CONTRIBUTION TO THE GREEN PAPER ON TERRITORIAL COHESION

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1 1 (5) February 24, 2009 European Commission DG Regional Policy Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion CONTRIBUTION TO THE GREEN PAPER ON TERRITORIAL COHESION Uusimaa Regional Council welcomes initiative taken by the European Commission to launch a debate on territorial cohesion with a view to deepen the understanding of this concept and of its implications for policies and cooperation in the European Union. We agree with the European Commission that territorial cohesion as expressed in the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion should promote a harmonious development of all regions within Europe in order to enable their citizens to make the most of the inherent features of their region. We also agree that stronger focus on territories as a vehicle of growth and sustainable development can turn diversity into an Union s strength. Uusimaa - Helsinki Region is situated in Southern Finland. With 1.4 million inhabitants within the region and altogether 2.0 million in the wider metropolitan area it is active domestic and international player. In addition of having the capital of Finland, Helsinki, within its borders, the region is known of the strong ICT-cluster, especially performance in wireless technology. The overall R&D expenditure per inhabitant per year in the region is one of the highest in the world. The Helsinki Region has constantly topped high in image rankings in Europe. For the contribution to the discussion we give answers to some of the questions raised in the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion. Uusimaa Regional Council Helsinki Region Aleksanterinkatu 48 A FIN Helsinki Finland tel +358 (0) fax +358 (0) office@uudenmaanliitto.fi

2 2 (5) 1. Definition Territorial cohesion brings new issues to the fore and puts a new emphasis on existing ones: What is the most appropriate definition of territorial cohesion? - According to our opinion the Green Paper rather well defines the territorial cohesion as a means of transforming diversity into an asset that contributes to sustainable development of the entire EU. (p. 3, EN version) However we don t think it should lead to supporting activities and projects which are not viable and only prohibit the normal change in the regions. Emphasis should be on enabling and not on compensating. What additional elements would it bring to the current approach to economic and social cohesion as practiced by the European Union? - We wish to emphasize the Lisbon Regions Network s opinion that the territorial cohesion should be seen as a territorial dimension of sustainability, intended as enhancing the excellence of the territories, promoting the regional potentials and the territorial capitals, exalting the specific vocations and overcoming administrative borders and frontiers. 2. The scale and scope of territorial action Territorial cohesion highlights the need for an integrated approach to addressing problems on an appropriate geographical scale which may require local, regional and even national authorities to cooperate. Is there a role for the EU in promoting territorial cohesion? How could such a role be defined against the background of the principle of subsidiarity? - Future regional policy, in our view, should cover the whole of Europe and it should be based on the general objectives of Europe and include the enhancement of competitiveness and sustainability. It should follow operational models that are based on European value structures, strong democratic decision-making and implementation of policies which are close to the citizen. How far should the territorial scale of policy intervention vary according to the nature of the problems addressed? - Policies promoting territorial coherence should not override the principle of subsidiarity: the member countris should, eventually, be able to decide upon most of the economic resources committed to territorial cohesion. Do areas with specific geographical features require special policy measures? If so, which measures? - Areas with specific geographical features do require special policy measures: e.g. sparsely populated areas infrastrucure maintenance should receive EU funded assistance.

3 3 (5) 3. Better Cooperation Increased cooperation across regional and national borders raises questions of governance. What role should the Commission play in encouraging and supporting territorial cooperation? -The European Commission may conduct or support activities to raise public awareness for the funding of cross border, transnational and interregional projects in order to encourage all possible actors to participate in such projects Is there a need for new forms of territorial cooperation? - EU programmes should take into account the need to co-operate with all states bordering the Baltic Sea. Due to the existing links, the Baltic Sea Region could function as a model region regarding projects between EU-members and non-member states, e.g. Norway as well as Russia and Belarus. In order to allow such co-operation to be intensified, EU funding programmes should be opened to non-member states step by step. Is there a need to develop new legislative and management tools to facilitate cooperation, including along the external borders? - Projects between metropolitan regions should be particularly fostered. The user friendliness of EU funding programmes should be improved, especially for transnational projects. 4. Better coordination Improving territorial cohesion implies better coordination between sectoral and territorial policies and improved coherence between territorial interventions. How can coordination between territorial and sectoral policies be improved? Which sectoral policies should give more consideration to their territorial impact when being designed? What tools could be developed in this regard? How can the coherence of territorial policies be strengthened? How can Community and national policies be better combined to contribute to territorial cohesion? Problem in the EU-level territorial cohesion and regional policy is that EU-policies all too often do not have same or even similar objectives. The key challenge is to enable a more effective development of Europe s regions by ensuring that EU sectoral and economic policies and territorial development policies by member states and regions structurally reinforce each other. We believe that the aims of the Lisbon Strategy implicitly incorporate a strong territorial dimension by promoting horizontal and vertical policy coherence. Territorial

4 4 (5) development policies and strategies are important conditions for the success of both territorial cohesion and the Lisbon Strategy. As a practical solution we suggest strenghtening the role of the regional authorities representing the local populations, by declaring them as primary actors in territorial cohesion policies, and channeling the structural funds exclusively through them. 5. New territorial partnerships The pursuit of territorial cohesion may also imply wider participation in the design and implementation of policies. Does the pursuit of territorial cohesion require the participation of new actors in policymaking, such as representatives of the social economy, local stakeholders, voluntary organisations and NGOs? How can the desired level of participation be achieved? Strengthening the territorial cohesion requires wide participation in both the design and implementation of policies. Our own experience in the Uusimaa Region supports the idea of intensive and continuous dialogue between all stakeholders of territorial development. Private sector, the research and development agencies, local an regional authorities, non-governmental organisations and especially different sectors need to act together in the design and implementation of development plans. Triple Helix model of private, public and research entitities has the tradition which goes back for decades. Triple Helix means that organizations don t only work for themselves, but their work has to benefit to regional goals. 6. Improving understanding of territorial cohesion What quantitative/qualitative indicators should be developed at EU level to monitor characteristics and trends in territorial cohesion? The majority of all European regional policy funds (approximately 80%) are currently directed to regions with a per capita GDP lower than 75% of the European average in order to to better enable their entry into open, global competition. The policy has been and still is justified because the per-capita-gdp-criterion is easily measured and describes the level of development. The drawback of this practice has been the large gap between high and low levels of aid, which has created boundaries that are, from the point of view of economic activities, inappropriate. Another negative aspect of the adopted solution is the diminishing of general commitment to operational policy.

5 5 (5) The territorial development should be analysed keeping in mind not only the per capita GDP, but various other criteria such as demography, including not only aging but disability rate. Aging alone, not to mention the disablity rate correlated to it, renders economic growth and development almost impossible. The following charts show how the phenomenon of aging has a territorial dimension. UUSIMAA REGIONAL COUNCIL, HELSINKI REGION Pertti Rauhio director Telephone +358 (0) Mobile Pertti.rauhio@uudenmaanliitto.fi