en info| No 24 | December 2007 | panoramaregio Regions as partners The European Territorial Cooperation Objective PPanoramaanorama NN24_V2.indd24_V2.indd 1 225/01/085/01/08 15:58:0915:58:09 Contents Cohesion policy, at the heart of the Lisbon process 4 Th e fi rst report on the negotiations of the new generation of cohesion policy strategies and programmes highlights a clear change of direction in favour of the renewed Lisbon agenda agreed in 2005. Regions as partners The European Territorial Cooperation Objective INTERREG, irrelevant or indispensable? 7 Th e role of INTERREG remains vitally important in overcoming the infl uence of borders and achieving a properly functioning internal market. Interview 11 Dirk Peters on the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation. From the ground: 14 INTERREG IVC. From the ground: 15 URBACT. From the ground: 17 INTERACT. From the ground: 18 ESPON. INTERREG in action: INTERREG IIIA 19 Report: Erasing the border 20 Hundreds of partnerships in health, culture, technology, the environment, citizenship and more. From PACTE to INTERREG IV, French-Belgian cross-border cooperation is doing very well indeed. INTERREG in action: INTERREG IIIB & IIIC 24 Event: 25 “Telling the Story” conference explores innovative ways to communicate on cohesion policy. REGIO & Networks 27 Online 28 Photographs (pages): European Commission (3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 25, 26), Th omas Dix/Stadt Weil-am-Rhein (1, 19), CRITT Charleville-Mézières (5), Carrefour Economie Technologie Enseignement (6, 21), INTERACT (11, 17), INTERREG IVC Secretariat (14), URBACT (15), URBAN II Dortmund-Nordstadt (15), ESPON (18), Y4I (19), Celtic Enterprises (19), VIDEOCOM (19), Provincie West-Vlaanderen (20, 23), Mabiolac (20), CORELOG (24), RegEnergy (24), REVIT (24), CopraNet (24). Cover: the “Th ree Countries Bridge”, a pedestrian and cyclist bridge linking Weil-am-Rhein (Germany) and Huningue (France) near Basle (Switzerland). Other contributors: Pierre Ergo, Jean-Luc Janot. Editor: Ana-Paula Laissy, European Commission, Regional Policy DG Th is magazine is printed in English, French and German on recycled paper. Th e thematic dossier is available in 22 languages of the European Union at: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm Th e opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the European Commission. PPanoramaanorama NN24_V2.indd24_V2.indd 2 225/01/085/01/08 15:59:4315:59:43 Bringing regions and people together Cohesion Policy is the key instrument in addressing the European Union’s ambition to promote more growth and jobs. Sharing ideas and cooperating across borders is one of the most important factors contributing to innovation, which is seen as a key contributor to achieving sustainable growth and jobs. European Territorial Cooperation programmes bring regions and people together and thus facilitate the exchange of good ideas and best practice in Regional Policy, irrespective of the existence of borders. It is in this context that European Territorial Cooperation has moved centre stage in the new Cohesion Policy period 2007-13. Th e increased importance of these co-operation programmes, still commonly referred to as INTERREG, is demonstrated by the fact they have now become one of the 3 Cohesion Policy objectives. Th is European Territorial Cooperation Objective, fi nanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), supports 70 cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation programmes. Th e budget for this objective amounts to €8.7 billion for the period 2007-13. Th is edition of the Inforegio Panorama magazine is dedicated to cooperation and networking. Th e main article demonstrates how INTERREG has had real impact on the lives of citizens in the Franco-Belgian border area. An expert article from the Directorate-General for Regional Policy puts cooperation into a wider context and explains its benefi ts in simple terms, while an interview with a legal expert clarifi es why the new legal instrument, the European Grouping for Territorial Co-operation (EGTC), is of such importance. Moreover, authors representing each of the four cooperation networking programmes (INTERREG IVC, INTERACT, URBACT and ESPON) explain how they operate and what they have to off er to the regions. Finally, an article on the conference held in late November 2007 about the new ways of communicating Cohesion Policy together (“Telling the story”) completes this edition of Inforegio Panorama. I do hope you fi nd this mix of articles interesting and that it encourages you to co-operate and network in one of the 70 European Territorial Co-operation programmes. Danuta Hübner Commissioner for Regional Policy | inforegio | panorama | No 24 | p. 3 | PPanoramaanorama NN24_V2.indd24_V2.indd 3 225/01/085/01/08 