Lisbon BRIEF

Fifth Territorial Dialogue for Sustainable Growth & Jobs

18 January 2010 - Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Taking into account the CoR's contribution to the de-

bate on the EU 2020 Strategy, he requested that 1)

Members States should report systematically and in a

structured way on the role of local and regional au-

thorities when submitting annual progress reports on

their national reform programmes; 2) round tables in-

cluding all relevant stakeholders, and in particular all

government levels, be set up in each Member State

with a view to monitoring the implementation of the

new strategy on the ground; 3) the CoR be charged

with the task of submitting a monitoring report to the

European Council every two years on the involvement

of local and regional authorities in the implementation

of the new strategy; and last but not least 4) the CoR's

Territorial Dialogue for Growth and Jobs be accorded a

place in the governance of the new EU 2020 strategy.

Just weeks before Europe's leaders examined the new EU 2020 Strategy and the joint response to the

crisis at the 11 February extraordinary summit and the Spring European Council, high-level speakers

from the Committee of the Regions, the Spanish Presidency, the European Commission and over 100 par-

ticipants representing regional and local authorities discussed the priorities and actions for a New Strat-

egy for Sustainable Growth and Jobs and the results of a new grassroots survey conducted by the CoR's

Lisbon Monitoring Platform on the effects of the crisis.

February 2010

Luc Van den Brande

CoR President

"This edition of the Territorial

Dialogue comes at a time

when the debate on what

comes after the Lisbon

strategy enters a crucial

phase"

Luc Van den Brande, stressed

that no new strategy would ever

fulfil its goals without permanent

involvement of local and regional

authorities in its design, implementation, monitoring

and evaluation, within a framework of coordinated and

integrated policymaking and recourse to multilevel

governance agreements. Without the real involvement

of local and regional authorities, the new strategy

would fail to address local situations, opportunities and

challenges. The link between the new Strategy and

cohesion policy was essential. The lessons learnt from

cohesion policy were far too numerous to be neglected

in discussions on the future of EU strategies.

As a follow-up to the Fifth Territorial Dialogue for Growth

and Jobs, Luc Van den Brande, CoR President and

Manuel Chaves, Spain's third deputy prime minister

and Minister of Territorial Policy sent a joint letter to

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European

Commission and Herman Van Rompuy, President of

the European Council. The letter, underlining some

important points raised during the Territorial Dialogue, is

a contribution to the debate on EU2020 Strategy in view

of the European Council meeting held on 11 February.

To read the letter and to follow "EU Regions & Cities on

the Road to EU2020 Strategy", please visit our website:

www.cor.europa.eu/lisbon

Page 2 L isbon BRIEF

Pawel Samecki

European Commissioner for Regional Policy

Pawel Samecki, stressed that

the new circumstances pre-

sented opportunities to imple-

ment structural reforms, reas-

sess comparative and competi-

tive advantages, identify new

sources of growth and design

development strategies with

accompanying policy instru-

ments. The role of regions and

cities in this process was crucial.

He agreed that cohesion policy would continue to play

an important role by facilitating adjustments to new

circumstances. He noted that this opinion was shared

by Johannes Hahn, the then Commissioner-designate

for regional policy. Mr Samecki then went on to discuss

the changes brought about by the European Economic

Recovery Plan and the policy responses of Member

States.

Next, he described the lessons we had learnt from the

inclusive governance model developed over the years.

The model exploited local knowledge, combined it with

strategic guidance from the EU and made it possible to

coordinate intervention between different levels of

government. He cited the multi-level governance con-

cept, promoted by the Committee of the Regions, as a

path to follow.

"The lucid report of the Committee of the Regions

on the future of the Lisbon Strategy came at a

very opportune time. It provides fresh ideas and

demonstrates the high quality input the local and

regional level in European can bring to the de-

bate".

For Mr Samecki, the EU 2020 was our exit strategy

from the crisis and our entry point into a smarter and

greener social market economy. The strategy should

accelerate the transformation of the EU into a sustain-

able, low-carbon, knowledge-based economy and soci-

ety, so that Europe would be ready to face the post-

crisis world. Having posed some still open questions

(e.g. on coherence among EU policies, how to enhance

ownership and commitments from all relevant stake-

holders, how to create peer pressure and incentives,

how to set targets and monitor them, how to commu-

nicate), he warmly thanked the CoR for its final report

from the consultation on the post-2010 Strategy and

its opinion on that topic.

Mr Samecki called for an EU 2020 Strategy that would

be successful where the Lisbon strategy was weak – it

needed to close the delivery gap. To achieve this,

strong political ownership of the new strategy would be

key. The Commission agreed that regions and cities

needed to be involved more. Furthermore, only by

overcoming the weaknesses of SMEs and industry in

generating more innovation in the EU would we be able

to deliver a successful strategy. It was crucial that the

EU 2020 strategy promote a more integrated approach

to policy-making, seeking synergies between different

policies. Finally, Mr Samecki stressed the need for am-

bitious and realistic EU targets, to be then translated

into national and eventually regional targets.

