Czech Business Today

The two macro-regional strategies; the Baltic and Danube strategy adopted to date, which have already been showing results, have been meeting expectations of added value “on the ground”.

Significant joint decisions have been taken, and previously unused resources have been deployed, for example in the fields of environmental protection, shipping, flood protection, and maintaining water quality. The Commission’s analysis emphasises four areas relating to governance which are crucial for success: political leadership (strategic direction and governance structure); ownership, the importance of identifying with strategies, communication and accountability; coordination as a means of implementing strategies; management of the implementation process, action plans defining the day-to-day performance of tasks, cooperation, support for cooperation. 

According to the Commission’s analysis, “governance” is an activity determining in general how results are achieved. However, in this connection, there is a major difference between political leadership and the bodies implementing a strategy, which means that the concept of “ownership” is linked to different types of operators. The EESC believes that the framing and implementation of macro-regional strategies requires a specific governance system based on cooperation and coordination. Within this system, ownership of individual programmes, projects and measures can and should be linked with individual specific activities and those who carry them out. Such a system is a pre-requisite for the effectiveness and efficiency of individual activities and the basis for their measurability. The analysis confirms that macro-regional strategies provide a specific framework for cooperation between the European Union, the Member States, their regions and certain third countries within a given geographical area. The action plans are the tools for implementing strategies, enabling participation at economic and social levels. 

The EESC feels that the Commission’s analysis is an accurate summary of the main areas where stronger governance is needed. Effective implementation of macro-regional strategies requires firmer political governance, as well as defining and adopting cross- cutting objectives, at national level these should be more closely translated into domestic activity by governments. The EESC believes that efforts should be made to achieve more intensive implementation of partnership at European level and between European institutions. 

Marie Zvolská
EESC Member – Employers Group