BETA


2010/2155(INI) Objective 3: a challenge for territorial cooperation - the future agenda for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead REGI SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse (icon: PPE PPE) DĂNCILĂ Viorica (icon: S&D S&D), MĂNESCU Ramona Nicole (icon: ALDE ALDE), ALFONSI François (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), VLASÁK Oldřich (icon: ECR ECR)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 54

Events

2011/10/03
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2011/06/23
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2011/06/23
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2011/06/23
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 612 votes to 46, with 15 abstentions, a resolution on Objective 3: a challenge for territorial cooperation – the future agenda for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation.

Parliament recalls that around 37.5% of Europe's population lives in border regions. Informal cooperation arrangements, the Euroregions, the Eurodistricts, the EGTCs, Council of Europe initiatives, the successive Treaties and the EU's secondary legislation have all contributed to establishing stronger and more sustainable links between territories. The ‘Territorial Cooperation’ objective, one of the components of cohesion policy, contributes to ‘ever closer union among the peoples of Europe’ by reducing the barriers between territories and regions. Territorial cooperation aims to help territories and regions to work together in tackling their common challenges, to reduce the physical, cultural, administrative and regulatory barriers to such cooperation and to lessen the ‘border effect’.

(1) Strengthening the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective : Parliament is convinced of the European added value of territorial cooperation and the key role it plays in deepening the internal market and fostering closer European integration in several sectoral policies. It calls for territorial cooperation to remain one of the pillars of cohesion policy .

Members call for the budget for the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective to increase from 2.5% in the current programming period to at least 7% of the overall cohesion policy budget for the next programming period. They also advocate retaining the current structure of Objective 3, which is divided into three components (cross-border (component A), transnational (component B) and interregional (component C)), and the current emphasis on the cross-border component, which receives at least 70% of the territorial cooperation budget. There should be a fair and equitable distribution of funds under the programme for all regions.

With a view to ensuring the coherence and continuity of territorial cooperation measures and given the strategic nature of the projects in question, the resolution calls for greater flexibility in exploiting the scope offered by Article 21 of the ERDF Regulation with regard to the location of cross-border and transnational cooperation activities, incorporating maritime regions.

Members also underline the crucial role of territorial cooperation in delivering the Europe 2020 objectives, and call for forward thinking to ascertain the strategic needs of each border region and area of cooperation in connection with this strategy.

They want funds to be allocated for each programme of territorial cooperation on the basis of harmonised criteria so as to provide a strategic, integrated response to the needs and specificities of each territory or area involved. The Commission and Member States are asked to consider other relevant, strategic and measurable criteria that could reflect the needs of territories without undermining the most important criterion: demography.

(2) Mainstreaming territorial cooperation : Parliament believes that the mainstreaming of the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective with the ‘convergence’ and ‘competitiveness and employment’ objectives is needed. It suggests that regional operational programmes should have the option to take an interest and participate in the cross-border, transnational and interregional projects that concern them by defining a territorial approach to the allocation of funding, for the benefit of priority projects.

The resolution encourages Member States and regions to set up multi-regional operational programmes to address common territorial problems; such as the presence of a mountain range or a river basin which characterises the territory. It also encourages the Commission and Member States to promote the coordination of policies in cross-border regions and the labour market.

(3) Adopting a territorial approach in implementing other EU policies : Members note that approaches along the lines of the Baltic Sea Strategy can enhance cross-border cooperation. They point out that such strategies as exist or may exist in the future should provide a basis for more strategic and 'joined up' approaches to be realised via the relevant territorial cooperation instruments but are not generating new funds in the EU budget, and do not provide for the establishment of new institutions or the application of new legislation.

Parliament asks the Commission to conduct an in-depth study of the results of the first macro-regional strategies implemented, noting that the process has met with a level of interest that should be built on, with lessons being learnt for the implementation of future new macro-regional strategies.

It believes that any transnational strategy must take due account of the scope of coordination with the trans-European transport network guidelines and the strategies pursued under the integrated maritime policy .

Pointing out that territorial cooperation concerns both the EU’s internal and external borders, Members stress the difficulties encountered by third countries in obtaining co-financing under the arrangements for cooperation provided for in the ERDF Regulation. They ask the Commission to consider how to create more effective synergies between initiatives under the ERDF, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and the European Development Fund (EDF). They are convinced of the ultimate necessity to reintegrate the ENPI cross-border cooperation programmes into the Territorial Cooperation Objective of cohesion policy.

