The President of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, proposed this Thursday, during the plenary session of the EU Committee of the Regions, to introduce population criteria as correction factors for EU cohesion policies after 27.
In his speech, at the start of the session, Jorge Azcón highlighted “the positive impact of these cohesion policies” in Aragon, with the “fundamental” FEDER, FEADER, Interreg and the European Social Fund funds.
recommended include correction factors to “adequately” reflect the demographic and structural reality of Aragon and other regions due to their low population density, dispersion and lack of medium-sized cities, because “otherwise the Community could not have equitable access to funds compared to other regions of Europe with a slightly lower GDP per capita but with depopulation.
Azcón defended that the EU implements “a cohesion policy with a budget in line with long-term investments” required by the 137 regions of the European Union.
Satisfactory assessment
“The EU cannot be understood without cohesion“, proclaimed Azcón, recalling that Article 3 of the EU Treaty stipulates that cohesion is a fundamental objective of the EU and that therefore “cohesion policy has accompanied all stages of the EU with a satisfactory balance in the convergence of Member States.
“If this has been a success, it is largely thanks to the current model”, continued the President of the Autonomous Community, affirming that “at a time of great historical challenges, cohesion policy must be capable of fighting to address major challenges, such as digitalization, climate change, demographic transition and citizen security”, adding that only in this way will it be possible to compensate for inequalities and move towards the market unique and “sustainable and sustainable” development.
The EU regions believe that “cohesion remains a fundamental pillar of the EU and main decentralized investment policy“, said Jorge Azcón, who raised three demands: “Equitable coverage for all regions, an adequate budget for current and future challenges and the strengthening of dialogue between the European Commission and the regions.
Cohesion policy, continued the head of the Aragonese Executive, must “respect the territorial approach according to the particularities of each region” and regional governments are those who best know the specific needs of each region, and their proximity to citizens allows them to be “more effective”.
“A a centralized approach would be a mistake“, said Azcón, who proposed increasing the EU budget in other strategic areas, “but not to the detriment of the EU’s reason for being, cohesion”, and chose to strengthen dialogue between the European Commission and the regions.
On the other hand, he expressed his “solidarity” with all the regions affected in Spain by the recent DANA, in particular the Valencian Community, but also Aragon, Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha and the Balearic Islands. He congratulated Vasco Alves Cordeiro for his performance at the head of the Committee of the Regions.
