3 Cohesion policy: Community strategic
guidelines 2007-13
| (26710)
10684/05
COM(05) 299
+ ADD 1
| Commission Communication: Cohesion policy in support of growth and jobs: Community Strategic Guidelines 2007-13
Commission staff working paper: impact assessment
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| Legal base | —
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| Department | Trade and Industry
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 10 April 2006
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 34-xii (2005-06), para 4 (30 November 2005)
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
3.1 Article 2 of the Treaty establishing the European Community
lists among the Community's tasks the promotion of "economic
and social cohesion and solidarity between the Member States".
To this end, the Treaty provides for:
- the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to help redress
regional imbalances;
- the European Social Fund (ESF) to improve employment
opportunities; and
- the Cohesion Fund to provide financial support
for transport and environmental projects.
3.2 The Council is nearing agreement on Regulations
to set the budgets, objectives and administrative arrangements
of the ERDF, ESF and Cohesion Fund between 2007 and 2013. One
of the Regulations proposes that the Council should set Community-wide
Strategic Guidelines to define the framework for intervention
from the Funds. Each Member State would be required to draw up
a "national strategic reference statement". The framework
statement would have to be consistent with the Guidelines and
would describe the Member State's priorities for the use of the
Funds in its area.
Previous scrutiny of the Communication
3.3 The Communication set out, as a basis for public
consultation, the Commission's initial proposals for the Community's
Strategic Guidelines for 2007-13. In November 2005, the Minister
of State for Industry and the Regions at the Department of Trade
and Industry (Alun Michael) told us that the Government supported
the proposal to have Guidelines so long as they allow the regions
enough flexibility to set priorities which reflect local conditions.
The draft Guidelines provided a good starting point for discussion
between Member States, but the Government believes that there
is scope for the Guidelines to be more flexible. He enclosed a
copy of the comments on the Communication which the Government
had sent the Commission.
3.4 We decided to keep the Communication under scrutiny
pending our consideration of a revised draft of the Guidelines.
We asked the Minister for progress reports on the negotiations.
3.5 A revised text of the Guidelines will be published
after the Regulations to set up the Funds have been settled.
The Minister's letter of 10 April 2006
3.6 The Minister tells us that on 28 February the
Government began its consultations on the draft of the UK's National
Strategic Reference Framework. The consultation document invites
views on:
- the Government's proposals
for distributing the UK's Structural Funds allocation under the
Competitiveness and Employment objective; and
- the UK's administrative arrangements for managing
the Funds.
3.7 The Minister says that:
"The Government's current thinking is that
the UK's Competitiveness funds should be divided equally between
the European Regional Development Fund (for regional development)
and the European Social Fund (for promoting employment) at the
UK level. We have not yet reached any firm conclusions on the
allocation methodology for distributing the two funding streams
across the UK's nations and regions. As part of the consultation
we are inviting comments on how best to allocate the UK's ERDF
and ESF funding, including views on the indicators, weightings,
safety nets and ceilings that could be used."
3.8 The consultation period ends on 22 May. The Government
aims to publish its response to the consultation within three
months of that date. The response will include a statement of
the positions of the Government and the Devolved Administrations
on the issues raised in the comments on the consultation paper;
it will also publish the final text of the UK's National Framework.
Conclusion
3.9 We are grateful to the Minister for his helpful
letter. We should be grateful if he would send us a copy of the
Government's response to the comments on its consultation paper
and the final text of the UK's National Strategic Reference Framework.
We shall keep the Commission's Communication under scrutiny pending
receipt of that information and a revised version of the Community's
Strategic Guidelines.
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