(4) Facilitating the establishment of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) : Parliament considers that EGTCs represent a unique, highly valuable territorial governance instrument which meets a need for structured cooperation with reference to financing, the legal status of projects and multi-level governance. It recalls that the instrument of EGTC must be promoted as a tool to set up systems of cross-border governance, ensuring the ownership of the different policies at regional and local level. It also stresses their key role in contributing to the successful implementation of a multi-level governance model.

(5) Simplifying implementation : Members believe that the implementation of territorial cooperation programmes remains overly complicated and considers that Objective 3 needs a separate regulation to reflect the inherently international character of its activities.

They invite the Commission to propose specific measures which (i) simplify rules on auditing and control, with ‘one management authority per programme’ as a guiding principle; (ii) authorise more systematic standard-rate costing and the funding of small projects by means of fixed amounts; (iii) lay down more detailed EU rules on eligibility for funding; (iv) make for greater flexibility in the implementation of automatic decommitments; (v) increase technical assistance.

The resolution calls on the Commission to clarify, as soon as possible, the provisions governing the principle of conditionality intended for territorial cooperation.

(6) Raising the profile of territorial cooperation : Members ask the Commission to come up with ways to raise the profile of EGTCs and their activities among territorial cooperation stakeholders and the general public. They suggest that all programmes in the same component should be recognisable by their use of a single identifiable logo (e.g. reinstatement of the well-recognised 'INTERREG' tag) in tandem with each programme's logo (perhaps of a standardised visual size), and invite the Commission, by the start of the next programming period, to come up with a large-scale media and awareness-raising campaign for border regions on the benefits and achievements of territorial cooperation.

Documents
2011/06/23
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2011/04/11
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
Documents
2011/04/10
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Documents
2011/03/22
   EP - Vote in committee
Details

The Committee on Regional Development adopted an own-initiative report by Marie-Thérèse SANCHEZ-SCHMID (EPP, FR), on Objective 3: a challenge for territorial cooperation – the future agenda for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. It recalls that Points out that territorial cooperation aims to help territories and regions to work together in tackling their common challenges, to reduce the physical, cultural, administrative and regulatory barriers to such cooperation and to lessen the ‘border effect’. Members stress that the objective of territorial cooperation, based on the principle of economic, social and territorial cohesion, concerns all the EU's regions in that it helps to promote the harmonious development of the Union as a whole.

Strengthening the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective : the committee is convinced of the European added value of territorial cooperation and the key role it plays in deepening the internal market and fostering closer European integration in several sectoral policies. It calls for territorial cooperation to remain one of the pillars of cohesion policy .

Members call for the budget for the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective to increase from 2.5% in the current programming period to at least 7% of the overall cohesion policy budget for the next programming period. They also advocate retaining the current structure of Objective 3, which is divided into three components (cross-border (component A), transnational (component B) and interregional (component C)), and the current emphasis on the cross-border component, which receives at least 70% of the territorial cooperation budget. There should be a fair and equitable distribution of funds under the programme for all regions.

With a view to ensuring the coherence and continuity of territorial cooperation measures and given the strategic nature of the projects in question, the report calls for greater flexibility in exploiting the scope offered by Article 21 of the ERDF Regulation with regard to the location of cross-border and transnational cooperation activities, incorporating maritime regions.

Members also underline the crucial role of territorial cooperation in delivering the Europe 2020 objectives, and call for forward thinking to ascertain the strategic needs of each border region and area of cooperation in connection with this strategy.

They want funds to be allocated for each programme of territorial cooperation on the basis of harmonised criteria so as to provide a strategic, integrated response to the needs and specificities of each territory or area involved. The Commission and Member States are asked to consider other relevant, strategic and measurable criteria that could reflect the needs of territories without undermining the most important criterion: demography.

Mainstreaming territorial cooperation : Members believe that the mainstreaming of the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective with the ‘convergence’ and ‘competitiveness and employment’ objectives is needed. They suggest that regional operational programmes should have the option to take an interest and participate in the cross-border, transnational and interregional projects that concern them by defining a territorial approach to the allocation of funding, for the benefit of priority projects.

The report encourages Member States and regions to set up multi-regional operational programmes to address common territorial problems; such as the presence of a mountain range or a river basin which characterises the territory. It also encourages the Commission and Member States to promote the coordination of policies in cross-border regions and the labour market.

