Tibor Navracsics: Cohesion policy can remain decisive

We hope that at the EU summit in December it will be confirmed that the cohesion policy will continue to be decisive in improving the competitiveness of the Union and the demographic situation – said Tibor Navracsics after the informal meeting of the ministers responsible for the cohesion policy in Budapest on Friday.

The Minister of Public Administration and Regional Development highlighted the discussion held in the context of the Hungarian EU Presidency: he and his colleagues discussed what steps are necessary to slow down the demographic decline in the EU by mobilizing internal resources.

Cohesion policy is one of the priorities of the Hungarian EU presidency. Europe is in a declining demographic position, the natural birth rate is decreasing in almost all member states, which is a huge problem, primarily due to the depopulation of less developed regions.”

Tibor Navracsics emphasized .

He said that aging is true for all EU societies, that the age groups in need of care are occupying an ever-increasin
g proportion, and the proportion of those who can provide the financial support necessary for care is shrinking.

The phenomenon of brain drain in the Central, South-Eastern European and Southern states is also a particular problem, and Hungary is also forced to face the trend of young skilled workers going to the most developed areas of the EU, the northwestern and western member states.

We discussed how the cohesion policy in the future can contribute to stopping emigration from depopulated areas and bringing life back to these cities and regions, and what we need to do in order to strengthen the desire to have children. Targeted infrastructural developments, social benefits, investments in healthcare and education policy can also be considered, these will make these regions viable and lively”

said the Minister of Public Administration and Regional Development.

As he said, according to their ideas, at the European Council meeting in Brussels at the end of November, they will go over the connections betwe
en competitiveness and cohesion policy, and fix the future tasks with a council conclusion.

The minister pointed out that the debate between the member states in the EU institutions preparing the upcoming multi-year financial framework plan also applies to the short- and long-term objectives, financial frameworks and schedules of the cohesion policy.

He pointed out that two EU documents were published in the first half of the year, which are of fundamental importance from the point of view of cohesion policy. He added that the Ninth Cohesion Report of the European Commission reports on the development trends characteristic of cohesion policy in the last three years, and the other is the report of former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on the competitiveness of the internal market.

A third document prepared by another former Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, at the request of the European Commission, is expected to be made public early next week. This revolves around issues of competitiveness and th
e future, and we hope that cohesion policy will play a decisive role in it.”

Tibor Navracsics stated.

Source: KDNP