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before concluding i should like to tell mr savary that we are going to have a special debate tomorrow on the consequences of the storms which have struck france austria and germany in particular in the last few weeks and at the same time we shall once again be discussing together with my fellow commissioner mrs de palacio what lessons we might draw in the matter of the oil spillage which has also affected the coasts of france |
i shall therefore reserve the right if you permit sir to give you my own opinion which to a great extent matches your own recommendation regarding what action we might take to combat the oil spillage using objective 2 |
i shall remind you that the commission is going to be approving the objective 2 zoning plans for france sweden austria and luxembourg tomorrow |
we shall then have an appropriate tool for working particularly in the majority of the regions affected by the storms |
indeed this is my reason for paying a personal visit the day after tomorrow to two of the french departments which have been severely disabled by the storms |
in conclusion with thanks for your understanding mr president i should like to thank you mrs schroedter for the quality of your work and that of the committee and to tell you that i am very pleased apart from a few differences in our assessments of the role of the guidelines |
we have discussed this and i have attempted to clarify my point of view i am very pleased with the level of support offered by your house to the commission in establishing these guidelines which have been submitted to the member states for information when establishing their own programmes |
this can only reinforce the concept based on a number of elements of good practice drawn from our experience of the current 19941999 programmes |
i feel this augurs well for effective cooperation between our two institutions at this time when programming for the period 20002006 is being undertaken good joint working practice which is mr hatzidakis backed up by something i am very attentive to observance of the code of conduct which links our two institutions |
the debate is closed |
the vote will take place tomorrow at 12 pm |
social and economic situation and development of the regions of the union |
the next item is the debate on the report (a50107/1999) by mr berend on behalf of the committee on regional policy transport and tourism on the sixth periodic report on the social and economic situation and development of the regions of the european union [sec(99)0066 c50120/99 1999/2123(cos)] |
mr president commissioner this sixth periodic report on the social and economic situation and development of the regions of the european union constitutes a milestone in the analysis of regional data and highlights the progress made in this area since the issue of the fifth periodic report |
i consider however that the mention of any real convergence of average regional development levels in europe offers a somewhat oversimplified view of the situation and unfortunately this is often the message taken up in the press and in some speeches |
the commission report generally relativises this observation particularly when it refers to the social and economic situation of some regions of the union in which i have a special interest by which i mean the french overseas departments and more generally the most remote regions |
in this respect i am pleased to see that the committee on regional policy transport and tourism has adopted one of my amendments calling on the commission to devote a specific chapter in its next report on cohesion to the special case of the most remote regions and more specifically to consideration of the impact of the measures shortly to be adopted under new article 299(2) of the treaty of amsterdam |
finally in my view this sixth periodic report presents interesting arguments from the viewpoint of a real project for the balanced sustainable development of europe particularly when it outlines the importance of relations between the central areas of europe and its more remote regions |
even if the commission is still reluctant to say so in too explicit a fashion its periodic report demonstrates the urgent need to promote polycentric development of the community area through the union' s structural policies and within the scope of the approach initiated by the sec |
mr president the group of the party of european socialists in this parliament agrees with the report that mr berend has just presented and congratulates the author both on the quality of his conclusions and on his flexibility which ensured that the different groups were able to incorporate amendments in committee |
it must be remembered that currently the european union' s overall competitiveness is in general terms 81 of that of the united states of america and that this figure will only improve if the figure for our competitive units that is the regions also improves furthermore this is at a time when technological development economic globalisation and our problems which are enlargement and the single currency demand that the regions as well as businesses and individuals make more of an effort to be competitive |
the european commission' s sixth report presents very valuable conclusions |
i shall summarise two of those highlighted by the rapporteur one positive and one negative |
the first is that important advances have been made in regional and social cohesion throughout the union and that the community funds have been a major although not decisive factor in reducing regional inequalities |
the negative conclusion is that the great effort made has been more efficient in harmonising the european regions' gdp and productivity than in harmonising its levels of unemployment |
it is therefore necessary to link structural financing more closely to job creation |
this commissioner is the first commandment for the coming period |