Adopting a territorial approach in implementing other EU policies : Members note that approaches along the lines of the Baltic Sea Strategy can enhance cross-border cooperation. They point out that such strategies as exist or may exist in the future should provide a basis for more strategic and 'joined up' approaches to be realised via the relevant territorial cooperation instruments but are not generating new funds in the EU budget, and do not provide for the establishment of new institutions or the application of new legislation.

The committee asks the Commission to conduct an in-depth study of the results of the first macro-regional strategies implemented, noting that the process has met with a level of interest that should be built on, with lessons being learnt for the implementation of future new macro-regional strategies.

It believes that any transnational strategy must take due account of the scope of coordination with the trans-European transport network guidelines and the strategies pursued under the integrated maritime policy .

Pointing out that territorial cooperation concerns both the EU’s internal and external borders, Members stress the difficulties encountered by third countries in obtaining cofinancing under the arrangements for cooperation provided for in the ERDF Regulation. They ask the Commission to consider how to create more effective synergies between initiatives under the ERDF, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and the European Development Fund (EDF). They are convinced of the ultimate necessity to reintegrate the ENPI cross-border cooperation programmes into the Territorial Cooperation Objective of cohesion policy.

Facilitating the establishment of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) : the committee considers that EGTCs represent a unique, highly valuable territorial governance instrument which meets a need for structured cooperation with reference to financing, the legal status of projects and multi-level governance. It recalls that the instrument of EGTC must be promoted as a tool to set up systems of cross-border governance, ensuring the ownership of the different policies at regional and local level. It also stresses their key role in contributing to the successful implementation of a multi-level governance model.

Simplifying implementation : Members believe that the implementation of territorial cooperation programmes remains overly complicated and considers that Objective 3 needs a separate regulation to reflect the inherently international character of its activities.

They invite the Commission to propose specific measures which (i) simplify rules on auditing and control, with ‘one management authority per programme’ as a guiding principle; (ii) authorise more systematic standard-rate costing and the funding of small projects by means of fixed amounts; (iii) lay down more detailed EU rules on eligibility for funding; (iv) make for greater flexibility in the implementation of automatic decommitments; (v) increase technical assistance.

The report calls on the Commission to clarify, as soon as possible, the provisions governing the principle of conditionality intended for territorial cooperation.

Raising the profile of territorial cooperation : Members ask the Commission to come up with ways to raise the profile of EGTCs and their activities among territorial cooperation stakeholders and the general public. They suggest that all programmes in the same component should be recognisable by their use of a single identifiable logo (e.g. reinstatement of the well-recognised 'INTERREG' tag) in tandem with each programme's logo (perhaps of a standardised visual size), and invite the Commission, by the start of the next programming period, to come up with a large-scale media and awareness-raising campaign for border regions on the benefits and achievements of territorial cooperation.

2011/02/22
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2011/01/27
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2010/09/09
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2010/06/03
   EP - SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse (PPE) appointed as rapporteur in REGI

Documents

Activities

Votes

A7-0110/2011 - Marie-Thérèse Sanchez-Schmid - Vote unique #

2011/06/23 Outcome: +: 612, -: 46, 0: 15
DE IT FR ES PL RO BE CZ HU PT BG EL NL SE SK AT IE LT FI DK SI CY MT LU EE LV GB
Total
91
69
65
46
46
28
21
20
20
20
17
19
25
18
13
17
10
10
11
13
6
6
5
4
3
3
67
icon: PPE PPE
243

Czechia PPE

2

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Slovenia PPE

2
2

Malta PPE

2

Luxembourg PPE

For (1)

1

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
174

Netherlands S&D

3

Finland S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
74

Slovakia ALDE

For (1)

1

Lithuania ALDE

2
3

Slovenia ALDE

2

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Estonia ALDE

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
49

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3
3

Austria Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Estonia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

5
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
31

France GUE/NGL

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

5

Portugal GUE/NGL

5

Greece GUE/NGL

Against (1)

2

Netherlands GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

2

Sweden GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

1

Latvia GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
54

Belgium ECR

For (1)

1

Hungary ECR

For (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

For (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

1

Denmark ECR

Against (1)

1
icon: EFD EFD
23

Greece EFD

2

Netherlands EFD

For (1)

1

Slovakia EFD

For (1)