"No "national" recovery plan will ever be imple-

mented properly without the timely involvement

of the regions and cities"

In the second part of his speech, Luc Van den Brande

presented conclusions from the online Survey "The

European Economic Recovery Plan Survey in Regions

and Cities: One Year On" conducted by the EU 2020

Monitoring Platform (LMP).

Firstly, the economic and financial crisis has hit hard

and is far from being over. The second set of conclu-

sions from the survey concerned local and regional

actions taken to counteract the effects of the crisis.

85% of the respondents have introduced anti-crisis

measures; all in all, 60% of the respondents have

adopted comprehensive anti-crisis (regional or local)

strategies or action plans, while others have made ex-

tensive use of existing policy instruments. Thirdly, the

ongoing policy response has made significant recourse

to EU policy instruments. The European Social Fund

and the European Regional Development Fund have

been widely used to provide financial support for local

and regional measures. Fourthly, knowledge about the

EERP and perception of its contribution to countering

the crisis it is still limited. And finally, the findings of

this survey support the CoR view that cooperation be-

tween local and regional authorities and partnership

between these authorities and the private sector have

proved successful in many instances in shaping urgent

anti-crisis policy plans.

Luc Van den Brande concluded his speech with a re-

quest to all government levels to cooperate in a spirit

of a genuine application of multi-level governance prin-

ciples, with a view to promoting economic recovery in

the EU. Finally he added that the role of European

funds, already contributing significantly to counteract-

ing the effects of the crisis, must be maximised by pro-

viding conditions that would allow for accelerated and

improved spending of financial resources.

Page 3 L isbon BRIEF

Manuel Chaves

Spain's third deputy prime minister

and Minister of Territorial Policy

"This Territorial Dialogue

sends a clear message to the

European Council: European

regions share the aim of de-

veloping and implementing

an ambitious economy and

employment strategy based

on economic, social and envi-

ronmental criteria and also

want to play an active part in

its design and implementa-

tion."

On behalf of the Government of Spain, Mr Chaves

called for intense efforts to ensure that, together, with

the collaboration and cooperation of all, economic re-

covery can be consolidated and that European policies

can be put in place to establish and promote a new

model based on stronger, fairer and safer growth. If the

EU wants to remain competitive and keep pace with the

economic strength of the US and the emerging econo-

mies, it must move towards greater economic coordina-

tion. This is essential if the European Union is to con-

tinue to have guarantees of progress and to uphold its

quality-of-life model, based on maintaining and devel-

oping the welfare state and the European Social Model.

A roadmap guiding the European economy out of the

crisis should be based on three goals: the knowledge

society, the creation of high-quality jobs and energy

sustainability, in conjunction with the environment.

As stated by Mr Chaves, nobody, not even the euro-

sceptics, can doubt the soundness of the decision to

agree a coordinated response to an economic emer-

gency such as the one that arose 15 months ago, and

that this response saved the European financial system.

However, this statement does not mean we should not

highlight the shortcomings detected in the response's

design and application, as indicated by the results of

the Survey on the European Economic Recovery Plan

conducted by the CoR.

In Mr Chaves's view, the ambitious goals of the new

Strategy desperately need efficient and transparent

governance to be fully effective. This is essential for the

closer coordination of national policies and thus for be-

ing able to act at the local, regional, national and EU

levels. As outlined in the consultation on the EU Strat-

egy 2020, only through interaction between these dif-

ferent levels will the strategy be able to achieve its full

potential. Today, local and regional authorities have a

fundamental role to play in building a functioning econ-

omy in a more sustainable way. Local solutions exist for

global problems. According to Manuel Chaves, we need

a system of governance in which local and regional au-

thorities play a more active role at all stages of the pol-

icy cycle, from identifying needs, to developing, imple-

menting, monitoring and evaluating measures.

Christine Chapman

CoR and LMP member, rapporteur for the CoR's own-initiative opinion on the Future of the Lisbon

Strategy

"This is a once in a lifetime

opportunity to change the

lives of our European citi-

zens for the better and we

must be bold."

Christine Chapman, argued

in her opinion that the new

Strategy should have a clearer

overarching vision, and should

take a more holistic view of

social and economic develop-

ment, rather than pursuing

narrow objectives of “jobs and

growth”.

