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You are here: Home / Archives for Together4Cohesion

The Benefits of Cohesion for Citizens of the European Union: Together4Cohesion’s Event in Timiș

2 April, 2020 By Birgit Sandu

Another important stage was achieved on the route to raise awareness of European cohesion policy and its benefits for the regions through the “European cohesion calendar for local events” of the Together4Cohesion project! 

On February 25th, the Timiș County Council held the conference “The benefits of cohesion for citizens of the European Union”. The aim of the event was to inform citizens, local authorities, and stakeholders about the benefits of European cohesion policy in the Region West in Romania. 

Since the accession of Romania to the European Union, cohesion policy has played a fundamental role in promoting the economic development and well-being of the Region West. According to the president of Timis County Council, Călin-Ionel DOBRA: “Our West Region directly benefited from cohesion prioritization of the EU investment policies, because the budget allocation of the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework has created thousands of new jobs, facilitated the rehabilitation of several regional roads, the provision of high-performance equipment for various hospitals and schools and considerable investments in terms of services and infrastructure. This is why we are entitled to say that cohesion policy, combined with foreign investments, represent the main factors to raise Timis into the top counties with the lowest unemployment rate in Romania. Since our 2007accession to the European Union until the present, we lowered from a percent of 7.7 in 2006 to a currently rate below 1%” (press release).

The conference gathered representatives of public institutions and non-governmental organizations and presented some of the major projects co-financed by EU funds, as well as their concrete achievements. The presented projects were meaningful in shedding light on the real-life impacts of the activities launched within the European cohesion policy. These included the “expansion and modernization of the Emergency Receiving Unit of the Timișoara County Hospital”, “construction of a new Obstetrics-Gynecology Clinic”, “the exit of the A1 Highway”, and “modernising the DJ 693 county road to interconnect it with A1 highway and building a bridge over Mureș River in Pecica, Arad County” (press release). 

Read the full press release of the event here to have more information about the conference and the benefits of European funds in the region!

And check the European cohesion calendar for local events for updates on the upcoming events!

First photo: Călin-Ionel DOBRA, President of Timis County Council. Second photo: Conference “The benefits of cohesion for citizens of the European Union”. Photo credits: Dani Amariei, Timiș County Council.

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Conference on Cohesion Policy & ESIFs in Varazdin, Croatia.

1 February, 2020 By Agnese Pantaloni

Keen on learning more about the use and benefits of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs) for your region?

Within the “European cohesion calendar of local events” of the Together4Cohesion project and after the popular Agricultural Fair in Alba (RO), the successful Career Management Conference in Alba (RO), the political summit of the Forum of Mayors in Csongrad (HU), the inspiring training workshop on Cohesion & Communication in Trentino (IT) and the musical festival in Varazdin (CRO), Varaždin County is organising another DG REGIO-funded event: an international conference about EU Cohesion Policy and ESIFs on 13 February 2020.

The event will be a half-day event comprising an international panel to discuss the topic: ‘ESI Funds Beyond 2020’. Among others, speakers will include the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds, the Public Institution for Regional Development and European Affairs of Varaždin County, as well as Cohesion Policy experts from Austria and Croatia.

AER Member Relations Coordinator, Tina Wu, will participate alongside Michiel Rijsberman, Regional Minister of Flevoland and Chair of AER TaskForce on Cohesion Policy. In particular, Mr. Rijsberman will speak about the use and relevance of ESI funds from the 2014 – 2020 programming period – and how to maximise the funding at local/regional level, including implementation aspects linked to subcontracting and public procurement. The best practice from The Netherlands is also expected to be presented.

The AER experience within the Cohesion Alliance, the Task Force on Cohesion and the AER cooperation with Committee of the Regions will be also tackled. All in all, insights and views regarding the ways regions can make their voice heard when it comes to funding/investment programming beyond 2020, for lobby purposes, will be discussed.

The participants will give presentations about the objectives of ESI investments for the 2021 – 2027 period as well as about the good examples stemmed from the 2014 – 2020 period. Finally, there will be an interactive discussion about the enhancement of regions’ influence as regards the programming of ESI Funds for the future, that is in line with the AER advocacy mission conducted in October 2019 and our joint letter to lobby for a stronger Cohesion policy and an increased financial support for the programming period 2021 – 2027 in the interest of our member regions.

Contact the AER Project Unit for more info!

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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Eurobarometer: What do we know about Cohesion Policy?

7 November, 2019 By Erica Lee

The results of the flash Eurobarometer 480 on “Citizens’ awareness and perception of regional policy” were published on 7 October, just in time for the European Week of Regions & Cities. 

The flash survey was carried out on a sample of 700 -1000 respondents in each EU Member State in June 2019.

4 in 10 European citizens are aware of projects funded by cohesion policy. 