1

Lithuania EFD

2

Finland EFD

Against (1)

1

Denmark EFD

Against (1)

1
icon: NI NI
25

France NI

2

Spain NI

1

Romania NI

For (1)

1

Belgium NI

2

Hungary NI

2

Bulgaria NI

2
AmendmentsDossier
134 2010/2155(INI)
2011/02/22 REGI 134 amendments...
source: PE-458.829

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

events/2/date
Old
2011-04-11T00:00:00
New
2011-04-10T00:00:00
docs/0/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE456.853
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/REGI-PR-456853_EN.html
docs/1/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE458.829
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/REGI-AM-458829_EN.html
docs/2/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2011-0110_EN.html
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2011-0110_EN.html
events/0/type
Old
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
New
Committee referral announced in Parliament
events/1/type
Old
Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
New
Vote in committee
events/2
date
2011-04-11T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2011-0110_EN.html title: A7-0110/2011
events/2
date
2011-04-11T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
body
EP
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2011-0110_EN.html title: A7-0110/2011
events/4/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20110623&type=CRE
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-7-2010-06-23-TOC_EN.html
events/5
date
2011-06-23T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-7-2011-0285_EN.html title: T7-0285/2011
summary
events/5
date
2011-06-23T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-7-2011-0285_EN.html title: T7-0285/2011
summary
procedure/Modified legal basis
Rules of Procedure EP 150
procedure/Other legal basis
Rules of Procedure EP 159
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 54
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 052
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Regional Development
committee
REGI
rapporteur
name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse date: 2010-06-03T00:00:00 group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) abbr: PPE
shadows
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Regional Development
committee
REGI
date
2010-06-03T00:00:00
rapporteur
name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) abbr: PPE
shadows
docs/2/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2011-110&language=EN
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2011-0110_EN.html
docs/3/body
EC
events/2/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2011-110&language=EN
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-7-2011-0110_EN.html
events/5/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2011-285
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-7-2011-0285_EN.html
activities
  • date: 2010-09-09T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: S&D name: DĂNCILĂ Viorica group: ALDE name: MĂNESCU Ramona Nicole group: Verts/ALE name: ALFONSI François group: ECR name: VLASÁK Oldřich responsible: True committee: REGI date: 2010-06-03T00:00:00 committee_full: Regional Development rapporteur: group: PPE name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse
  • date: 2011-03-22T00:00:00 body: EP committees: body: EP shadows: group: S&D name: DĂNCILĂ Viorica group: ALDE name: MĂNESCU Ramona Nicole group: Verts/ALE name: ALFONSI François group: ECR name: VLASÁK Oldřich responsible: True committee: REGI date: 2010-06-03T00:00:00 committee_full: Regional Development rapporteur: group: PPE name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2011-04-11T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2011-110&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0110/2011 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2011-06-23T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=19896&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20110623&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2011-285 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0285/2011 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
commission
  • body: EC dg: Regional and Urban Policy commissioner: HAHN Johannes
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Regional Development
committee
REGI
date
2010-06-03T00:00:00
rapporteur
name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) abbr: PPE
shadows
committees/0
body
EP
shadows
responsible
True
committee
REGI
date
2010-06-03T00:00:00
committee_full
Regional Development
rapporteur
group: PPE name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse
docs
  • date: 2011-01-27T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE456.853 title: PE456.853 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2011-02-22T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE458.829 title: PE458.829 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 2011-04-11T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2011-110&language=EN title: A7-0110/2011 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP
  • date: 2011-10-03T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=19896&j=0&l=en title: SP(2011)8296 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
events
