Mr Szwabski, councillor of Gdynia (Poland), while speaking on behalf of the European Alliance group in the Committee of the Regions at the joint REGI-COTER meeting before the European Parliament colleagues, called for binding requirements to enforce the partnership principle in the implementation of cohesion policies.
"As former rapporteur on the Code of Conduct of Partnership, I am very proud to see the partnership principle now being formalized and enshrined in the EU legislation. I am confident it will ensure greater transparency and local ownership, thus better responding to the most pressing needs of the citizens on the ground. However, he continued, we in the CoR, really want a change in culture. We want the citizens to have a say on what they need in their local communities. We want to go beyond a pure consultation method, we want to make the application of the partnership principle compulsory and we rely on the Commission to hold member states accountable for their commitment to truly involve LRAs.
During his speech the EA member also invited the European Commission to use more the carrot rather than the stick, when it comes to capacity building."If we want to see better results, he added, we must empower people on the ground. We need to better explain to officials from the managing authorities what they are expected to do and how should they do it and I would like cities to be given the same possibilities as regions when it comes to access to training opportunities and improving capacity building.
Growth will not happen without focussing on people. Investing in infrastructure is important but we need to think first about the future of our children which currently seems quite gloomy, concluded the EA member.
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