EU REGIONAL AND STRUCTURAL POLICY

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EU REGIONAL AND STRUCTURAL POLICY

• 30/10/2008
• Istanbul Commerce University, Istanbul, Turkey
• Research on Rural Economic and Social
  Development for Mountain Villages in Thrace

October 2008
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• EU REGIONAL POLICY
• Topic- 1 OVERVIEW OF THE EU REGIONAL POLICY
• Topic- 2 BASIC FRAMEWORK - EU REGIONAL ACQUIS
• Topic- 3 ENLARGEMENT EU REGIONAL POLICY
• Topic- 4 REGIONAL POLICY TURKEY AS A
  NEGOTIATING COUNTRY

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OVERVIEW OF EU REGIONAL POLICY

• Purposes
• reduce the economic and social disparities
• provide equal opportunities for the periphery
• reducing the imbalances of socio-economic
  conditions
• Mechanism legal basis / Treaties set of
  regulations secondary legislatures ? coherent
  regional policy framework
• instruments for the management of structural
  regional assistance development
• positive discrimination / structural assistance

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EVOLUTION OF THE EU REGIONAL POLICY

• Reducing disparities across regions in Treaty
  of Rome 1957
• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) since
  1975
• Accession of UK, Ireland and Denmark in 1973
• Official beginning of the regional policy the
  Single European Act of 1986
• to alleviate the challenges of the common market
  for the poorer southern regions.
• In 1988 and 1999 reforms The main principles of
  the European regional policy substantially
  elaborated
• partnership,
• programming,
• concentration
• additionality

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EVOLUTION OF THE EU REGIONAL POLICY

• The budget allocated to the regional development
  / enlargement rounds
• The Cohesion Fund, support economic and monetary
  convergence of Spain, Greece, Ireland and
  Portugal
• the main solidarity instrument of the Community
• Enlargement --gt 40 increase in the
  appropriations allocated to the structural
  operations between 1994-1999, constituted 1/3 of
  the EU budget

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EVOLUTION OF THE EU REGIONAL POLICY

• Structural funds and cohesion fund - new legal
  form and appearance for the period of 2000-2006
• Agenda 2000 CEE Enlargement
• simplification of the legislation and procedures
  for the delivery of financial assistance
• Absorption of new MS Union of 27 -gt 2007-2013
  Scheme
• Motto more growth and jobs for all regions and
  cities of the European Union
• Budget for the cohesion instruments for 2007-2013
  --gt 308 billion.

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2007-2013 Regional Policy

• Objectives
• Convergence objective
• a common conclusion and stimulate a Union-level
  prosperity among the poorest Member States and
  regions which are eligible to for these
  instruments.
• Regional competitiveness and employment
• support to innovation, sustainable development,
  better accessibility and training
• will be able to utilize 15.95 of the structural
  instruments.
• European territorial co-operation
• intends to stimulate cross-border, transnational
  and interregional cooperation.
• 2.52 share of structural funds

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BASIC FRAMEWORK - EU REGIONAL ACQUIS

• Renewed agenda focus on growth and jobs and
  territorial cohesion
• Proportionality principle to provide less
  bureaucracy
• Simplification of instruments
• more proportional and decentralized management of
  the funds
• renewed programming process
• more strategic approach towards the allocation
  and management of funds
• more responsibility to local and national
  authorities for the management of the funds  

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2007-2013 Regional Policy

• Regulated by five separate legislations which
  were adopted by the European Council and EP in
  2006
• 3 cohesion instruments which are namely ERDF, ESF
  and the Cohesion Fund. The Structural Funds the
  Cohesion Fund ? main financial instruments of EU
  regional policy
• 2007-2013 Budget for regional policy 348
  billion
• 35 of the Community budget
• Second largest budget item
• 278 billion for the Structural Funds
• 70 billion for the Cohesion Fund

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BASIC FRAMEWORK - EU REGIONAL FUNDS