thus mr president i ask my fellow members to approve this report and i ask the commission as other speakers have done to take good note of the conclusions of their sixth periodic report when they address the programming for the period 20002006 |
mr president commissioner i would first like to thank the rapporteur for his excellent work and for having taken due account of the proposed amendments while the committee was debating it |
the sixth periodical report gives a basis for assessing the implementation of the union' s regional policy aims the report shows that growth has been uneven despite all our efforts |
very rapid growth is continuing in central europe the strongest regional centres also continue to grow faster than the general european average whereas many southern european and northern areas are developing considerably more slowly |
we now require an indepth analysis of why regional policy is not producing the desired result in all areas |
is the reason bureaucracy or is it because insufficient notice has been taken of interregional differences long distances climates that are too cold or too hot sparse populations and austere conditions |
how can the union respond to the challenges of global development in a way that the less developed areas can remain a part of that development |
it is also important to discover what the effects of union enlargement will be on structural funds and the development of the union' s more remote areas |
the member states must also bear in mind their responsibility |
some member states have been in breach of the principle of subsidiarity and cut national regional funds when regional aid coming via the union has been increased |
this has chipped away at the results that regional policy has produced |
in the future we must also develop indicators so that measures can be targeted at the right time at the right place |
for example uncontrolled migration has not been given sufficient consideration |
in this connection too weight has to be given to the decisive importance of smes as employers and forces behind regional development |
it is absolutely essential that companies in areas developing more slowly adopt the latest technology and knowhow |
our group is in favour of adopting this report |
mr president commissioner the european union' s regional policy has until now not been able to interpret in any significant way the existing differences in our inhabitants' incomes |
we have a serious situation in which in the european union today there is a genuine link between unemployment and poverty as demonstrated by the very worrying fact that unemployment has reached on average 237 in the regions worst affected regions which also happen to be poor areas whilst in the 25 regions with the lowest unemployment corresponding to the richer areas unemployment stands at just 4 |
given this situation the report approved by parliament must highlight the need for measures that aim unequivocally to fight relative poverty and unemployment measures such as the appropriate use of structural funds for these purposes which are often misspent with centralised state policies and the modernisation of telecommunication and communication systems with the particular aim of integrating the least developed regions into the transeuropean rail networks which are due in 2007 |
there should also be measures that respect and develop the resources and capabilities of these countries' agriculture and fisheries which are often harmed by the european union' s own insensitive policies as well as the promotion of active policies to create jobs particularly for women and young people |
only through the decisive application of this kind of measure will we be able to overcome social and regional inequality which is not the historical product of inherent defects but of marginalisation and economic policies which have had harmful effects |
mr president commissioner mr berend' s report is precisely in line with the strategy determined by the european commission inasmuch as the question of increasing competitiveness is brought right to the fore |
the overarching objectives of the structural funds such as job creation boosting equality of opportunity increasing the sustainability of employment and development are only mentioned in passing |
this attitude appears to me to be unjustified i would also ask that a great deal more emphasis be placed on these points in the seventh periodic report |
this does not mean that i do not see the need for competitiveness particularly as i myself am an entrepreneur in an objective 1 region that is in brandenburg in the federal republic of germany and am only too aware of the problems and concerns of small and mediumsized enterprises |
it is absolutely crucial that parallel temporary measures be introduced in the objective 1 regions that is to say job creation measures special programmes for supporting employment opportunities for women and initiatives to help people set up their own business |
they are supported by appropriate european union structural fund activities |
supporting only the competitiveness of companies will never be able to compensate for the envisaged cohesion between economic and social development simply because there is no basis for a selfsupporting upturn in these objective 1 regions |
after all the knowledge that economic development alone does not help to combat unemployment substantiates the fact than an increase of at least 3 in gross domestic product is needed to create any additional jobs at all |
concentrating to the exclusion of all else on supply and demandorientated economic policy is not the answer |
and those that do pursue such a policy must invest in expansion for the most part and to a lesser extent in rationalisation |
it is imperative for this to go hand in hand with a demandorientated economic policy if we are to have any chance at all of improving the social situation in these areas |
