Future of Cohesion Policy: Commissioner Hübner to address Visegrád Group in Sopot, Poland

Source: European Commission (EC) i, published on Wednesday, July 1 2009.

Brussels, 1 July 2009

Future of Cohesion Policy: Commissioner Hübner i to address Visegr ád Group in Sopot, Poland

Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner will address regional development Ministers from the Visegr ád Group (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic) and Slovenia in the Polish coastal city of Sopot tomorrow (2 July). The Commissioner's speech will focus on the achievements of the policy over the past five years and its future direction. The Visegr ád 4+ Group meets regularly to discuss Cohesion Policy issues. The five countries have been allocated €135 billion from the Structural and Cohesion Funds in 2007-2013, which equates to 39% of the total Cohesion Policy budget over the seven-year period.

Ahead of the Visegr ád conference, Commissioner Hübner stated: “ As major beneficiaries of EU regional funding, the Central European countries have an important stake in the outcome of the debate on the future Cohesion Policy. I encourage them to continue their active engagement in the reflection process, as they have first-hand knowledge of the challenges we face and the experience to help shape the future direction and delivery of the policy.”

Focus on simplification, results and performance

Cohesion Policy is a prime area for co-operation among the Visegr ád countries, particularly with regard to the European debate on the future policy and budget. Hungary and Poland will chair the EU Presidency in 2011 - a crucial year for negotiations on the future Cohesion Policy framework.

Hungary takes on the Presidency of the Visegr á d Group from 1 July 2009 to June 2010. It will focus on simplification, results and performance, as well as promoting greater scope for experimentation.

The role of Territorial Cohesion in the future policy, the subject of a Green Paper published last October (see IP/08/1460 ), will also be discussed by the Ministers. The Group will present points of common interest to other Member States during the Swedish Presidency of the European Union. Tomorrow's meeting will also be an opportunity to build on the Group's discussions in Warsaw last February on the Cohesion Policy response to the economic crisis. There was broad agreement on the need for flexibility to accelerate public investment, to boost internal demand in the short run and to ensure long-term targets are met.

Support for permanent political forum in the Council

The Visegr ád group supports the establishment of “a special and permanent forum for political discussion on Cohesion Policy's strategic issues in the Council” (at present, Ministers responsible for Cohesion Policy do not meet formally in the Council of the European Union). The Commission supports this idea which will be further discussed with Member States.

Note for editors

The Visegr á d Group was formed on 15 February 1991 at a meeting of the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, Václav Havel, the President of Poland, Lech Walesa, and the Prime Minister of Hungary, József Antall. In the wake of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1993 and creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Visegr ád Group has comprised of four countries. 

Cohesion Policy investment in Visegr á d Group in 2007-2013: €67.3 billion for Poland, €26.7 bn for Czech Republic, €25.3 bn for Hungary, €11.6 bn for Slovakia. Slovenia has been allocated €4.2 bn.

The current debate on the future Cohesion Policy started in 2007 following publication of the 4th Report on Economic and Social Cohesion . It will be the focus of two major meetings during the Swedish Presidency - a conference on regional and local implementation of the future Lisbon strategy (10-11 November, Stockholm) and on Cohesion Policy and Territorial Development (10-11 December, Kiruna, Sweden).

More information:

http://www.visegradgroup.eu

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/policy/future/