The CoR President congratulates the Latvian Presidency on the Riga Urban Agenda declaration: "Member states commit to the development of a EU Urban Agenda - cities and regions request a clear timing for delivering results".
The President of the European Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, intervened at the Informal Cohesion Policy Council in Riga (EU ministers of Territorial Cohesion and Urban Matters) calling for a smooth implementation of the operational programmes: "The launch of the 2014-2020 phase is late, but in no way should this mean less efficiency or a lower quality of projects. Cohesion policy has powerful tools to deliver jobs and growth. Its successful implementation depends on simple and clear rules to access the funding opportunities.”
To this end, the launch of the High Level Group on Simplification, announced by Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Creţu, was welcomed by the CoR President, who stressed the added value of the Committee's contribution: "Our members' direct experience on implementation issues will make a concrete input to assess and improve the current regulation with the aim of making practitioners' life easier, boosting the funds absorption as well as increasing programmes' impact".
With regards to the adoption of the Riga declaration towards an EU Urban Agenda, President Markkula welcomed the recognition of the partnership principle and the respect of subsidiarity and proportionality. "Let me be clear: we do not call for an 'EU urban law', adding rules and requirements to the complex task of developing our cities. Nonetheless, we all acknowledge that there is too little consistency at EU level between the policy initiatives and the various investment programmes. Territorial impact assessments must become a regular part of the progress in shaping EU legislation. This should be based on an evidence-based policy, mapping new data and using new advanced regional and urban planning instruments. Also, we should not neglect the needs and opportunities for sustainable growth of both small and big cities, as well as their interactions with the countryside".
Regions and cities now request that the Riga declaration is followed by the agreement of a clear path for the shaping and adopting the EU Urban Agenda. President Markkula stressed the cooperation with the upcoming Presidencies of the EU: “Being the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives, the CoR represents the appropriate political platform to speed-up this process. We can already announce that an event on urban policies is to be organised in Amsterdam in May 2016, as a result of the commitment of the Dutch members of the Committee of the Regions and in line with the priorities of the upcoming Dutch Presidency” he added.