1. GROWING REGIONS, GROWING EUROPE Fourth Report on Economic and Social Cohesion By Prof. Danuta Hübner Brussels, 30 May 2007

2. 2 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Situation and trends: regional disparities In 2004, the top regions (with 10% of the EU population) had a GDP per head that was almost 5 times higher than that in the bottom regions (with 10% of the EU population), while in 2000 it was 6 times higher

3. 3 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Situation and trends: regional growth Over the period 1995- 2004, growth of productivity has been high in the regions of the new Member States. Yet, in 29 regions (notably in France, Italy and Spain) productivity has decreased.

4. 4 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Situation and trends: employment deficit Around 24 million additional jobs need to be created to reach the Lisbon target of employment rate More than a third of these jobs have to be created in only 30 regions in Poland, Spain, Romania and southern Italy

5. 5 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Situation and trends: the innovation deficit Regions in Scandinavia, Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands emerge as the best performers While in 86 regions home to a third of the EU population, performance is below average

6. 6 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Challenge 1: demography 85 regions (mainly in the new Member States) are already experiencing absolute population decline, and another 76 regions maintain population growth only thanks to migration

7. 7 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Challenge 1: demography In large parts of Spain, Italy, and Greece there are only 2 people in employment for every person above retirement age compared to an average for the Union of around 3 people

8. 8 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Challenge 2: industrial patterns and restructuring 39 regions have more than 3% of their total employment concentrated in the clothing, textile and leather industry (twice the average of the Union), reaching 13% in the Norte region of Portugal

9. 9 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Challenge 3: climate change 7% of the EU population live in areas at high risk of flooding (red and orange colour) In 45 provinces (NUTS III), over 20% of the population is at risk

10. 10 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Policy response in the EU Member States Over the past 10 years, there has been an increase in the share of investment under the control of regional and local authorities

11. 11 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Cohesion policy supports much needed investment Between 2000 and 2005 in the four cohesion countries, public investment has been around 25% higher than without cohesion policy

12. 12 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Cohesion policy helps shift the policy mix of public investment The share of cohesion spending on R&D, innovation and ICTs has more than doubled between 2000-2006 and 2007-2013

13. 13 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Cohesion policy reduces social exclusion and poverty Cohesion policy co-finances the training of 9 million people annually, more than half of them women; Over 450,000 jobs were generated between 2000 and 2005 in six countries, representing 2/3 of Objective 2 funding; Estimates suggest that around 1.4 million additional jobs will be created in Convergence regions between 2007 and 2013

14. 14 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Cohesion policy contributes to the growth of GDP Preliminary estimates for the period 2000-2013 (2004- 2013 for the new Member States) suggest an increase in GDP compared to a baseline scenario without cohesion policy by: Around 9.0% in the Czech Republic Latvia Around 8.5% in Lithuania, and Estonia Around 7.5% in Romania Around 6.0% in Bulgaria and Slovakia Around 5.5% in Poland Around 3.5% in Greece and 3.1% in Portugal

15. 15 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy Next steps… 1.Questions on the future in the 4th Cohesion Report 2.27+28 September 2007: 4th Cohesion Forum launches public consultation 3.Spring 2008: Fifth Progress Report on Economic and Social Cohesion, including a report on the public consultation 4.Autumn 2008: Follow-up conference to the 4th Cohesion Forum (tbc)

16. 16 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Regional Policy http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/ sources/docoffic/official/reports/co hesion4/index_en.htm More information: