Cork City Councillor Kieran McCarthy speaking on the Five Presidents Report opinion during the Committee of the Regions April Plenary Session pointed out that Local and Regional Authorities have been financially struggling to recover after economic recession. He underlined that presently we are only partially experiencing economic recovery. Social, economic and territorial disparities can only be reduced through a vision that is based on the 2020 strategy and includes a regional dimension and results-oriented cohesion policy.
"There have been significant reductions for local and regional government programs such as housing provision, roads, environmental strategies, health, education etc. in our cities and regions. Progress has been made to decouple banking and sovereign debt through new mechanisms and regulations that ultimately aim to ensure that the people that we directly represent are not personally burdened with future banking depth. The MEU will have a knock-on effect on what level of funding is provided for in the development of the EU regions. The EU citizens must be at heart of the evolving MEU strategy" – he said.
Cllr McCarthy also welcomed the strong arguments given by the Rapporteur Pastacci on Upgrading the Single Market. "SMEs comprise 99% of all EU enterprises. They are risk takers in the promotion of enterprises and the hardest hit during the economic collapse of recent years. Many of them collapsed and/or down-sized their operations. Hence there is a large need to re-open the dialogue and consultation with SMEs in the EU. I welcome the statement 'Think Small First', to promote and enhance but not burden SMEs in their future growth strategies."
