"The marshals of the Polish regions provided today an important contribution to make clear that European structural and investment funds (ESIF) play an unreplaceable role for Europe's growth and must be therefore preserved, improved and supported by national and EU institutions throughout the upcoming negotiations on the EU budget post 2020".
This was the comment of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) rapporteur on the future of cohesion policy, Michael Schneider, Saxony-Anhalt Secretary of State for EU Affairs and chair of the CoR EPP Group.
Mr Schneider, during a stakeholder consultation held in Brussels today, reacted to the announcement of the adoption of the document by stressing that:
EU regions and cities are working to deliver quality proposals to make cohesion policy more effective and capable to address the challenge of gaining competitiveness while reducing disparities. In the last decade Poland provided bright examples and best practices showing the concrete capacity of ESIF to provide new opportunities to citizens and businesses. Now, the main novelties of 2014-2020 programming phase are being tested by Polish regions and we look forward to make the most out of their experience in order to further innovate and improve cohesion policy. In this perspective, I'm delighted that local and regional leaders from all across the EU will meet in Warsaw in March for the meeting of the CoR Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER), where my draft opinion on the future of EU cohesion policy will be discussed and adopted.
With regards to the priorities suggested by Polish marshals, Mr Schneider highlighted that:
A bolder simplification and reduction of administrative burden; an adequate flexibility to address local needs and to cope with emergencies; sufficient financial allocations and coverage of all EU regions: we'll work together to deliver clear and ambitious proposals on these shared priorities.