Awareness of EU-funded projects has increased significantly since over the last three years. There could be many explanations for this, including an increased effort by the European institutions to communicate about cohesion policy, the 2019 European elections, or potentially even the ongoing Brexit process drawing attention to the merits of EU membership. 

The increased awareness of cohesion policy is especially noteworthy in Italy, Austria, and France with overall highest awareness in Poland (82%) and Slovakia, Czechia, Malta, Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia, Hungary and Lithuania all above 60%. It can be stated that beneficiary countries are more aware of cohesion policy than countries that receive less funding. 

When people are aware of projects funded by cohesion policy in their region, an overwhelming proportion (81%) believes they have a positive impact on their lives. Interestingly, some 19% apparently do not feel that these projects are useful or beneficial to their region. 

Most citizens surveyed believe the EU should invest in education, health and social infrastructures (91%), as well as the environment (90%) and in renewable and clean energy (87%). Topics such as support to SMEs (81%), research and innovation (80%), training (78%) and transport (75%) follow. These topics are fully in line with the proposed priorities for a smarter, greener and more social Europe as well as with the draft arrangements to strengthen coordination with other EU funds. 

Respondent also believe regional policy should invest in ALL regions (58% in 2019, compared to 47% in 2010) but granting priority to regions with high unemployment (69%), deprived urban areas (54%) and remote rural or mountain areas (52%). These results are similarly coherent with the proposals for 2021-2027 where regions will benefit based largely on GDP per capita but also new criteria such as youth unemployment, low eductaion level, climate change, and reception and integration of migrants. 

The moral of the story? The more people know about regional policy & cohesion funding, the more they see its benefits and perceive its impact as positive.

How can the EU, networks and regions themselves better communicate Cohesion Policy? AER is working on this topic as part of the Together4Cohesion project, where 15 local events will take place in 5 European countries to highlight in the regions, how cohesion funding makes a difference to the everyday lives of EU citizens. Visit together4cohesion.eu to learn more. 

Together4Cohesion
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REGIONerating Europe

8 October, 2019 By Erica Lee

As part of the European Week of Regions and Cities, AER hosted an event entitled “REGIONerating Europe” focusing on the role regions can play in regenerating the European Project as well as how citizens in the regions of Europe benefit from EU membership through Cohesion Policy, structural and development funds.

The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.

The timing of this event was particularly pertinent given that new European Parliament has recently been elected and a new Commission is currently being formed.

The goal of the workshop, moderated by AER Vice-President for Democracy, Nina Björby, was to stimulate debate around key challenges facing the EU today and how regions can help to create a more democratic, inclusive and sustainable Europe.

Speaking on the value of cohesion policy and its uses, Anna Wagner, Deputy Head of Unit of the European Commission’s DG Regio stressed the importance of the partnership principle as well as the territorial dimension of cohesion policy. She welcomed the emphasis on a territorial approach and the move away from looking at cohesion purely through a sectoral lens.

Ms Wagner also highlighted the importance of “cross-fertilising” or sharing best practices between regions. She recognises the work done by AER in this field and affirmed the importance of policy learning between regions as a means to promote a bottom-up approach to governance.

Anna Casini, Vice President of the Marche Region, Italy, intervened on the subject of subsidiarity and called for a common language and common narrative when communicating on European affairs. Instead of ‘subsidiarity’, we should speak about a Europe closer to citizens.

Ms Casini gave examples from the Marche Region on how Rural Development Funding has been employed both to increase awareness about the EU’s support to regional development in rural areas and also to tackle knock-on effects of climate change. She underlined that addressing climate change is not just a matter of ethics, but also economics, citing the example of viticultural harvests which have been destroyed as a result of drought or floods in her region. Access to European funding can help to offset dramatic consequences for local farmers, businesses and supply chains in Europe’s regions.

Thomas Andersson, AER member and Rapporteur on ‘Partnership between civil society and local and regional levels’ of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, spoke about threats to democracy faced by the existing gap between institutions, citizens and civil society. He outlined the work done by the CoE Congress in cataloguing methods to improve citizens’ engagement and told the participants about an upcoming toolkit which, when published, will be an excellent resource for all local and regional authorities wishing to further the involvement of citizens in multilevel governance and European affairs.

Mr Andersson, too, asserted the importance of avoiding “top-down” approaches to communicating on European affairs, favouring instead the empowerment of individuals and groups to speak up and make their needs known.

Christopher Glück, President of the Young European Federalists (JEF), continued this thread, outlining the work done by JEF and AER on the EU-funded project “Road to the Future“, which involved a bus tour across the EU in advance of the 2019 European Parliament elections to engage young people and encourage them to get out and vote.

