Written - Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions , ‘Leading Europe out of the Crisis: Initial Proposals from the Regions for the Future of the EU Budget and Policies’

On 27 November, I participated in a conference in Marseille organised by the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR), ‘Leading Europe out of the Crisis: Initial Proposals from the Regions for the Future of the EU Budget and Policies’.

The original focus of the conference was to consider how nations and regions have coped with economic downturn and to compare strategic thinking about the future. The conference focus shifted in recent weeks in the light of the leaked European Commission draft EU Budget Review which, among other things, calls into question the basis for the future operation of the Structural Funds.

In my formal remarks to the conference, I drew attention to the Welsh Assembly Government’s package of counter-cyclical measures – ProAct, Re-Act, bringing forward capital spend – engineered through our partnership with the European Commission. I emphasised the need for continuing partnership with the Commission as we come out of recession and seek to progress long term structural deficits in the weakest parts of our economy. I stated that the Welsh Assembly Government’s clear view that EU cohesion policy should be applied on an equal basis across all parts of the EU. I welcomed the publication last week of the Commission’s consultation on the future ‘EU 2020’ Strategy, effectively the successor to the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs. I registered disappointment, however, that the consultation did not explicitly recognise the role of regions in economic delivery, and moved an amendment (successfully) to the conference’s declaration to that effect.

During the conference I met Danuta Hubner, formerly Regional Affairs Commissioner and now Chair of the European Parliament’s Regional Affairs Committee, and Ministerial colleagues from across Europe. We agreed that we would each write to President Barroso in response to the EU 2020 Strategy and seek a meeting with him as a joint CPMR delegation to press our concerns and develop our ideas on EU 2020 and the future EU Budget.

In any case, the Welsh Assembly Government will itself respond to the EU 2020 consultation. Assembly Members will wish to note that the publication of the Commissions EU Budget Review now seems set for Spring 2010.