Examination of Witnesses (Questions 292-299)
Ms Monika Kapturska,Ms Anna Wasowicz, Ms Izabela
Gorczyca and Ms Marta Lorens
6 MARCH 2008
Q292 Chairman: Welcome to UKRep. It is very
good of you to come and give evidence to us. We are putting this
on the record so that we can use it. Sue is our shorthand writer
and you will get to see what you said before it is published.
Can I say that the general initial questions, which you have all
seen, but I want to read them on for the sake of record, that
your presentations will address are: what the role of a Regional
Representation in Brussels is; how does your Office represent
your region's interest; what is the size of each region's allocation
from the EU and how is your allocation utilised, what kinds of
projects, what kinds of activities are you doing with it. Since
the Wielkopolska region has not yet had its presentation photocopied,
could we ask Lubelskie to start.
Ms Lorens: Of course. First of all, I would
like to thank you very much for the invitation. It is an honour
for me to be in such a distinguished assembly today. Before commencing
with the presentation I want to make one point, a caveat. I cannot
be called an expert on EU funds in our region, I simply represent
my region here in Brussels in my Regional Representation and I
co-operate with my friends and colleagues from the Marshal's Office
of Lubelskie voivodship which is the managing body of the EU funds.
We have prepared a presentation which has been supplied to you.
It is a very detailed one full of facts and figures which can
be left for evidence afterwards. I would like to make it presentation-friendly
and it may have been better to have the projector and equipment
to show it, but since we do not have that I will try to make it
accessible in a different way. Referring back to the first question
about the Regional Office, if I may start with that, our Office
of the Lubelskie region is a small one. I am the only person who
represents the region in Brussels for now. The activity so far
has been focusing on two areas: promotional and representational.
The Office is in the process of restructuring and at the end of
this year we expect to have the Representation proper with staff
and divisions and sections, but due to certain changes on the
local authority level it has not been possible to arrange it so
far. The promotional area means the participation of our region
in different activities here, such as open days. This is an initiative
in Brussels organised by the Committee of the Regions and DG Regio.
It is a great event and regions from all over Europe present their
good practices here, their co-operation, their programmes and
projects. We do participate in that. The other part of my activities
here in Brussels is simply representing the interests of the voivodship
by liaising between the institutions and facilitating communication
for the authorities supporting the actions undertaken by the authorities.
That is the main thing. Maybe I should have started with a presentation
of the region as such because that could be of some use. At the
back of this document is a map of Europe and the Lubelskie region
is the dark orange. We are at the very border of Europe bordering
with Ukraine and Belorussia. Poland is divided into 16 regions
and Lubelskie is quite a large one, the third biggest as far as
Poland is concerned. It covers 25,000 square kilometres. This
is eight per cent of the surface of Poland. The population last
year was 2,180,000 inhabitants which ranks it twelfth in Poland
as far as density is concerned. It is a sparsely populated region.
It is 76 per cent of the European average as far as population
density is concerned. It is also one of the regions with the lowest
urbanisation indicators in the country, less than 47 per cent.
The main city, Lublin, is an academic and economic centre, the
biggest town, which is on the right-hand side of this map. Looking
at the economy and the challenges for the regions, we are aware
of the weaknesses and challenges. There are certain weaknesses
typical of such poorly developed regions, such as a low level
of economic development which translates to low income among the
population, a poorly developed innovation market, a poorly developed
SME sector, system of supporting companies and so on. However,
these weaknesses are balanced by certain advantages and strengths,
namely the potential for the production, for instance, of green
food because agriculture is a stronger sector than industry. It
is the potential of the region for the production of bioenergy,
biomass, biofuels, but also tourism. Such characteristics will
be important for the part of the presentation when I tell you
about the Regional Operational Programme which has certain priorities
that apply to the current situation and the challenges. I will
not go through the previous Financial Perspective of the Integrated
Regional Operational Programme, 2004-06, the current Financial
Perspective is more important for us now.
Q293 Chairman: Yes, please.
