President Markkula and Commissioner Creţu discuss joint actions to boost EU structural funds implementation and synergies with Juncker plan

The President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Markku Markkula (pictured right), and the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Creţu, discussed today joint measures to speed up the delivery of the EU's cohesion policy for 2014-2020. They agreed that the two EU institutions would enhance their joint work to ensure that regions and cities benefit from the effective integration of EU regional policy programmes and the recently established European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI).

In the first meeting since the CoRs' presidential elections, President Markkula and Commissioner Creţu identified shared priorities which would be addressed by intensifying cooperation over the coming months. The two institutions agreed to join forces in rolling-out new initiatives such as SME initiatives, Digital Market and the Energy Union which would aid the economic recovery of less developed EU regions by using cohesion policy funds and the recently launched €315 billion Juncker Plan.

In this context, it was agreed to focus on improving the delivery and effectiveness of EU structural and investment funds (ESIF). The CoR will cooperate with the Commission's Working Group on Administrative Capacity to identify opportunities to simplify and streamline current procedures and encourage regions to innovate their investment strategies through, for example, smart specialization.

President Markkula stressed that: "We fully share the EU's main priority of boosting the investment capacity of regions and cities. Achieving this goal is not possible without a sound delivery of EU cohesion policy effectively complemented by Juncker's EU Investment Plan."

According to Commissioner Creţu: "The key to Europe achieving its agreed, long term growth goals is in the hands of our regions and cities - social and economic success depends on decisions taken at their level. This is why our long standing and fruitful partnership with the Committee of the Regions is so vital as it serves to strengthen our link to the grassroots level in Europe. We look forward to continuing this cooperation to get Europe's regions and cities on the path to sustainable growth and economic self-reliance," she concluded.

One shared concern, recently highlighted by the European Commission's Sixth Cohesion Report, was that after a decade of convergence, disparity between EU member states and regions are on the rise again. This issue will be directly addressed by CoR members from several member states who are in the process of launching an Interregional Group on less developed regions.

The CoR will also cooperate with the Commission to clarify how EU programmes supported by several funding sources could be better used by beneficiaries. The Commission is also encouraging the usage of financial instruments within cohesion policy where they can effectively replace or complement traditional grants. This issue was recently shared by the CoR with the European Investment Bank, a key partner in this field.

Renewing the EU's commitment to support an integrated urban agenda and enhancing EU decentralized communication, focusing on the impact of cohesion on growth and jobs, were also among the cooperation areas discussed at the meeting.

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