The REGI Committee hosts the Opening Session of the 8th edition of the OPEN DAYS - the European week of the regions and cities, in the European Parliament in Brussels. This year event is devoted to the subject: Europe 2020: Competitiveness, co-operation and cohesion for all regions.

Brussels

meeting

HÜBNER, Danuta Maria (EPP, PL)

BRESSO, Mercedes (S&D, IT)

HAHN, Johannes (AT, EC)

European Committee of the Regions

regional development (T)

KRATSA-TSAGAROPOULOU, Rodi (EPP, EL)

MAYSTADT, Philippe (BE)

DEMOTTE, Rudy (BE)

8th European Week of Regions and Cities - Open Days: extracts from the opening session

SOUNDBITE (English), Danuta Maria H&#220;BNER (EPP, PL), European cohesion policy is a development policy which in an adequate macroeconomic financial framework can achieve its full impact. Cohesion is, according to the treaty, a basic principle of EU integration. This principle makes cohesion policy a policy for all citizens of the Union. But of course, this policy should do more in region where catching up is a challenge.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Mercedes BRESSO, President of the Committee of the Regions, We are not naive, when the 5th cohesion report and its conclusions come out, if they assert that there will be cohesion policies for all regions as we hope, that doesn't mean that that is exactly what the result of the negotiations on the budget will be in the Council The finance ministers need to know right away that cutting the cohesion budget is not in our view an acceptable option. We need arguments which go above and behind simple calculations of net payments which can be supplied by regions and cities, whom have to implement the structural funds. Whom if not us can talked of experience and success based on, the EU funding, and there fore we can be hands on defending the results of that policy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Johannes HAHN, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration, This event on bringing together key players from the public and private sectors can help translate these ambitions in to practical measures. Open days is an ideal platform for reflection how we can shape our future together and how we can better cooperate between the public and private sector to make the difference.

SOUNDBITE (French), Rodi KRATSA-TSAGAROPOULOU (EPP, EL), Following successive enlargements of the EU cohesion policies had always to adapt to the new socio economic realities. It is also had to adapt to the fact that we have remote and outmost regions, former industrial regions, partly populated regions as well as islands. Our regional policies has bring Europe closer to citizens and it urges different players and stakeholders to cooperate on different levels policies.

SOUNDBITE (French), Rudy DEMOTTE, Minister-President of the Walloon region, Europe is facing a period of transformation which stems from the crises that is had to go trough. This also have consequences in terms of employments social inequalities. This crisis also highlighted the structural weaknesses of European economy, and this transformation period stems from the need to offer response to the long-term challenges such as globalisation pressure on natural resources and demographic changes.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe MAYSTADT, Chairman of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Local and regional authorities are still today by far the most important counterparts in our activities, and we support them by a number of way. of course by direct loans, we loan directly to regions and cities, but also through co-financing activities partly funded from the EU structural funds via technical assistance and also more recently with the help of financial engineering. Just to give you an idea, in the last 3 years 2007-2009 we financed loans for project located in convergence regions for 66 billion euro which represent around 40% of our total volume of landing.