Regional strategies for industrial areas in the European Union

The European Parliament adopted by 618 votes to 19, with 36 abstentions, a resolution on regional strategies for industrial areas in the European Union.

The resolution recalls that although the European industrial sector could play a leading role in the economy of the EU, it has fallen into decline with production dropping from 20% to 16% of the EU’s GDP. The Commission intends to reverse the decline of industry in the EU.

Cohesion policy: according to Members, cohesion policy can help address the structural challenges facing EU industry, and can contribute to achieving the ambitious objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Industrial policy tends to focus on the specific day-to-day problems of industry, and its strong impact on regions is therefore often overlooked. The success of industrial renewal should be coupled with regional development which will depend on the existence of effective policies in areas such as economic governance, competitiveness, research and innovation, energy, etc. In this regard, the Commission is called upon to develop political concepts and instruments which combine the Cohesion Fund and the Structural Funds with industrial policy approaches, in order to support the structural transformation from old industrialised regions to modern industrial regions.

Funding: Member States, regions and cities in the EU are facing financial constraints. EU funding to aid reconversion and restructuring efforts is indispensable for supporting regional and cross-border policy approaches. New and innovative integrated approaches, also facilitated by appropriate legislative policy frameworks and smart specialisation strategies, are needed to help regions and cities fulfil their innovation potential and refocus their industrial assets in the direction of emerging industries and services and globalised markets.

Parliament draws attention to the existing resources made available through cohesion policy and the Structural Funds. However, it regrets that these options do not always address the real region-specific problems and that the structural and investment funding made available is not fully taken up by Member States and regions at a time when industry is being hit hard by the crisis. It points out that further aid measures to assist old industrialised regions need to be put into place. Parliament takes the view that as a result of the enlargement process of the EU regional disparities have increased, and thus attention and public awareness have shifted away from old industrialised regions which lack sufficient investment opportunities for concrete regional development strategies.

The Commission is called upon to assess the present situation in old industrialised regions, identify their main challenges, and provide information and guidance for those regions, in order to develop, by means of democratic procedures, regional strategies based on broad partnerships which can help improve those regions’ sustainable development prospects by harnessing their endogenous potential.

Parliament believes that regional industrial strategies must:

• include, as a focal point, measures to protect land, water and air quality, to safeguard regional and local biodiversity and natural resources;
• include an integrated focus on possible forms of sustainable transport to and from those areas;
• be based on an integrated approach, including an employment, training, and education component, aimed at promoting growth sectors capable of creating sustainable local and regional jobs, especially for young people, e.g. in innovative SMEs, as part of the programme for the competitiveness of enterprises and SMEs (COSME).

It highlights the special role cities play in developing regional strategies for industrial areas and believes in this framework that cities are central to achieving smart growth. The Commission is called upon to engage in closer dialogue with the cities concerned with a view to raising the profile of cities as direct partners of the EU.

Parliament believes that no specific blueprint for regional strategies for industrial areas for the EU as a whole exists, and that a local and regional approach is most suitable for developing regional strategies.

In this respect, the Commission is called upon to:

• support regional economic research in the context of the initiative Horizon 2020, which enables the development of regionally adjusted strategies for additional old industrialised regions;
• create a database of existing industry parks and regional activity areas, with a view to identifying the best models that could also be used in other regions and tailoring them to local and regional long-term development strategies, and to provide guidance on how to use funds for assisting in the reconversion process;

Lastly, Member States are called upon to:

• ensure that old industrialised regions can fully benefit from national and European funds, so that the EU can start off a ‘new industrial revolution’;
• avoid over-complex rules for beneficiaries.