The Slovenian Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy (GOSP) achieved all the set objectives in the framework of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU. On the strategic level, the greatest emphasis is on the progress regarding the issue of the future of cohesion policy, where the Republic of Slovenia managed to promote an in-depth discussion and, at the same time, prepare concrete conclusions and guidelines for the future thus setting the direction for the future reforms. At the same time a big emphasis was put on the partnership approach, especially on the role of regions and territorial cooperation namely in the context of their contribution in reaching the Lisbon Strategy objectives as well as strengthening the institutional cooperation of the regions, e.g. in the framework of the Euroregions.
GOSP activities were focused on three key issues:
The ambition of the Slovenian Presidency regarding the future of cohesion policy was to promote a more focused and concrete discussion as the debate has thus far mostly dealt with global issues of cohesion policy. To reach this objective the Conference on the future of cohesion policy took place in the framework of the Slovenian Presidency in Maribor, which firstly, brought together all the key stakeholders of cohesion policy (European Parliament, social partners, NGOs and regional associations), and secondly, where the key stakeholders despite the complexity of the issue actually expressed their views.
The above two facts have additionally enhanced the weight of the Presidency conclusions; a special contribution was given by the address at the Council Working Group. The key messages of the Slovenian Presidency regarding cohesion policy are: cohesion policy, the key objective of which is to reduce development differences and strengthen competitiveness, remains one of the fundamental pillars of the European Union with the universal support to its strategic orientation as well as its structure; some criticisms are related only to the specific aspects. The advantage of cohesion policy is that is enables the necessary flexibility for the implementation of development policies in accordance with the needs of specific regions and Member States, thus, in line with the subsidiarity principle. One of the messages of the conference was also that cohesion policy delivery mechanisms need reform. Thus, on 24 June 2008 the European Commission issued the Fifth Report on Economic and Social Cohesion – growing regions, growing Europe. The report is a good summary on the discussion thus far including taking into account the conclusions of the Conference on the future of cohesion policy in Maribor. A very positive ascertainment is that convergence among regions has remained strong in the past few years while competitiveness is in the centre of cohesion policy.
In its Presidency programme, GOSP paid special attention to the role of regions and local communities thus establishing a close cooperation with the Committee of the Regions. The Conference Territorial Dialogue 2008, a third thus far, received a lot of attention. A key message of the conference which is a part of the Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council of 13 and 14 March 2008 (doc. 7652/08) is that “regions represent the key actors in Lisbon Strategy implementation, therefore their contribution and views need to be considered in all the stages of measure preparation and implementation”.
In cooperation with the Committee of the Regions we organised the First meeting of the Committee of the Regions Expert Group on European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) and later the inter-institutional conference in Brussels on the same theme where the Republic of Slovenia enhanced its role as an important and reliable partner in the field of regional and territorial cooperation. The Meeting of the Committee of the Regions Commission for External Relations and Decentralised Cooperation RELEX focused on national minorities in the Western Balkan countries and the opportunity for trans-national cooperation of the regional and local authorities of the Western Balkans. The programme of cooperation with the Committee of the Regions closed with the Meeting of the Committee of the Regions Commission for territorial cohesion COTER focusing on the impact of major investments in transport infrastructure on territorial cohesion in the EU.
GOSP is also the managing authority in the field of cohesion policy and thus responsible for the successful implementation of individual policies co-financed by the EU funds. Therefore we organised the Conference on the European Social Fund (ESF) “European Social Fund: Contribution to the Inclusion of Young People into the Labour Market” which showed a strong representation of young people who actively participated in the discussion and posed direct questions to the high representatives. They expressed the concern that important decisions are often reached without their involvement – this is why the conference was welcomed even more. Easier and more efficient inclusion of young people into the labour market is becoming a value, especially “being employable”, i.e. being competitive, interesting and being able to adapt quickly to the labour market which can be achieved only by life-long learning, training and informal competences, knowledge and skills.
An overview of the key activities and achievements during the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU shows that the Republic of Slovenia has significantly promoted the discussion on the strategic questions in the field of cohesion policy as well as the implementation of its newest instrument, which provides the opportunity for the formation of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). All the activities were carried out in close and active cooperation with the partners and regions in accordance with the Slovenian Presidency logo Si.nergy for Europe. Jan Olbrycht, MEP, especially emphasised the political significance that the discussion on the strategic questions on the concrete level was started in a new Member State.