the situation varies to an enormous degree throughout the regions |
in other words what is needed is a number of accompanying measures if anything at all is to be accomplished there |
for example these would be measures for vocational training for further education for reintegrating people who have already been excluded from the production process for the flexibilisation of working time and working time arrangements in order to bring about a definite improvement in the integration of personal and social aspects and perhaps also to promote employment opportunities for women again |
mr president my compliments to the rapporteur for his indepth report |
the key goal of the structural funds is to strengthen social and economic cohesion between the regions within the european union |
by stimulating a diversity of investments the european union is endeavouring to increase the gdp per capita and to boost employment |
from the sixth periodic report on the regions one can draw the hesitant conclusion that these incentives do not always have the desired effect |
the efforts made in order to drive up the gdp per capita in objective 1 regions do not always result in such an increase not really a satisfying result over a period during which certainly over the past couple of years there has been economic growth |
as indicated by the rapporteur the effects of the structural measures on the other hand are minimal as far as employment is concerned |
some reservation about the effectiveness of community aid is therefore called for |
also the observation that the disparities between regions within member states sometimes even become more pronounced raises serious questions |
mr president it therefore seems worthwhile and necessary to focus attention on both national and regional authorities especially in connection with boosting employment |
it is after all they who have most knowledge about the regions which fall under their remit |
by allowing them to develop tailormade plans for the relevant regions and if necessary tying this in with financial aid a higher return can be achieved |
surely this must be the ultimate goal |
i am therefore in favour of the commission delegating the practical details and implementation of measures to the member states and regions |
following on from this it is probably also more meaningful with regard to the financial aid to regions to give member states more say anyway |
by shifting the criteria from the regions to the member states we can avoid a great deal of problems later on |
finally i would like to draw attention to the position of the central and eastern european countries |
the report shows that in general they are a long way behind eu countries especially in terms of gdp per capita |
with the planned accession of a large number of these countries in the foreseeable future it is a matter of urgency to review the current structural policy |
i would like to take this opportunity to follow the example of others and call on the commission to submit proposals for reform sooner rather than later |
mr president commissioner following close scrutiny of this report one cannot escape the conclusion that it was possible to fulfil the stated objective of the structural policy only in part |
for example whilst the disparities between the regions have increased rather than decreased there has been a certain amount of convergence between the member states themselves in this respect |
equally unemployment levels in the worst affected regions barely fell at all indeed they rose in some cases |
i wonder why it is that the structural funds are not employed more efficiently |
even the accumulation of money from the cohesion funds and the structural funds has failed to have the desired effect in all regions and countries |
since it is the declared aim of all politicians throughout europe to reduce unemployment then one must pose the critical question as to whether the policy employed is the right one or whether it would not be more appropriate to boost the competitiveness of the regions by appropriate measures such as increased support for research and development improvements in infrastructure and raising the level of training |
genuine structural reforms and a competitionfriendly taxation policy are the cornerstones of a successful economic base |
if we do not wish to stand accused of pursuing a costintensive structural policy that does nothing to improve the unemployment situation in the long term then the measures drawn up so far must be analysed |
we will only be able to say that the structural policy of the union has been a success when we manage to create a sufficient number of jobs and when there is a significant reduction in the unemployment rate |
mr president commissioner my thanks go to the rapporteur for handling this very important report because developments in the social and economic situation will decide to what extent the citizens of europe will judge that we have been successful in our work |
this issue which has an impact on their everyday life is a key issue as regards eu credibility |
it has to be conceded that the eu has already aided i would say quite magnificently the development of poor countries |
i remember what portugal and greece used to be like when i drove through those countries for the first time twentyfive years ago |
in this connection french speakers would speak of a coup de chapeau in other words i take my hat off to the eu |
the eu really deserves such a gesture but differences between rich and poor areas within countries are still too great |
what is the result |
people react by voting with their feet and go where they can earn a crust |
consequently we have to build schools hospitals and the whole infrastructure for the same people in the same country many times over |
this is very costly and it also causes very great social problems |
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