Mechanisms for the Implementation of Regional and Local Development Actions”

EUROPEAN COMMISSION WORKSHOP ON THE “MECHANISMS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS” Athens, Greece - 6 DECEMBER 2001 “MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS” 6/12/2001 PROGRAMME - Greeting by Mr. Christos Pachtas, Deputy Minister of National Economy. - Presentation of the objectives and working methods of the workshop – R. Shotton, Lea Verstraete, European Commission. - Presentation of the planned mechanisms for implementing regional and local development actions for the 2000 -2006 CSF – CSF Managing Authority. - The Contrats de Plan État-Region in France: an experience of negotiations between levels of governance. Michel Lacave, Professor at the University of Montpellier I, Expert. - The regional and local development implementation framework in Greece – Giorgios Michaelidis, Professor at the University of Thessaly, Expert, BCS - Thessaloniki. SESSION I: “Local Employment Initiatives” Chairperson: Evi Christofilopoulou, General Secretary, Ministry of Labour. - Best practice in employment initiatives in the region of Bidasoa – Ms. Maribel Lorenzo Borahona, Expert, Bidasoa Activa, Head of the Finance, Design and Innovation Department. - Best practice in employment initiatives in the Municipality of Turku, Finland – Ms. Teija Raninen, Communications Consultant, Municipality of Turku. - Presentation of the experience and implementation mechanisms of local employment initiatives in Magnesia Prefecture – P. Skotiniotis, Prefect of Magnesia. - Discussion SESSION 2: “Innovation and the Information Society in the Regions” Chairperson: G. Papakonstantinou, Special Secretary, Ministry of National Economy - Presentation of experience/best practice in the joint action between Finland and Sweden in the RIS Northern EU project – Mr. Jukka Teras, Expert, Oulu Technopolis, Finland. 2 “MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS” 6/12/2001 - Innovation in the region of central Macedonia, experiences and prospects – Professor Iakovos Vassalos, Head of the Thessaloniki Technology Park. - The information society in the region of Crete: experiences and prospects – Mr. Stelios Orphanoudakis, Professor at the University of Crete, Head of the IT Institute at the Foundation for Technology and Research. - Discussion SESSION 3: “Integrated Actions for the Development of Urban and Mountainous Regions” Chairperson: Mr. D. Psaltopoulos, Professor of Agricultural Development at the University of Patras. - Presentation of experience/best practice from the mountainous areas of the Piemonte region in Italy – Ms. Elena di Bella, Expert, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Torino, Italy. - Presentation of experience/best practice for urban development action in England – Mr. Peter Ramsden, Expert, New Economics Foundation, London, UK. - Presentation of the experience of the Egnatia Foundation in Epirus – Ms. Anna Asimakopoulou, Director of the Egnatia Foundation, Ioannina. - Presentation of the experience of a Greek city in urban development – Ms. Alexandra Lazari, Development Company of the Municipality of Patras. - Discussion CONCLUSIONS OF THE WORKSHOP Chairperson: Ms. Georgia Zembiliadou, Head of the Managing Authority, ROP for Western Macedonia. - Presentation of the basic points and conclusions of the day’s presentations – Mr. Alasdair Reid, Expert, ADE S.A., Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. - Discussion - Final conclusions by a representative of the CSF Managing Authority. - Final conclusions by a representative of the European Commission. 3 “MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS” 6/12/2001 THURSDAY, 6 DECEMBER 2001 Mr.G.KOLYVAS: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. You have been invited for two days by the European Structural Funds and we would like to ask you to contribute to the success of this two-day workshop. This is St. Nicolas day and I would like to wish many happy returns to those of you named Nikos or Niki. We have not made you come here in order to spend your day celebrating your name day in the Caravel, but there was no other date on which we could schedule it. The Vice Minister of National Economy, Mr. Pachtas was to be here this morning, but he had other engagements and he couldn’t be present. Therefore the Secretary General, Mr. Kostas Theos, is replacing him today and I would like to ask him for his initial address to our meeting. Mr.