President Valcárcel and German EU affairs ministers discuss social crisis

22-3-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — “We have a shared duty of providing answers to the growing frustration of our citizens. Though the crisis will pass by, the consequences of populism could last and harm our democracies”

​Today the President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, addressed ministers responsible for EU affairs from the 16 German Länder who gathered on the occasion of the 61st Europeaministerkonferenz (EMK). “Regional and local authorities are crucial as never before in order to stop the spreading of euro scepticism based on EU decisions which are hard to understand”, President Valcárcel said. The conference was chaired by Ralf Christoffers, CoR member and Minister for Economic and European Affairs of Brandenburg and offered an opportunity to debate core issues including the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, the next phase of structural funds programming and the developments of the social crisis.

During his opening speech Mr Valcárcel underlined the role of regions and cities representatives in presenting the opportunities and benefits of the EU project. At the same time he reiterated, “We are deeply concerned by the shortcomings in the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy exasperated by insufficient investment at EU and national level”. He called for stronger cooperation, “in order to make sure that regional and local authorities are involved in the review and implementation of Europe 2020 on a permanent basis, in particular within the framework of the European Semester”.

EMK Chair, Ralf Christoffers, also shared Valcárcel’s call for stronger attention to citizens’ expectations and fears, “The current debate on EU cohesion policy and on Europe 2020 strategy comes in a time when more and more citizens encounter growing difficulties in identifying themselves with the European project”.

The growing social crisis was also the focus of discussions between the ministers and EU Social Policy Commissioner László Andor. The discussions concentrated on one of the more sensitive issues in Germany regarding the supposed increase of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania following their accession to the Schengen area. Commissioner Andor underlined the relevance of EU policy in addressing the situation, “We have to work together to help weaker countries make better use of EU resources and improve their labour market”. The use of structural funds in developing new initiatives focused on migration was supported by Minister Christoffers and by CoR Member Emilia Müller, Bavarian Ministry for Federal and European Affairs. Referring then to the social crisis, she stressed that, “jobs creation is actually the best social policy”.

The availability of adequate funding to deal with the challenges over the coming years was discussed by the Ministers. The possible outcome of the on-going negotiations between the European Parliament (EP) and the Council were considered, taking into account the recent resolution adopted the the EP on 13 March.

For more information, please contact:

Pierluigi Boda
Tel. +32 2 282 2461
Mobile +32 473 851 743

R.L. Valcárcel Siso