Building blocks for growth

Building economic growth, creating jobs, tackling climate change and improving transport links are the main themes of the new EU cohesion policy, says Dirk Ahner

Just a year ago, cohesion policy entered into a new programming period. Although the fundamental objectives and principles of the policy were maintained, a number of changes were introduced and new targets were set.

The objective was to strengthen the strategic orientation of the policy. Strategic guidelines were commonly defined and member states had to present national strategies in line with the priorities set in these guidelines. The national strategies served as a reference for the operational programmes, be they prepared at the national or at the regional level.

One of the key priorities for the new period from 2007 to 2013 has been to ensure that cohesion policy resources are concentrated on actions with a strong positive impact on competitiveness, growth and jobs. The strategic guidelines have been drawn up accordingly and a specific “earmarking” of resources to be dedicated to this priority has been introduced.

As a result, cohesion policy has become, at least in financial terms, the most important partner policy at the EU level for the delivery of the Lisbon growth and jobs agenda. It is, therefore, important to ensure consistency with the national reform programmes (NRPs) for the delivery of the Lisbon agenda during the whole programme period. For this purpose, each annual report concerning the implementation of the national reform programmes must include a section on the contribution of the structural and cohesion funds to the objectives of the NRPs.

These were, in a nutshell, the objectives and intentions of the Lisbon agenda. So, where are we today? All national strategies have been presented and accepted. And most of the operational programmes have been approved – just 24 programmes out of 433 are still in the pipeline. Most of them are territorial cooperation programmes. In total, the programmes approved represent around 98 per cent of the €349bn foreseen for the seven-year period. Around 70 per cent of the programmes have been designed and will be implemented at regional level. They account for €123bn or 36 per cent of total cohesion funding.

In general, there was good cooperation during the preparation of the national strategies between the authorities responsible for these strategies and those responsible for the implementation of the NRPs. A considerable number of the national strategies provide a description on how this cooperation is organised.

Looking at the operational programmes, member states and regions have clearly followed the strategic guidelines. Thus, regions under the convergence objective plan to invest 65 per cent of the funds on Lisbon priorities. And regions under the competitiveness and employment objective will allocate 82 per cent on Lisbon-related priorities. These percentages exceed by far the compulsory provisions which were set only for the old member states. In fact, the new member states have also engaged in the earmarking exercise and have planned to invest about 59 per cent of the funds made available to them on Lisbon priorities.

So, what are the main spending categories for which this Lisbon money is foreseen? Around €85bn is foreseen to promote knowledge and information, some €50bn is intended to enhance human capital and employment, and €19bn to improve the business environment, in particular for SMEs.

The new programmes also reflect a strong emphasis on improving energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy, even if the amount dedicated to this (€9bn) appears modest in comparison to other fields. Yet in comparison to the 2000-2006 period, this sum is five times higher under the convergence objective and seven times higher under the regional competitiveness and employment objective. When it comes to improving the management of energy resources, much of the effort has to fall to the private sector. This may explain the relatively low levels of expenditure in absolute terms foreseen in the programmes.

While the Gothenburg strategy is not as explicitly featured in the new programme period as the Lisbon strategy, some €51bn is expected to be invested sustainable development. If we add to this the amounts foreseen for improving energy efficiency and promoting renewable energies, we reach some €60bn, or 17 per cent of total cohesion spending.

An adequate transport network is also an essential pre-condition for economic development in any region or country, and some €76bn is planned to be spent in this field. About half of this amount will be allocated to trans-European transport networks. Other transport investments to be funded include secondary connections to improve accessibility to the TEN-Ts as well as the promotion of more environmentally sustainable transport systems.

These figures represent intentions set out in the programming documents. The implementation phase is only just beginning. It is now essential to ensure effective and timely implementation of planned actions. This is the only way to secure significant results in terms of growth and jobs and, to strengthen, thereby, the legitimacy of the EU cohesion policy.