Κ.THEOS: Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, the Vice Minister of National Economy Mr. Pachtas asked me to present a welcome address for this workshop organised by the European Commission. He had previous engagements in northern Greece and he couldn’t be present here today. He apologizes and he asked me to convey to you his wishes for every success during this workshop. He will be closely following the conclusions of this workshop. So, ladies and gentlemen I will only say a few words on the general framework of today’s event. First of all, I would like to thank the European Commission for the initiative and mainly Mr. Shotton and Mrs. Verstraete, for the initiative of organising this conference. I would like to thank them particularly for the content of this workshop, because the content of the workshop reflects the needs within the framework of the Operational Programmes of the third CSF. It is true that during the last months we have made a lot of effort in order to promote the new generation of the third CSF Operational Programmes. We have given a lot of time to adapting to new procedures and new regulations and we often did not give enough time to the substance of the programmes themselves. Therefore it is a very interesting experience today because we have the opportunity to look at our programmes once again, forgetting all about the regulations and complex procedures of the third CSF. The themes, that is, implementation mechanisms for local and regional 4 “MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS” 6/12/2001 development projects and actions, local employment initiatives and innovations, information society and the regions, as well as integrated actions, are all interlinked because these are all actions concerning the civil society and its needs. I will mention the general framework guiding these actions. As you very well know, Greece is going through a period of dynamic growth and will enter the Economic and Monetary Union in January. We have growth rates among the highest in Europe, we have forecasts which are very favourable for the coming years, and the prospect of macroeconomic development. If we add to that the third Community Support Framework, along with the Community initiatives and the Cohesion Fund, all of which make up a development package of EUR 50 billion, and if we add on top of that the momentum supplied by the Olympic Games being organised in Greece, we can imagine a positive, very positive impact on Greece. What is very interesting is that all these positive elements will also be addressed from the viewpoint of quality during these two days of workshops. These features are features where there are still some shortcomings for our country. We have had a brief democratic life period in Greece, only twenty-five years, that is. Some years ago we didn’t have regions. Some years ago we didn’t have second-tier elected local authorities and a very few years ago all these institutions had only minimal competencies. The central state is trying to decentralise and it is gradually decentralising in the regions and in local authorities. Regional administration therefore is a continuous worksite, I would say, and there are constant works in progress. There has been the unification of municipalities and communes under the institutional framework called the Kapodistrias Law. And I think that the main problem of our country is that we don’t have a tradition of establishing such institutions. This is why today’s workshop will be of particular interest. In other member states there have been institutions in place for many years, for many decades. In other states there has been a reverse process going on, that is, they started from the basics and they went on and developed some central administration. This has not taken place in Greece and this has often been reflected in local activities. This workshop is also very important in view of the continuation of Cohesion Fund policies after 2006 and in view of the 5 “MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS” 6/12/2001 discussions in all the European Union institutions on the modern models of governance. I think that our country has made very important progress in recent years. I don’t mean by that that there is nothing to be done. There is a lot to be done. These are new institutions, which are now acquiring new competencies and are negociating the path towards acknowledgement. All contributing factors, that is both central government and local authorities, must realise that each one of us at our own level must make the state more friendly for the citizen, must bring it closer to the citizen. The interface between the state and the citizen will always take place at a local level and at a constantly more local level. The municipalities are called upon to become beacons for the mobilisation of local resources, economic or productive resources. Some cases of dysfunction noticed previously at the level of central government are now also noticed at the level of local authorities, the regional first or second-level local authorities. In last year’s report by the Ombudsman I think that we all noticed some comments on that. Our regional structure, that is, regional, prefectural, departmental authorities and local authorities, are the levels of this infrastructure which need to be developed and today’s workshop will help us realize how these local institutions, those institutions that are close to subsidiarity, will help us improve our position within the future of the European Union. Information, integrated actions and local initiatives are of crucial importance because they will all give the new features that this model needs for the third CSF, because it is this new model that we have adopted for the third CSF.

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