Ms Lorens: If we look at the size of the allocation
that Lubelskie receives, slide number eight shows quite a good
visual representation of the allocation for 2007-13. I will try
to describe it briefly. Within the National Cohesion Strategy
for 2007-13, over €2 billion of EU funds were allocated for
the region for investments. This amount includes allocation for
the Regional Operational Programme, which is very important because
this is the first ever large-scale programme, this multi-annual
programme, financially stable programme, of development measures
for the region. The ROP is crucial here. Also, a component of
the Operational Programme is the Human Capital and Operational
Programme—Development of Eastern Poland. On the graphic
we show the share of Community assistance and national contribution
which makes it clear that the EU funds constitute the basis of
that. If I can focus on the Regional Operational Programme, that
will show the principles that guide how we distribute the funds
to different projects. We should have in mind one specific goal,
that is improving the competitiveness of the Lubelskie region,
which triggers faster economic growth and growth of employment
complying with the natural and cultural qualities of the region.
This is the main goal of the programme and it is divided into
three sub-goals concentrating on the competitiveness of the region,
on improvement in investment conditions, and also improving the
quality of life of the region. Behind the Regional Operational
Programme there is the strategy of the voivodship's development
and there are certain criteria that allow projects to be co-financed.
If we could look at the criteria, they would be the impact on
the increase of economic activity, competitiveness, quality of
inter-regional relations but also improving the environmental
quality and promoting the image of the region, that is also important.
What constitutes the core of the programme are the axes. The axes
overlap certain levels of co-financing and there are nine such
axes. The programme is divided into sections. The first one is
entrepreneurship and innovations, then economy infrastructure,
third attractiveness of urban areas and investment premises, fourth
information society, fifth transport, sixth environment and pure
energy, seventh culture and tourism and co-operation between regions,
eighth social infrastructure and, finally, technical assistance.
From that division we see the highest level of co-financing from
the ERDF is attributed to the transport axis, and that is 22 per
cent, and entrepreneurship and innovations. They have the highest
level of co-financing.
Q294 Chairman: Thank you Ms Lorens,
we will read what you are doing afterwards. I would very much
like to look at some of your specific projects. We are particularly
keen to ask you, when you have told us that, how you find your
dealings with the EU and how well it works, how useful it has
been. If you could move us to that, because I do want to have
time to discuss.
Ms Lorens: Of course. The evidence that I was
presented with was the evidence from the previous Financial Perspective
2004-06 and the evaluation of the main beneficiaries and the main
activities focusing, for example, on improving the infrastructure,
the educational and sport infrastructure as well as roads infrastructure
and social ones. For the new Perspective, 2007-13, today I got
the information that on 17 March we will start the call for the
new applications, so the assessments of these new proceedings
will be known in two months. That is the reply that I got, that
in two months' time we will be able to give the reply on what
are the main problems with utilising the funds and management.
I can forward that question and supply you with it in written
form as soon as possible, by Monday.
Q295 Chairman: That would be very
helpful. We are running an inquiry which says there are these
Structural Funds and we know roughly how they are allocated, but
we are very keen to find out the views of a recipient of these
Structural Funds. Do the conditions strike you as onerous? Is
there an awful lot of administrative cost? Has it been helpful?
Anything you can tell us.
Ms Lorens: The answer is they have been really
helpful indeed. From the data I have with me today I cannot give
you precise examples. As I have mentioned, the allocation from
the previous Perspective was 80 per cent, so quite a high utilisation
of the funding. I have no data on the present Perspective but
just for indicative projects, which is at the end of the presentation.
Q296 Chairman: That would be interesting
to see.
Ms Lorens: That is an indicative schedule for
individual key projects. The key project for the city and region
is the regional airport. As I said, the region is quite a big
one but it does not have an airport, so that is the first thing.
Another thing is the construction of a regional geographical system
and culture meetings point and, finally, sports facilities such
as a stadium. I understand what you need for your evidence and
if I could put down the question and provide you with that, would
it be okay if I provide you with that?
Q297 Chairman: That would be most
helpful. My Lords, is there anything else that we can ask Ms Lorens?
We can always come back to her at the end.
Q298 Lord Trimble: The amount of
money the region is receiving is €2 billion per annum, is
that right?
Ms Lorens: That is the complete allocation.
Q299 Lord Trimble: For the period
from 2007-13 you have a total of €2 billion.
Ms Lorens: €4 billion.
Lord Trimble: That is quite a difference. This
may be a silly question to ask you but could you handle more?
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