  • date: 2010-09-09T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2011-03-22T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP summary: The Committee on Regional Development adopted an own-initiative report by Marie-Thérèse SANCHEZ-SCHMID (EPP, FR), on Objective 3: a challenge for territorial cooperation – the future agenda for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. It recalls that Points out that territorial cooperation aims to help territories and regions to work together in tackling their common challenges, to reduce the physical, cultural, administrative and regulatory barriers to such cooperation and to lessen the ‘border effect’. Members stress that the objective of territorial cooperation, based on the principle of economic, social and territorial cohesion, concerns all the EU's regions in that it helps to promote the harmonious development of the Union as a whole. Strengthening the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective : the committee is convinced of the European added value of territorial cooperation and the key role it plays in deepening the internal market and fostering closer European integration in several sectoral policies. It calls for territorial cooperation to remain one of the pillars of cohesion policy . Members call for the budget for the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective to increase from 2.5% in the current programming period to at least 7% of the overall cohesion policy budget for the next programming period. They also advocate retaining the current structure of Objective 3, which is divided into three components (cross-border (component A), transnational (component B) and interregional (component C)), and the current emphasis on the cross-border component, which receives at least 70% of the territorial cooperation budget. There should be a fair and equitable distribution of funds under the programme for all regions. With a view to ensuring the coherence and continuity of territorial cooperation measures and given the strategic nature of the projects in question, the report calls for greater flexibility in exploiting the scope offered by Article 21 of the ERDF Regulation with regard to the location of cross-border and transnational cooperation activities, incorporating maritime regions. Members also underline the crucial role of territorial cooperation in delivering the Europe 2020 objectives, and call for forward thinking to ascertain the strategic needs of each border region and area of cooperation in connection with this strategy. They want funds to be allocated for each programme of territorial cooperation on the basis of harmonised criteria so as to provide a strategic, integrated response to the needs and specificities of each territory or area involved. The Commission and Member States are asked to consider other relevant, strategic and measurable criteria that could reflect the needs of territories without undermining the most important criterion: demography. Mainstreaming territorial cooperation : Members believe that the mainstreaming of the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective with the ‘convergence’ and ‘competitiveness and employment’ objectives is needed. They suggest that regional operational programmes should have the option to take an interest and participate in the cross-border, transnational and interregional projects that concern them by defining a territorial approach to the allocation of funding, for the benefit of priority projects. The report encourages Member States and regions to set up multi-regional operational programmes to address common territorial problems; such as the presence of a mountain range or a river basin which characterises the territory. It also encourages the Commission and Member States to promote the coordination of policies in cross-border regions and the labour market. Adopting a territorial approach in implementing other EU policies : Members note that approaches along the lines of the Baltic Sea Strategy can enhance cross-border cooperation. They point out that such strategies as exist or may exist in the future should provide a basis for more strategic and 'joined up' approaches to be realised via the relevant territorial cooperation instruments but are not generating new funds in the EU budget, and do not provide for the establishment of new institutions or the application of new legislation. The committee asks the Commission to conduct an in-depth study of the results of the first macro-regional strategies implemented, noting that the process has met with a level of interest that should be built on, with lessons being learnt for the implementation of future new macro-regional strategies. It believes that any transnational strategy must take due account of the scope of coordination with the trans-European transport network guidelines and the strategies pursued under the integrated maritime policy . Pointing out that territorial cooperation concerns both the EU’s internal and external borders, Members stress the difficulties encountered by third countries in obtaining cofinancing under the arrangements for cooperation provided for in the ERDF Regulation. They ask the Commission to consider how to create more effective synergies between initiatives under the ERDF, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and the European Development Fund (EDF). They are convinced of the ultimate necessity to reintegrate the ENPI cross-border cooperation programmes into the Territorial Cooperation Objective of cohesion policy. Facilitating the establishment of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) : the committee considers that EGTCs represent a unique, highly valuable territorial governance instrument which meets a need for structured cooperation with reference to financing, the legal status of projects and multi-level governance. It recalls that the instrument of EGTC must be promoted as a tool to set up systems of cross-border governance, ensuring the ownership of the different policies at regional and local level. It also stresses their key role in contributing to the successful implementation of a multi-level governance model. Simplifying implementation : Members believe that the implementation of territorial cooperation programmes remains overly complicated and considers that Objective 3 needs a separate regulation to reflect the inherently international character of its activities. They invite the Commission to propose specific measures which (i) simplify rules on auditing and control, with ‘one management authority per programme’ as a guiding principle; (ii) authorise more systematic standard-rate costing and the funding of small projects by means of fixed amounts; (iii) lay down more detailed EU rules on eligibility for funding; (iv) make for greater flexibility in the implementation of automatic decommitments; (v) increase technical assistance. The report calls on the Commission to clarify, as soon as possible, the provisions governing the principle of conditionality intended for territorial cooperation. Raising the profile of territorial cooperation : Members ask the Commission to come up with ways to raise the profile of EGTCs and their activities among territorial cooperation stakeholders and the general public. They suggest that all programmes in the same component should be recognisable by their use of a single identifiable logo (e.g. reinstatement of the well-recognised 'INTERREG' tag) in tandem with each programme's logo (perhaps of a standardised visual size), and invite the Commission, by the start of the next programming period, to come up with a large-scale media and awareness-raising campaign for border regions on the benefits and achievements of territorial cooperation.
