Sustainable urban development: economic and social regeneration of cities and of neighbourhoods in crisis, URBAN

The European Parliament adopted the report by Ms. Arlene McCarthy (PES, UK) concerning the resolution on the URBAN initiative which seeks to tackle urban deprivation. It calls in particular for partnership or close co-operation with local authorities in order to strengthen the role of the non-governmental sector in urban development. It also calls on the Commission to urge the Member States to grant 'more adequate resources' to URBAN and to ensure ethnic minority participation. In addition, the European Parliament calls on the Commission to ensure that in the selection procedure projects that cover the field of environmental safety as well as the social and economic aspects are considered. The Parliament considers that the early involvement of local partners in the design and delivery of the programmes should be a condition for their selection. It stresses that the minimum amount of EUR 500 per inhabitant in each eligible area should be applied in the light of circumstances in the target area and not as a 'mechanical objective'. The European Parliament also notes that the timetable for submission of programmes is inadequate to allow for partnership and capacity building and quality of programmes, and accordingly calls for the extension of the time-scale to a realistic period. The Commission and the Member States are called upon to ensure an extensive publicity and communication campaign for the new URBAN initiative. They are also called upon to provide full and transparent information on the selection procedures and the methodology for the URBAN initiative, and to inform the Parliament regularly on the implementation of URBAN.