Regional and local leaders delivered their
proposals on how to strengthen territorial
dimension in a wider range of policy fields and how
to increase the involvement of local actors in
delivering EU co-funded investment plan, during the
136th European Committee of the Regions (CoR)
Plenary that took place on 7-9 October in Brussels.
In the opinion on "The CoR's contribution to
the renewed Territorial Agenda, with special
emphasis on community-led local development
(CLLD)", drafted by Radim Sršeň (CS/EPP), Regional
Councillor of Olomouc, they call for more bottom-up
territorial visions and for increasing the share of
funding for CLLD.
Regions and cities are getting ready for the new
2021-2027 programming period and are looking at how to
address new challenges by using a community focused and
local approach. This approach allows them to make an
integrated use of different EU funds, that are based on
strong involvement of local actors in both phases of
the process: planning and delivering. CLLD is a specific tool
for use at sub-regional level, which is complementary
to other development support at local level. The term
means that local development strategies focus on
specific sub-regional areas and are community-led by
local action groups composed of representatives of
local public and private socio-economic interests.
Within the upcoming renewal of the Territorial Agenda
post-2020, currently under preparation led by acting
Presidencies of the European Council, the CoR calls for
an increase in uptake of territorial instruments, in
particular in the form of community-led local
development (CLLD), along with integrated territorial
investments and other policy steps that seek to fulfil
the renewed Territorial Agenda (TA) (for more
information please check
here
) and reach cohesion goals.
"Community-led local development has proved to be a
very successful tool of local development delivering
European values by local means through a strong
engagement of citizens and a bottom-up approach", said
the Rapporteur.
This opinion drafted by the Rapporteur Radim Sršeň (CS/EPP),
emphasises that territorial cohesion is essential for
the success of cohesion policy. The recommendations
advocate for stronger links between Cohesion Policy and
TA at all stages – with CLLD placed at the core of this
link. According to the rapporteur, the TA post-2020 is
essential to address inequalities between places and
the people who live in them, and should be seen as an
opportunity to present a new narrative for the future
of the EU and the development of all regions.
Mr. Sršeň said: " Strengthening the European Union's
Territorial Agenda and Community-led local development
can play a crucial role in bringing Europe closer to
citizens and re-establishing missing legitimacy of the
EU".
Therefore, the CoR calls for mandatory earmarking of 8% for CLLD
from all European Structural and Investment Funds and
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
(EAFRD) to fully use the potential of the tool and
synergies of different funds for integrated local
development. In this way, this tool will be fully
exploited and will increase the impact of this specific
approach in the cohesion policy.
However, looking at the next programming phase, a
stronger technical support can help increase the use of
all available integrated development tools. The CoR
suggests the introduction of a mechanism for a quick
update to easily respond to new and emerging challenges
that may shape the TA post-2020. In this context, the
Rapporteur made some proposals to improve the
situation. The European Committee of the Regions calls
for:
· the development of the territorial instruments at a
local, regional, national and European level in the
post-2020 period,
· the strengthening of rural-urban linkages for the TA
post-2020.
These proposals aim to guarantee a greater use of
territorial instruments in the Member States and intend
to meet the renewed TA and cohesion objectives. They
also intend to ensure a stronger involvement of local
communities on the implementation of EU funds.
Contact:
Débora Teixeira (CoR)
Tel. +32 22822499
Mobile +32 493 93 23 09
debora.teixeira@cor.europa.eu
Pierluigi Boda (CoR)
Tel. +32 22822461
Mobile +32 473 85 17 43
pierluigi.boda@cor.europa.eu