'Europe will only be secure when all of its regions are cohesive and developed' asserted Jan Szyszko, State Secretary in the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy of Poland, while opening a debate on the Polish Presidency's cohesion policy priorities at the CoR's 165th plenary session. Mr. Szyszko prefaced his keynote speech by affirming the crucial importance of cohesion policy to the Polish Presidency's motto 'Security Europe' since territorial cohesion underpins Europe's defence, economic and energy securities. Investing in the growth and empowerment of regions and developing a stronger and more flexible cohesion policy will therefore ensure that Europe can effectively respond to emerging geo-political challenges. Mr. Szyszko consequently welcomed the European Commission's mid-term review of cohesion policy, affirming that shared-management and performance-based approaches to investment and implementation will crucially ensure that cohesion policy remains open to all regions and continues to strengthen Europe's security.
Responding to Mr. Szyszko, Magdalena Czarzynska-Jachim affirmed the need to prepare Europe for evolving geo-political challenges but stressed that this must not be done at the expense of decentralisation or cohesion funding. Regarding decentralisation, Ms. Czarzynska-Jachim outlined how Europe draws strength from the diversity and resilience of local communities and cautioned against centralisation as potentially inhibiting of Europe's securitisation. On cohesion funding, she provided three recommendations for how the Presidency can ensure that funds are transferred 'wisely' to Europe's defence needs. Firstly, the Presidency must ensure that re-direction of funding does not entail neglect of other cohesion policy. Secondly, the Presidency should consider broadening investment sources to cover dual use infrastructure procurement. Finally, regulations must be simplified to facilitate competitiveness and growth in Europe. Ultimately, Mr. Czarzynska-Jachim concluded that cohesion policy reforms must be supported by communities and cities so that it can effectively bolster European security since 'Europe gets stronger on our streets'.