Mr. Glück shared his experiences of speaking to young Europeans across the continent, in both capital cities and more remote areas, and told of a feeling of lost trust in democracy and scepticism towards the European Union, partly as a result of disinformation. He concluded by providing concrete examples of how Europe’s local and regional leaders can counter this trend; by making changes that inspire hope in the European project, by tackling disinformation through education & media scrutiny, and speaking openly and passionately about the many advantages of European Union membership, including the positive impact Cohesion Policy has on citizens’ everyday lives.

Takeaways

Advice for regions on Communicating Cohesion Policy

  • Thomas Andersson: don’t be afraid to ask hard questions. Constructive criticism is needed to grow and develop. Keep an eye out for the CoE Congress toolkit on engaging civil society!
  • Anna Wagner: explore how Cohesion Policy programming is conducted in your region and establish what role you can have in shaping it.
  • Anna Casini: listen to critics & teach citizens to verify news. Regions need to speak up when the next Cohesion Policy package is designed to ensure it is shaped in their best interests!
  • Christopher Glück: inclusiveness doesn’t just happen. Resources need to be allocated to facilitate genuine exchanges between institutions and citizens to bridge the gaps. Regions need to be smart in how they interact with citizens, bearing in mind, language aptitudes, the level of info citizens have and their socio-economic circumstances.

Cohesion Policy is a central element of AER’s work. Within the Bureau, we have an active Task Force on Cohesion. In addition, we are currently leading an EU-funded project “Together4Cohesion” on communicating cohesion policy in the regions of Europe.

If you would like to learn more about either of these initiatives, please do not hesitate to contact the AER secretariat.

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Together4Cohesion launch in Larnaca

12 June, 2019 By Rosanna Fanni

The project Together4Cohesion aims to amplify communicative practices in regions and strengthen AER’s efforts in improving cohesion policy in Europe

Many citizens in the regions are inadequately informed about the impact of cohesion policy in their daily lives. In an effort to improve the communication of these benefits, AER and mc Group have partnered up for the project “Let’s rEUnite: Together for Cohesion”. On June 5th, the project was officially launched in Larnaca (CY) together with its partners and AER members during the General Assembly. 

Magnus Berntsson, President of AER, opened the event and stressed the importance of AER members as relevant amplifiers for cohesion policy.

Whether it’s transport, healthcare, communication, leisure activities, community life – Cohesion Policy aims to reduce economic and social disparities and to promote sustainable development. In sum, many examples can be found to demonstrate how European Cohesion Policy Funds support people’s daily lives. 

Mathieu Mori, Secretary General of AER, then introduced the project partners: mc Group and AER’s Project Unit. More generally, AER’s work on cohesion with its taskforce and as member of the Cohesion Alliance already invested efforts in cohesion policy. Six AER member regions have taken up the challenge of becoming core partners: Varazdin (Croatia), Csongrád (Hungary), Trentino (Italy), Timis and Alba (Romania) and Catalonia (Spain).

Then it was the turn of mc Group to explain their role in the project. Elisa Lomonte, International PR, and Jan Pycha, Project Manager, presented their insights on target groups, how to build a house of communication as part of an integrated campaign. They focussed in on what is meant by a 360-degree communication campaign, creating synergies and cross-promotional effects through specific communication tools.

mc Group also introduced 4 action steps for the implementation of the project’s campaign:
1) What regions are already doing?
2) What really innovative regions can do?
3) Citizens on board! The Messengers for Cohesion and
4) Blowing Cohesion policy positive effects over European regions: the “For Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” campaign. Bringing in both citizens and stakeholders is a key objective of the communications.

The presentation was followed by an interactive quiz. The attendees answered four questions on EU Cohesion Policy, namely: 

1. What percentage of the EU budget does cohesion funding represent?
2. The Cohesion Policy is delivered through three main funds, identify them.
3. By 2020 the EU aims to meet five concrete objectives in regard to its Cohesion Policy, identify them.
4. Who can apply for the EU Cohesion policy benefits?

Would you know the answers?

Afterwards, the participants were asked to vote for the official name of the campaign. The options were:

  1. Cohesion In The Regions – #CohesionRegions – cohesionregions.eu 
  2. Together For Cohesion – #Together4Cohesion – together4cohesion.eu

The pilot regions’ representatives, mc Group, and members from the AER Project Unit joined President Berntsson and Secretary-General Mori “on stage” to reveal results of the vote. The winning campaign name was #Together4Cohesion!

A highlight of the launch event for participants was the reveal of the future wesbite landing page! 

Finally, Mathieu thanked the attendees for their presence and announced the further work in the Knowledge Sharing Workshop on 6th June to capture the best-practices from communication campaigns, AER members analysed campaigns and voted for best-practice examples.

We look forward to officially start with the campaign and cooperate with European regions – let’s unite our efforts and act Together4Cohesion!

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