Starting from below” “

Without adequate funds, the regional policy of the Union will remain a dead letter. That’s the constant refrain that accompanied the European Week of the Regions and Cities, which brought 600 delegates and almost 2,000 observers from over a hundred localities in 27 nations to Brussels from Monday 10 to Thursday 13 October. The Week was characterized by a series of events, including three main debates, over 60 workshops, and the plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (COR) to hammer home the point that “continental integration begins from below, from the suburbs, from the cities and provinces in which the 450 million citizens of the Union live”. A DECISION AWAITED ON STRUCTURAL FUNDS. Strong appeals were made, on every occasion, “to reach as soon as possible an agreement on the Financial Perspectives 2007/2013, a fundamental stage in launching EU structural funds, a mechanism for promoting economic growth and employment”. Peter Straub, from Germany, chairs the COR, a consultative organ of the EU, which promoted the European Week and the “open days”, in which the representatives of Romania and Bulgaria, two countries now close to membership, participated for the first time in an official capacity. According to Straub, “the current British Presidency has also given the impression of having grasped the delicacy of this phase and the need to approve the Financial Perspectives as soon as possible”. Investments for 336 million euros can only be released once this approval is given: funds “destined to reinforce convergence, competitiveness, according to the dictates of the Lisbon Strategy, and cooperation between all the areas of the EU”. DEBATE BETWEEN THE INSTITUTIONS. The same position was assumed by Danuta Hübner, from Poland, EU Commissioner for regional policies: “If we fail to define the 2007/2013 budget in the short term, we will have serious negative repercussions on the projects already begun for and with the Regions. We would have to renounce many objectives or delay the launch of projects that concern economic growth, employment, social cohesion and, indeed, the daily life of citizens. That is a luxury we cannot afford. It would therefore be desirable if all the institutions of the Union and the member states were to assume a great shared responsibility and promote a high-profile agreement”. Otherwise, according to Hübner, “it’s pointless and impossible to speak of solidarity and the Lisbon Strategy”. Alun Michael, UK Minister for Industry and the Regions, brought the voice of the current British Presidency of the EU Council: “We share the concerns voiced by the Committee of the Regions and by the Commission on the Financial Perspectives. But what is needed is a fair agreement, one, that is, that would give the Union the tools it needs to tackle the challenges of the 21st century, that would take into account the huge debate on the direction that the EU should take in future and that would satisfy, at the same time, the needs of the new member States, so as to ensure the success of enlargement”. FOR A EUROPE THAT IS “BORN FROM BELOW”. British deputy premier John Prescott intervened during the debate. He shared with the assembly the project of the British Presidency “to create sustainable communities”, that is, “places that take account of social, economic and environmental conditions, while offering at the same time jobs, schools, health services and other services accessible to everyone”. During the various sessions the COR evaluated various other questions that are at the basis of its role in the Union: the relation between centre and periphery in the “common home”; the roles played by the local authorities as “transmission belts” of many Community policies; the contribution of civil society, of individual citizens, and of associations, in a Europe that aims at turning into practice its motto “unity in diversity”. TOURISM, LANDSCAPES AND CULTURE. One of the more striking aspects that emerged from these “open days” of the COR is the positive experience of travelling, especially with objectives of study and for tourism, so as to gain an awareness of the size of the Union, “of the variety of its territory and people, and of the plurality of its traditions, histories and languages”. Information and statistics relating to 106 European regions are contained in a book distributed to the participants, with the title “Facts and Figures”. For each of these regions, the phrase of a famous personality (historians, philosophers, theologians, writers, directors, sportspersons, and so on) is cited: all intended to “celebrate” the uniqueness of a place, a landscape or a region.