• 2 Structural Funds
• the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
  -the largest.
• Since 1975 provided support for creation of
  infrastructure and productive job-creating
  investment
• European Social Fund (ESF), - 1958,
• contributes to the integration into working life
  of the unemployed and disadvantaged sections of
  the population, mainly by funding training
  measures.  
• Community Strategic Guidelines on Cohesion
• Devises regions Nomenclature of Territorial
  Statistical Units (common standards for
  financial management, control and evaluation
  European NUTS) are formed
• BASIS socio-economic development indicators
• To narrow the development disparities among
  regions and Member States.

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BASIC FRAMEWORK - EU REGIONAL FUNDS

• Cohesion Fund
• It is intended for countries whose per capita GDP
  is below 90 of the Community average.
• Aid under the Cohesion Fund -subject to certain
  conditions.
• Public deficit of a beneficiary Member State can
  not exceeds 3 of national GDP for new project to
  be be approved
• Structural Fund and Cohesion Fund support for the
  three objectives always involves co-financing.
• All projects must comply with EU legislation,
  particularly with regard to competition, the
  environment and public procurement.

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT FOCUS

• With over 56 of the population in the 27 Member
  States of the European Union (EU) living in rural
  areas
• cover 91 of the territory
• Rural development - important policy area.
• Farming and forestry remain crucial for land use
  and the management of natural resources in the
  EU's rural areas
• as a platform for economic diversification in
  rural communities.
• The strengthening of EU rural development policy
  - an overall EU priority

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT FOCUS

• The essential rules governing rural development
  policy for the period 2007 to 2013, as well as
  the policy measures available to Member States
  and regions, are set out in Council Regulation
  (EC) No. 1698/2005
• thematic axes
• improving the competitiveness of the agricultural
  and forestry sector
• improving the environment and the countryside
• improving the quality of life in rural areas and
  encouraging diversification of the rural economy.
  
• Member States and regions are obliged to spread
  their rural development funding between all three
  of these thematic axes

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT FOCUS

• Support for rural development by the European
  Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
  2007
• Single instrument to finance rural development
  policy improve the competitiveness of agriculture
  and forestry, the environment and rural land
  management
• improve the quality of life and diversification
  of the rural economy.
• finance local development strategies and
  technical assistance (Leader-type projects)
• The Fund will contribute to achieving the three
  objectives linked to the three headings of rural
  development
• improving the competitiveness of agriculture and
  forestry by means of support for restructuring
• improving the environment and the countryside by
  means of support for land management
• improving the quality of life in rural areas and
  encouraging diversification of economic activity.
  

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT FOCUS

• 2007-2013 / National Strategy Plans
• identify the areas where the use of EU support
  for rural development adds the most value at EU
  level
• make the link with the main EU priorities (eg.
  under the Lisbon agenda)
• ensure consistency with other EU policies, in
  particular those for economic cohesion and the
  environment
• assist the implementation of the new
  market-oriented CAP and the necessary
  restructuring it will entail in the old and new
  Member States

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Evaluation of EU Regional Policy Trajectory

• Different development strategies and support
  schemes for each development phase
• in order to meet the needs of the date.
• Each enlargement wave has set a turning point for
  the evolution of the Regional Policy
• Each consecutive phase encompassed simplified and
  extended characteristics (structure and weight of
  the assistance)
• Each widening and deepening phases, new
  arrangements are made
• how much attention will be given to the economic
  and social cohesion for the new term and in what
  format the assistance will be realized

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Enlargement EU Regional Policy

• Candidate or accession country should understand
  and precisely evaluate the essence and indicative
  elements of the existing Community policy on
  regional development.
• The acquis related to regional policy generally
  composed of framework and implementing
  regulations and do not require from the Member
  States to transpose them into their national
  legislations.
• Regional policy acquis target the installation of
  necessary institutional infrastructure to design,
  approve and manage in a cost-effective way the
  structural fund programmes and cohesion fund
  actions
• The Accession Partnership lay down the short and
  medium-term priorities on regional policy for
  candidates, and coordination of structural
  instruments

