level discussions;

37.
will support initiatives conducted by Member States, the
European Parliament and the European Commission with a view
to developing partnership with local and regional authorities,
not only during the phase of monitoring the implementation of
policies but also, and most importantly, during their drafting;

38.
considers that partnerships with NGOs and employers at
lower levels of government should be supported, promoted and
developed through diverse initiatives, particularly at the plan-
ning stage and during the implementation of specific measures;

39.
is committed to planning and implementing initiatives to
disseminate best practices in using partnership in setting local,
regional, national and supra-national policy priorities in the
Member States. Local authorities must be involved in communi-
cation, since they are best placed to explain what the European
Union means for people's everyday lives;

will take all the necessary steps to make best use of the
40.
mechanisms
for coordinating and implementing European,
national and regional policies available through the European
Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), as a means of
decentralised international cooperation which can also be used
for
involving different partner groups more effectively in
governance.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Luc VAN DEN BRANDE