Notre Europe: Debate: What role and aim for the European cohesion policy?

Debate: What role and aim for the European cohesion policy?

| 18/11/2009

This article is the subject of a debate. See responses below. ▼

As the Lisbon Treaty came into force and the renewal of the teams at the various institutions is completed, thinking on the future EU budget and policies entered a more active phase. In line with the conclusions of the European Council in December 2005 on the budget review, Notre Europe has continued to insist that discussions should focus on the substance (the policies) before the form (the budget allocations).

Following its analysis of the Barca Report last June, Notre Europe considers that the time has come to launch a wide-ranging debate on the cohesion policy, its role in the EU integration, its objectives and its tools.

To this end, Notre Europe invites several prominent scholars and EU observers to respond freely to the paper put forward by Dirk Ahner, Director General of DG REGIO at the European Commission, What do you know about European cohesion policy ?

In this paper, the author aims to conduct a complete and historical review of the political vision and the economic basis that underlie the cohesion policy. He seeks to deconstruct certain false ideas and to analyse, step by step, how the structural funds' delivery mechanisms and regulations may transform the subsidiarity principle
into a creative synergy.

The debate is open. Other experts' contributions will be added in the coming weeks.

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Speakers’ corner

	Reaction to the debate: "What role and aim for the European cohesion policy?" — by Julie Gourden Dirk Ahner, dans son article « Que savez-vous vraiment de la Politique européenne de cohésion ? », se concentre volontairement sur les fondements économiques et politiques de la politique de cohésion, son « esprit » et ses objectifs. Par la définition qu'il en donne, il se place dans la veine du rapport de Fabrizio Barca. La CRPM, qui définit elle-même cette politique comme « l'instrument de l'UE visant à fournir aux territoires européens les moyens de développer leurs potentiels de manière à réduire leur vulnérabilité dans une économie mondialisée et à maximiser les bénéfices qu'ils peuvent en tirer pour la qualité de vie de leurs citoyens. », se reconnait également dans cette approche. Speakers's Corner \| 14/01/2010
	Reaction to the debate "What role and aim for the European cohesion policy?" — by Peter Becker European Cohesion Policy has been a corner stone of the European Union's core policies since the mid-1980s. Yet, the policy faces strong criticism and pressure to adapt and to reform. And, ever since its inception, the policy has been subject to strong pressure to legitimate and to justify the huge amount of funds dedicated to this policy. Speakers's Corner \| 14/01/2010

The author

Notre Europe

Notre Europe is an independent think tank devoted to European integration. Under the guidance of Jacques Delors, who created Notre Europe in 1996, the association aims to « think a united Europe. » Our ambition is to contribute to the current public debate by producing analyses and pertinent policy proposals that strive for a closer union of the peoples of Europe. We are equally devoted to promoting the active engagement of citizens and civil society in the process of community construction and the creation of a European public space.

In view

The Barca Report: A Spring Clean for Europe's Cohesion Policy

Note by Marjorie Jouen | 27/08/2009

Fabrizio Barca, Director-General at the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finances, has made public the report on reform of cohesion policy1 that he was tasked to write by Commissioner Danuta Hubner. Having mobilised and listened to numerous experts, he delivers a politically ambitious, dense document which goes into the details of technical arguments.