The Assembly of European Regions (AER) took part today in a round table with Commissioner Johannes Hahn on the 5th Report on Cohesion, organised by the Committee of the Regions. AER is globally satisfied with the report’s conclusions, as a good basis for future discussions. It recalls the main principles of cohesion policy, in particular its mission as a policy for all Europeans to overcome challenges ahead and participate in building tomorrow’s Europe. However, even though partnership remains a founding principle, Regions are still not involved as full partners.

 “We acknowledge and welcome the effort by the European Commission to propose partnership contracts and thereby improve strategic thinking, coordination and fund concentration. However, regional authorities continue to be excluded from the main decision-making processes, which considerably limits the scope of such contracts.” stated Thomas ANDERSSON, Chairman of the AER task force on cohesion policy and County Councillor of Jämtland (S).

“We continue to insist on the need to establish tripartite contracts, in a view to involve territorial actors at all stages of the definition of the programmes. Such a measure would increase ownership on the ground and allow regional policy-makers to better integrate European funding into their territorial strategies.” he added.

AER will bring answers to most of the questions raised in the 5th cohesion report, based on the series of workshops, debates and discussions among AER members in the past few years. AER’s freshly adopted White paper on the future cohesion policy will be officially presented at the joint AER/Bruxelles-Capitale Conference on 7th December in Brussels, in presence of Commissioner Hahn.

The Assembly of European Regions (AER – aer.eu) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 260 regions from 34 countries and 16 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.

AER Contacts
Francine Huhardeaux
Press & Communication Officer
+33 3 88 22 74 49
f.huhardeaux@aer.eu

   
Estelle Delangle
‘Economy and Regional development’ Committee
+33 3 68 46 00 82 – e.delangle@aer.eu