How to overcome a heavy regulatory burden, the lack of administrative capacity and low awareness for economic possibilities? How to improve a complex economic governance and fiscal framework that narrows the 15% gap in European investment? These are just some of the questions that the opinion adopted today in the Commission for Economic Policy "Bridging the Investment Gap: How to tackle the Challenges" by Markku Markkula, President of the European Committee of the Regions and City Councillor of Espoo (FI), aims to answer.
Local and regional authorities are responsible for more than half of the EU's public investment and the continued underinvestment not only slows down economic recovery but also hampers the long-term potential for sustainable growth. "We need to look at the bigger picture when we discuss tackling the investment gap - our focus has been much too siloed until now. Today's potential of strategic investments in cities and regions is much higher than a decade ago and we need far-reaching reforms at all levels of governance combined with an entrepreneurial mindset to reach this", President Markkula emphasised.
Kick-starting the EU economy based on a bottom-up approach is a top priority for the European Committee of the Regions. The opinion stresses a few support measures from the cities' and regions' perspective in order for the process to succeed: stimulating targeted investment based on local needs, to continue the EU's work on cutting excessive red tape, and facilitating peer-to-peer benchlearning for best grass roots practices. Investment also needs to be regarded in a wider context – not only focusing on infrastructure and transport – but also in human capital, research and innovation, smart energy networks; ensuring sustainable and human development across Europe.
"We need to enable our cities' and regions' transformation into regional innovation ecosystems – catalysts for bringing together public and private actors as well as the latest knowledge from science for results-oriented investment projects. Moreover, we need to think of ways to include the citizens at the heart of these projects to boost this development though co-creation. It is through innovative partnerships and cross-border cooperation that we can best address the issue", President Markkula further remarked.