  • date: 2011-04-11T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2011-110&language=EN title: A7-0110/2011
  • date: 2011-06-23T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=19896&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2011-06-23T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20110623&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2011-06-23T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2011-285 title: T7-0285/2011 summary: The European Parliament adopted by 612 votes to 46, with 15 abstentions, a resolution on Objective 3: a challenge for territorial cooperation – the future agenda for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. Parliament recalls that around 37.5% of Europe's population lives in border regions. Informal cooperation arrangements, the Euroregions, the Eurodistricts, the EGTCs, Council of Europe initiatives, the successive Treaties and the EU's secondary legislation have all contributed to establishing stronger and more sustainable links between territories. The ‘Territorial Cooperation’ objective, one of the components of cohesion policy, contributes to ‘ever closer union among the peoples of Europe’ by reducing the barriers between territories and regions. Territorial cooperation aims to help territories and regions to work together in tackling their common challenges, to reduce the physical, cultural, administrative and regulatory barriers to such cooperation and to lessen the ‘border effect’. (1) Strengthening the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective : Parliament is convinced of the European added value of territorial cooperation and the key role it plays in deepening the internal market and fostering closer European integration in several sectoral policies. It calls for territorial cooperation to remain one of the pillars of cohesion policy . Members call for the budget for the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective to increase from 2.5% in the current programming period to at least 7% of the overall cohesion policy budget for the next programming period. They also advocate retaining the current structure of Objective 3, which is divided into three components (cross-border (component A), transnational (component B) and interregional (component C)), and the current emphasis on the cross-border component, which receives at least 70% of the territorial cooperation budget. There should be a fair and equitable distribution of funds under the programme for all regions. With a view to ensuring the coherence and continuity of territorial cooperation measures and given the strategic nature of the projects in question, the resolution calls for greater flexibility in exploiting the scope offered by Article 21 of the ERDF Regulation with regard to the location of cross-border and transnational cooperation activities, incorporating maritime regions. Members also underline the crucial role of territorial cooperation in delivering the Europe 2020 objectives, and call for forward thinking to ascertain the strategic needs of each border region and area of cooperation in connection with this strategy. They want funds to be allocated for each programme of territorial cooperation on the basis of harmonised criteria so as to provide a strategic, integrated response to the needs and specificities of each territory or area involved. The Commission and Member States are asked to consider other relevant, strategic and measurable criteria that could reflect the needs of territories without undermining the most important criterion: demography. (2) Mainstreaming territorial cooperation : Parliament believes that the mainstreaming of the ‘territorial cooperation’ objective with the ‘convergence’ and ‘competitiveness and employment’ objectives is needed. It suggests that regional operational programmes should have the option to take an interest and participate in the cross-border, transnational and interregional projects that concern them by defining a territorial approach to the allocation of funding, for the benefit of priority projects. The resolution encourages Member States and regions to set up multi-regional operational programmes to address common territorial problems; such as the presence of a mountain range or a river basin which characterises the territory. It also encourages the Commission and Member States to promote the coordination of policies in cross-border regions and the labour market. (3) Adopting a territorial approach in implementing other EU policies : Members note that approaches along the lines of the Baltic Sea Strategy can enhance cross-border cooperation. They point out that such strategies as exist or may exist in the future should provide a basis for more strategic and 'joined up' approaches to be realised via the relevant territorial cooperation instruments but are not generating new funds in the EU budget, and do not provide for the establishment of new institutions or the application of new legislation. Parliament asks the Commission to conduct an in-depth study of the results of the first macro-regional strategies implemented, noting that the process has met with a level of interest that should be built on, with lessons being learnt for the implementation of future new macro-regional strategies. It believes that any transnational strategy must take due account of the scope of coordination with the trans-European transport network guidelines and the strategies pursued under the integrated maritime policy . Pointing out that territorial cooperation concerns both the EU’s internal and external