Two intensive days in Brussels for the good of Norrbotten
Johannes Sundelin (S), chairman of the regional development committee in Region Norrbotten and vice chairman of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), has left Brussels after two packed days of important meetings and discussions about the future of Europe.
During the days, Johannes Sundelin participated in AER's political bureau and board meetings, as well as in debates on, among other things, the right to service and the EU's regional policy - the so-called cohesion policy. One of the most fruitful conversations was led by Thomas Hartman, chairman of the Swedish delegation in AER, and was about how the organization can be strengthened for the future.
Johannes Sundelin also had the opportunity to meet several key figures in the European Parliament:
– Carla Tavares and Siegfried Muresan, rapporteurs for the negotiations on the EU's long-term budget
– Vladimir Prebilič, member of the Regional Committee who handles many of our issues
Consensus on special sparseness support
There is a clear consensus in Parliament that the Commission's proposal needs to be adjusted in order to pass. There is also a consensus that the Northern Sparsely Populated Areas (NSPA), which includes Norrbotten, need to receive continued financial compensation because we are partly sparsely populated rural counties.
This compensation is called sparseness allocation and exists so that the region's strengths can be fully exploited despite the particular difficulties that exist.
Sundelin also met with European Commission Vice-President Raffaele Fitto, responsible for Cohesion and Reforms, along with three AER colleagues.
Concerns about proposed reform
With Fitto, Sundelin raised an important issue: the proposed nationalisation of the EU's structural funds poses major risks to Europe's competitiveness. Decisions on how the money will be spent must be taken as close as possible to the place where they will be implemented. Otherwise, the regions risk losing their voice and the opportunity to use cohesion policy as a tool for regional development. He also stressed the importance of the sparse allocation.
Among the participants was also the Commissioner's Deputy Chief of Staff Felicia Stanescu, whom Sundelin took the opportunity to thank for her participation at the Europaforum Northern Sweden meeting last week.
Meetings like these are crucial for Norrbotten to have a strong voice in Europe, and for creating the right conditions for development in sparsely populated regions like ours.
