Cohesion policy should reflect Lisbon objectives, says Balázs
Regional Policy Commissioner Peter Balázs has made the case for an increased EU budget by emphasising that the amount of money made available for the EU should be dependent on its goals. Two of the EU's most important goals are becoming the most competitive economy in the world by 2010 (the Lisbon agenda) and ensuring cohesion, according to Mr Balázs. And these two objectives are likely to become more intertwined in the future, according to the Mr Balázs - the Commission is proposing that the actions supported under the EU's cohesion policy should focus on investment in a limited number of Community priorities, reflecting objectives, such as Lisbon, where Community intervention can be expected to bring about a leverage effect and significant added value. The EU's less favoured regions are therefore likely to receive EU funding for innovation and the knowledge economy, as well as the environment, accessibility and services of general economic interest. 'The pursuit of these priority themes would be organised around a more strategic and simplified framework while the key principles of cohesion policy - programming, partnership, co-financing and evaluation - would be fully maintained,' said Mr Balázs. The Commissioner also added his thoughts on why little progress has been made towards attaining the Lisbon objectives: '[T]o have a real impact the strategy needs a project that is concrete, coherent and verifiable and can organise the necessary instruments, those of the Member States and those of the Union, which include the Union's budget.' The future President of the European Commission, José Barroso, has already declared that Lisbon will be a priority for the EU once he starts work on 1 November. He has said that he will chair a newly created Group of Commissioners on the issue. The group is expected to include Janez Potocnik, the nominee for the portfolio of science and research in the next College of Commissioners. Mr Potocnik pledged on 15 September that he would focus on the Lisbon agenda, securing sufficient funds for and ensuring the added value of European research. Mr Potocnik also underlined the importance of establishing a European Research Area (ERA), and the necessity of ample research funding for realising this goal.