zemeunvalsts.lv note. The problems mentioned in the article were brought into focus here during the recent municipal reform, where one of the most important issues was whether and how infrastructure, etc., would be planned and developed in a larger municipality for parishes and villages remote from the centre.
Mistakes made over more than thirty years in the development of regions and parishes have been analysed relatively little in a clear and understandable way, with more attention being paid to personal criticism directed at former decision-makers.
Quoting the main point of the article: “People have a right to remain, and they have a right to opportunities where they live.” It must be said that it is still surprising that when talking about school reform, the closure of post offices, or public transport issues, for the most part only representatives of the responsible ministries speak publicly, as if such issues do not affect anyone else. For example, what is the vision of VARAM for the next 37 years for specific municipalities or small towns?
“We (mostly working in Riga) will close, reform, change, but you – over there – will think about how to carry on...” This is neither professional nor far-sighted, let alone modern or sustainable... As we can read in the article, we are not too different; similar problems exist throughout Europe, which is not and cannot be an excuse for short-sighted action.
Instead of using a sensible cohesion policy to address the structural problems of regions and promote their growth, “sometimes European cohesion policy is used to compensate regions for the benefits they have not received from EU integration or to deal with emergency situations”.
The European Union's cohesion policy has not been effective enough to prevent the ever-widening gap between cities and regions. This situation increases dissatisfaction, which in turn fuels support for Eurosceptic parties.
“The European project will not be successful if there are places or regions that are left behind,” EU Cohesion Commissioner Elisa Ferreira stated on 20 February, stressing that EU cohesion policy must continue to evolve to address these disparities.
Over the last twenty years, the number of supporters of “hard” and “soft” Eurosceptic parties in national elections has grown from less than 7% of the vote to 28.5%.
“While the causes of social discontent are many and varied, research suggests that long-term stagnation and a lack of economic progress can be linked to growing dissatisfaction and a loss of faith in the European project,” states the report on the future of EU cohesion policy. The report was presented by a high-level working group in Brussels on 20 February.
“Given the political problems we are facing, we need to pay more attention to [rural areas],” acknowledged Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (Andrés Rodríguez-Pose), a representative of the expert group that drafted the report. “There is a moment when we cannot be politically neutral.”
Currently, 75 million EU citizens live in regions whose growth has been stalled or near zero for more than 20 years. A further 60 million people live in regions where GDP per capita is lower than in 2000. This means that almost one-third of the EU population lives in areas that have gradually fallen behind over the last two decades.
The report points out that in populated areas where there is a long-term economic downturn, the number of jobs is decreasing, young and talented people are leaving, and the range of public services is shrinking. Due to a lack of profitability, supermarkets and bank branches are closing down.
“People have a right to remain. They have a right to opportunities where they live. People have a right to create businesses where they live,” emphasised EU Commissioner for Jobs Nicolas Schmit. (This guideline should also be noted by Latvian officialdom and politicians – unfortunately, the reality in Latvia is different...)
Despite the fact that the European Union has the largest budget in the world to reduce regional development disparities, European economic growth is increasingly concentrated in only a few large metropolitan areas. For information – this budget, calculated in total since 1989, amounts to 1 trillion 40 billion euros.
“Big cities cannot do everything alone,” noted A. Rodríguez-Pose. “Dynamic big cities (urbanised areas) account for just over a fifth of total EU GDP. There is also great potential in less populated areas.” 27% of the European Union's population lives in less developed regions. This means that in these regions, GDP per capita is less than 75% of the EU average. In contrast, only 5.4% of the population lives in one of the less developed countries.
More targeted investment needed
The report points out that one of the main problems that has limited the effectiveness of EU cohesion policy over the last two decades is the mismatch between goals and their implementation. Instead of using cohesion policy to address a region's structural problems and promote growth, it has been used, for example, to compensate for lost income. There are regions in the European Union that do not benefit from EU integration as much as others, so cohesion money is used for compensation or to deal with problems caused by emergencies (floods, earthquakes, fires, etc.).
Experts recommend that the EU improve the results of these investments by directing EU funding more purposefully. Europe should link payments to pre-agreed goals and tasks, taking into account the specific needs and opportunities of the region in question.