Cypriot Municipalities for “Europe 2020” Strategy – 10/03/2011

A meeting was held in Brussels on the 8th of March, between the Permanent Representatives of the 27 EU Member States and the Heads of the National Delegations to the Committee of the Regions (CoR), at the invitation of Mrs. Mercedes Bresso, President of the CoR.

On behalf of Cyprus, the meeting was attended by Mr. Georgios Georgiou, Mayor of Kato Polemidia and Head of Cyprus Delegation to the CoR, and Mr. Andreas Mavroyiannis, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cyprus to the European Union.

This discussion focused on the CoR proposal that “Europe 2020” has to be implemented in each member state through a Territorial Pact, which is an agreement between a country’s various tiers of government (local, regional, national). Parties signing up to a Territorial Pact commit themselves to coordinate their policy agendas in order to focus their actions and financial resources on the “Europe 2020” Strategy goals and targets.

Ms Bresso, after presenting a summary of recent discussions gave the floor to Mr. Peter Gyorkos, Permanent Representative of Hungary and five other delegations, which referred to good practices in this area. Mr. Gyorkos stressed that through territorial pacts begins a new era for regional policy and the majority of delegations said that “Europe 2020” Strategy is intended not only to overcome the economic crisis but also to lay the foundations for sustainable growth.

Each EU Member Country has to submit its National Reform Programme for “Europe 2020” by the end of April 2011. The NRP will set the country’s national targets, how it will implement the flagship initiatives and act to remove bottlenecks preventing growth.