borders, Members stress the difficulties encountered by third countries in obtaining co-financing under the arrangements for cooperation provided for in the ERDF Regulation. They ask the Commission to consider how to create more effective synergies between initiatives under the ERDF, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and the European Development Fund (EDF). They are convinced of the ultimate necessity to reintegrate the ENPI cross-border cooperation programmes into the Territorial Cooperation Objective of cohesion policy. (4) Facilitating the establishment of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) : Parliament considers that EGTCs represent a unique, highly valuable territorial governance instrument which meets a need for structured cooperation with reference to financing, the legal status of projects and multi-level governance. It recalls that the instrument of EGTC must be promoted as a tool to set up systems of cross-border governance, ensuring the ownership of the different policies at regional and local level. It also stresses their key role in contributing to the successful implementation of a multi-level governance model. (5) Simplifying implementation : Members believe that the implementation of territorial cooperation programmes remains overly complicated and considers that Objective 3 needs a separate regulation to reflect the inherently international character of its activities. They invite the Commission to propose specific measures which (i) simplify rules on auditing and control, with ‘one management authority per programme’ as a guiding principle; (ii) authorise more systematic standard-rate costing and the funding of small projects by means of fixed amounts; (iii) lay down more detailed EU rules on eligibility for funding; (iv) make for greater flexibility in the implementation of automatic decommitments; (v) increase technical assistance. The resolution calls on the Commission to clarify, as soon as possible, the provisions governing the principle of conditionality intended for territorial cooperation. (6) Raising the profile of territorial cooperation : Members ask the Commission to come up with ways to raise the profile of EGTCs and their activities among territorial cooperation stakeholders and the general public. They suggest that all programmes in the same component should be recognisable by their use of a single identifiable logo (e.g. reinstatement of the well-recognised 'INTERREG' tag) in tandem with each programme's logo (perhaps of a standardised visual size), and invite the Commission, by the start of the next programming period, to come up with a large-scale media and awareness-raising campaign for border regions on the benefits and achievements of territorial cooperation.
  • date: 2011-06-23T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/regional_policy/index_en.htm title: Regional and Urban Policy commissioner: HAHN Johannes
procedure/Modified legal basis
Old
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150
New
Rules of Procedure EP 150
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
Old
REGI/7/03642
New
  • REGI/7/03642
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 052
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052
procedure/subject
Old
  • 4.15 Employment policy, action to combat unemployment
  • 4.40.01 European area for education, training and lifelong learning
  • 4.70.05 Regional cooperation, transfrontier cooperation
New
4.15
Employment policy, action to combat unemployment
4.40.01
European area for education, training and lifelong learning
4.70.05
Regional cooperation, cross-border cooperation
procedure/title
Old
Objective 3: A challenge for territorial cooperation - the future agenda for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation
New
Objective 3: a challenge for territorial cooperation - the future agenda for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation
other/0/dg/title
Old
Regional Policy
New
Regional and Urban Policy
activities
  • date: 2010-09-09T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: S&D name: DĂNCILĂ Viorica group: ALDE name: MĂNESCU Ramona Nicole group: Verts/ALE name: ALFONSI François group: ECR name: VLASÁK Oldřich responsible: True committee: REGI date: 2010-06-03T00:00:00 committee_full: Regional Development rapporteur: group: PPE name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse
  • date: 2011-03-22T00:00:00 body: EP committees: body: EP shadows: group: S&D name: DĂNCILĂ Viorica group: ALDE name: MĂNESCU Ramona Nicole group: Verts/ALE name: ALFONSI François group: ECR name: VLASÁK Oldřich responsible: True committee: REGI date: 2010-06-03T00:00:00 committee_full: Regional Development rapporteur: group: PPE name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2011-04-11T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2011-110&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0110/2011 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2011-06-23T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=19896&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20110623&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2011-285 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0285/2011 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
committees
  • body: EP shadows: group: S&D name: DĂNCILĂ Viorica group: ALDE name: MĂNESCU Ramona Nicole group: Verts/ALE name: ALFONSI François group: ECR name: VLASÁK Oldřich responsible: True committee: REGI date: 2010-06-03T00:00:00 committee_full: Regional Development rapporteur: group: PPE name: SANCHEZ-SCHMID Marie-Thérèse
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/regional_policy/index_en.htm title: Regional Policy commissioner: HAHN Johannes
procedure
dossier_of_the_committee
REGI/7/03642
reference
2010/2155(INI)
title
Objective 3: A challenge for territorial cooperation - the future agenda for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation
legal_basis
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052
stage_reached
Procedure completed
subtype
Initiative
Modified legal basis
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150
type
INI - Own-initiative procedure
subject