IP/08/72
Brussels, 22 January 2008
Commissioner Hübner attends special session with Polish Union of Voivodeships Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, today attended a special session with Poland's Union of Voivodeships in Brussels. The union brings together representatives of regional authorities in Poland, and the discussion focussed on the future of cohesion policy in Poland, the role of regions, and how best to benefit from European investment worth €67.3 billion for 2007-2013. The discussion involved Mr Michel Delabarre, President of the Committee of Regions, Jan Tombinski and Slawomir Czarlewski, Polish Ambassadors to the EU and to Belgium respectively, Mr Jan Kozlowski, President of the Union of Voivodeships, Polish Members of the European Parliament, and representatives of the European Commission.
In her speech, Commissioner Hübner underlined the importance of the regions for Cohesion policy in Poland, because they are, for the first time, the managing authorities for regional operational programmes.
"High quality administrative capacity, the full and active involvement of local authorities, proper project selection, and strict observance of EU law are key factors in the successful design and implementation of European Cohesion policy in Poland. They are essential to ensure funds are smoothly and efficiently absorbed for investments that fully reflect the needs of the regional and local economy," she said ahead of the meeting.
The Commissioner reminded the regions of their role in delivering jobs and growth in line with the Lisbon agenda. The session discussed ways in which Polish regions could be active on the European scene, and highlighted cooperation between Belgian and Polish regions.
Note for Editors
Poland is the biggest single beneficiary of Cohesion policy in 2007-2013, and will receive EU investment worth € 67.3 billion, that is, 19.4 % of the € 347.4 billion allocation for the whole of the EU. All 21 Operational Programmes Poland submitted to the Commission have now been adopted. The Regional Operational Programmes (ROP) for the 16 Voivodeships have a total planned allocation of over €16.5 billion. There are also five national programmes.
The biggest single programme is the national OP for Infrastructure and Environment that will include investment of nearly € 28 billion from the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund. The OP Human Capital will benefit from investment of nearly € 10 billion from the European Social Fund. The remaining national programmes are: OP Innovative Economy (€ 8.3 billion), OP Development of Eastern Poland (€ 2.27 billion) and OP Technical Assistance (€ 517 million). Now that the Commission has adopted all the programmes, Poland will select projects on the ground.
When adopting the programmes, the Commission checks the quality of the strategic priorities. It is the responsibility of Member States to select and carry out individual projects with the exception of major projects worth more than € 50 million (€ 25 million for environmental projects). These have to be submitted to the Commission for approval.
Further information about Polish Regional Policy available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas2007/fiche/pl_en.pdf