16:00:0016:00:00 Cohesion policy, at the heart of the Lisbon process The fi rst report on the negotiations of the new generation of cohesion policy strategies and programmes highlights a clear change of direction in favour of the renewed Lisbon agenda agreed in 2005. Urban renewal around Patrick Street in Cork, Ireland. Th e European Commission communication, “Member also demonstrate a high level of ambition, with 58% of States and Regions delivering the Lisbon strategy for the Convergence Objective and 59% of the Regional growth and jobs through EU cohesion policy, 2007-13”, Competitiveness and Employment Objective funding which was jointly presented by Regional Policy Com- allocated to Lisbon measures. missioner, Danuta Hübner, and Employment and Social Aff airs Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, in November 2007, provides a fi rst assessment of the results of the Level of earmarking for Convergence Regions in EU-12* and EU-15 negotiations on the new cohesion policy strategies and Comparaison 2000-2006 / 2007-2013 programmes. (in % of total funds) In terms of funding priorities, it shows that under the new Convergence objective, 65% of the funds are to 100 be invested in Lisbon-related objectives. Th is repre- 74 sents an increase of 11% compared to the previous pro- 75 59 2000-2006 55 gramming period. Regions falling under the Regional 49 2007-2013 Competitiveness and Employment Objective, which 50 have traditionally allocated more resources to Lisbon type measures, also plan to continue to invest a high 25 proportion of the funds, 82% of the total, in this area, a small increase on the 2000-06 period. 0 EU-12 EU-15 (* 2000-2006 figures except for Th e new rules for cohesion policy encourage this “ear- BG & RO) marking” of funds by Member States for investment in Lisbon-related measures. Under the earmarking provision, specifi c targets were set by the European Council in December 2005. For the EU-15 Member States, for which earmarking is obligatory, 74% of fund- Th e analysis per country shows a shift towards Lisbon- ing for the Convergence Objective and 83% of funding type measures in all Member States. For EU-15, the for the Regional Competitiveness and Employment fi gures range from 60% (France) to 88% (Austria) for the Objective have been allocated to Lisbon measures, Convergence regions, and from 67% to 92% (Denmark) well in excess of the targets set by the Council (60% for the Regional Competitiveness and Employment and 75% respectively). regions. While the commitments are more modest in EU-12, there is still a considerable investment in other For the EU-12 countries (newer Member States) these sectors which are fundamental to economic progress; targets are voluntary but the programming documents albeit not in the earmarked categories. | p. 4 | inforegio | panorama | No 24 | PPanoramaanorama NN24_V2.indd24_V2.indd 4 225/01/085/01/08 16:00:0816:00:08 Convergence Th e promotion of entrepreneurship, which is directly linked 100% to the 2006 Spring Council priority action 2, “Unlocking the business potential, particularly of SMEs”, emerges as another 80% key theme for 2007-13. Member States put a particular empha- sis on the provision of business support services, which will 60% receive some €19 billion over the next seven years, equivalent to 5% of the total cohesion budget. 40% A related action is that of promoting new approaches to improv- 20% ing access to fi nance for businesses from non-grant sources, such as loans and venture capital. In this area, Member States 0% have exploited the possibilities off ered by the JEREMIE (Joint Eesti Italia Malta EU 12 EU 15 EU 27 Ellada Polska Latvija France Kypros Ireland España Lietuva Sverige European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) ini- Portugal Balgarija România Slovenija Danmark Österreich Nederland Deutschland Magyarország tiative, which aims to improve the availability of innovative Suomi/Finland Belgique-België Ceska Republika United KingdomUnited fi nancial engineering products in the regions. Th e planned Slovenska Republica ERDF investment under JEREMIE for 2007-13 is estimated at Luxembourg (Grand-Duche) Luxembourg Lisbon Non Lisbon over € 2.5 billion, with a projected leverage of private capital of around € 12.5 billion. Regional Competitiveness and Employment 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Eesti Italia Malta EU 12 EU 15 EU 27 Ellada Polska Latvija France Kypros Ireland España Lietuva Sverige Th e Regional Centre of Innovation and Technology Portugal Balgarija România Slovenija Danmark Österreich Nederland Deutschland Transfer (CRITT) at Charleville-Mézières, France. Magyarország Suomi/Finland Belgique-België Ceska Republika United KingdomUnited Slovenska Republica Support for priority action 3, “Improving employability Luxembourg