Firstly, according to the opinion, we had to recognise

that economic and social policies were part of a wider

ecological framework, and that these policies must

start from the premise that we live on a finite planet,

which sets ecological or sustainability limits on the

types of activities that we can undertake. Secondly,

the new strategy had to focus on developing European

competitiveness within the green economy. Thirdly,

the new strategy must also combat the spectre of un-

employment and promote social cohesion. And

fourthly, regional and local government were closer to

the ordinary citizen and it was therefore vital that they

be closely involved in the successor to the Lisbon

Strategy.

Ms Chapman provided some additional comments on

the Commission consultation document on the EU 2020

Strategy. She welcomed the Commission initiative and

noted that the document showed how the influence of

the CoR had impacted upon President Barroso’s think-

ing. However, she stressed that there should be

greater commitment to building a sustainable Europe

for the future and that the document did not explicitly

recognise the important role played by local and re-

gional authorities across Europe in delivering Lisbon on

the ground. Furthermore she was disappointed to see

no reference at all to the importance of a strong EU

cohesion policy for all EU regions.

According to Ms Chapman, the Lisbon Strategy needed

a successor that was brave, forward thinking and radi-

cal and which recognised that for Europe, “business as

usual” was not the right option.

Page 4 L isbon BRIEF

PREFACE (Extract)

The key objective of the survey was to assess how and with what effect

the European Economic Recovery Plan is being implemented at grass

roots level, as perceived by the EU local and regional authorities.

In total, 74 questionnaires were submitted by local and regional authori-

ties from 19 EU Member States (including all large Member States).

The sample of respondents provides a snapshot of trends and case stud-

ies across the wide spectrum of authorities from large and smaller cities

as well as regions from Western, Central-Eastern, Northern and Southern

Europe.

The Final Report in English and Key Findings in all languages are available

at www.cor.europa.eu/lisbon

EERP Survey Final Report

More than a dozen participants (CoR members and

other representatives of local and regional authorities)

took the floor during the 'dialogue time session'. Sev-

eral topics were discussed and participants gave their

views on what the new strategy should focus on and

how to achieve the desired goals. They spoke about

the need to develop indicators, in which GDP is not the

only way to measure welfare in the regions. Some par-

ticipants presented the vast experience of their regions

in implementing the Lisbon Strategy. The need to fo-

cus on research and innovation came up often as a

main trend across the EU. The improvement of policy

coordination at EU level and the need for regions and

cities to be involved in EU2020 coordination were the

main topics of the discussion. Against the background

of climate and demographic changes, participants

spoke about the role played by local and regional gov-

ernments in providing social services and enhancing

green growth (e.g. sustainable energy, smart heating,

self-efficiency).

For many speakers, the development of the new strat-

egy should be seen as a wake-up call for planning pol-

icy actions aimed at providing a better future for chil-

dren (often endangered by poverty) and young people

(too often staying outside education, training and the

labour market). In that respect solidarity between

Member States and generations is the key precondition

for building sound policies.

The following CoR members, among others, took the

floor: Pauliina Haijanen, Member of the Regional Coun-

cil of the South West of Finland (Finland), Michel Le-

brun, Member of the Walloon Parliament (Belgium),

Henk Kool, Vice Mayor of The Hague (Netherlands),

Javier Velasco Rodriguez from the Gobierno de Aragon

(Spain), Olivier Bertrand from Bellegarde Municipal

Council (France), Claude du Granrut from the Picardy

Regional Council (France), Claudette Abela Baldac-

chino, Deputy Mayor of the Qrendi Local Council

(Malta), Erwin Mohr from the Local Council of Wolfurt

(Austria).

*

* *

TD 2010 speakers exchange with CoR and LMP

members

Page 5 L isbon BRIEF

Final Programme

How the EU is facing the crisis, from the short term to the launch of a new strategy for sustainable

growth after 2010.

How cities and regions are fighting the economic crisis; how the CoR sees the new strategy for sus-

tainable growth.

Chair of the meeting: Nekane Domblas, Director of channel IB3

14.00-14.20 Welcoming addresses

• Francesc Antich i Oliver, President of the Balearic Islands

• Aina Calvo Sastre, Mayor of the City of Palma de Mallorca

• Francina Armengol, President of the Island Council of Mallorca

14.20-15.30 Political addresses

• Manuel Chaves González, Third Vice President of the Government and Minister for Territorial Policy, Minister of the Spanish Government, Representative of the Spanish Presidency

• Luc Van den Brande, CoR President

• Paweł Samecki, Commissioner for Regional Policy

• Christine Chapman, CoR and LMP Member - Rapporteur for the CoR's own-initiative opinion on the Future of the Lisbon Strategy

15.30-16.30 Territorial Dialogue: speakers exchange with LMP and CoR members

16.30 -17.00 Closing remarks

www.cor.europa.eu/lisbon

Analysis@cor.europa.eu

© Palacio Real de la Almudaina

Palma de Majorca