AER President advocates for a bottom-up approach to the Europe 2020 strategy.
Date
Sections
Brussels (B), 29 June 2010.
Michèle SABBAN, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) was part of the delegation that met today M. BARROSO, President of the European Commission.
On behalf of these organisations, Ms. Sabban reported the position concerning the strategy Europe 2020:
“We support a bottom-up approach that includes territorial cohesion, a multi-level governance and the cohesion policy. It is important to monitor coherence between the Europe 2020 strategy and the other two important dimensions for us: cohesion and regional policy. One should not be subordinate to another, but rather a strong coordination between the two is essential”.
“Moreover, there is too little reference to multi-level governance, including regions, and no reference at all to a bottom up approach, an approach that will be crucial not only in the delivery of the strategy but also in its development. The current Lisbon strategy only managed to deliver limited results when it was broadly rolled out in the regions and local authorities” concluded the AER President. To corroborate this fact, Ms. Sabban is stand to present President Barroso with concrete examples of what European regions have already realised in this context.
The Assembly of European Regions (AER – aer.eu) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 270 regions from 33 countries and 16 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.
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