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Turkey EU Regional Policy

• Turkey as a candidate country since 1999 is not
  eligible to use the structural funds
• A well-established legal and institutional
  framework complying with the EU provisions will
  facilitate the outmost benefit from structural
  funds for regional development after Turkeys
  prospective accession.
• Regional developments in Turkey will be compared
  and contrasted with the EU policy - commitments
  by Turkey reforms do or do not comply with the
  EU acquis

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Turkey EU Regional Policy

• Large amount of population / serious
  interregional socio-economic disparities
• likely to cause substantial modifications at the
  regional and cohesion policy of the EU and on the
  structural funds distributed.
• The accession process of Turkey to the EU is not
  a one-sided reform process which would change the
  regional policy framework in Turkey
• GDP per capita falls below the 75 of the
  Community average generally in all regions
• In case of any accession, Turkey as a whole will
  become eligible to exploit the structural
  instruments under Objective 1
• A great impact on the regional and cohesion
  policy of the European Union

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Turkey as a negotiating candidate country

• Turkey - a candidate country to the EU membership
  at Helsinki Council 1999 launch of negotiations
• New initiatives ? devising and/or restructuring a
  regional policy in Turkey
• Turkeys regional policy visions began to change
• parallel with the EU provisions in this field.
• regional policy focused on the installation of
  central and regional infrastructures
• as a preparation to the structural funds which
  will become available after accession
• Circumstances to employ bottom-up, effective and
  participatory regional development policies -
  supported by sufficient finance and public
  structures

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Turkey as a negotiating candidate country

• Priorities and measures for harmonization with
  the EU legislation and implementation
• laid down under Chapter 21 of Turkish National
  Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA)
• determining a comprehensive pre-accession
  strategy for prospective reforms in Turkey
• In 2003 - National Development Plan (NDP)

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Turkey as a negotiating candidate country

• In line with the EU obligations within the
  context of the acquis on regional policy
• European type statistical classification system
  of regions known as Nomenclature of Territorial
  Units for Statistics (NUTS) in 2002
• A general policy framework to stimulate genuine
  and indigenous regional development policies
• A regional development database compatible with
  the EU regional development statistics
• Establishment of Regional Development Agencies
  (RDAs)
• Rural Development Agencies
• prerequisites of the European Union acquis on the
  regional policy

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME FOR TURKEY

• Structural flaws eg. the weight of centrally
  appointed officials in their execution
• Financing instrument to fund assistance to
  candidate countries for 2007-2013, Instrument for
  Pre-accession Assistance - IPA
• RDAs are suspected to generate the envisaged
  change in terms of regionalization and regional
  programming and/or in terms of developing into
  autonomous decision-making bodies.

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME FOR TURKEY

• IPA replaces the 2000-06 pre-accession
  instruments, notably Phare, ISPA, SAPARD, Turkey
  pre-accession assistance and CARDS, which covered
  the Western Balkans up till now
• IPA consists of five components
• Transition Assistance and Institution Building
• Cross-Border Cooperation
• Regional Development
• Human Resources Development
• Rural Development

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME FOR TURKEY

• With the Rural Development component (5),
  candidate countries will be assisted through a
  particular instrument called IPARD Instrument
  for Pre-Accession Assistance in Rural
  Development. Its objective is two-fold
• to provide assistance for the implementation of
  the acquis concerning the Common Agricultural
  Policy
• to contribute to the sustainable adaptation of
  the agricultural sector and rural areas in the
  candidate country.

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THANK YOU

• CANAN KARAOSMANOGLU
• EU LEGAL EXPERT
• ITC EUROPA
• www.itc-europa.com
• Email karaosmanoglu_at_itc-europa.com
• Tel [phone]