During the CoR Plenary session on 28 November, Jerzy Zajakała, EA Vice President and Major of Łubianka, addressed Commissioner for regional policy Danuta Hubner on the new cohesion policy. He welcomed the closer cooperation with the European Parliament in this matter and pointed out at the same time that smooth and quick implementation is now the priority to use the full the possibilities of EU funding.
However, he regretted that expectations on new tools to fund EU projects for rural development, which were badly needed to narrow the gaps with the reduced amount of resources available under the second pillar, have not been met. He added that accessibility for rural development funds is rather limited while there is a urgent need to revive rural environments, to improve their livelihood , the infrastructure and transportation links. This depends on us and we won't be able to deliver if we keep focussing attention only on urban areas, Mr Zajakała added.
Commissioner Hubner, while she confirmed that no sub programmes have been created on rural development to avoid paralysis and difficulty in the absorption of EU money, she reassured the EA member saying that there are different tools that can be used to finance the development of rural areas under the current regional policy.
