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Citizen participation in cohesion policy (10 March 2022).

"Check against delivery"

Dear colleagues,

distinguished guests,

We are brought together today by a conviction that good governance matters, and that a key pillar of good governance is citizen participation.

In cohesion policy, Europeans have entrusted us with 420 billion euros of investment. This once-in-a-generation level of funding is for a once-in-a-generation transformation, a green and digital recovery, for all the regions of Europe.

With great power comes great responsibility. We must live up to the trust that citizens have placed in us. And there is no better builder of trust and no better builder of effective projects, than citizen participation.

If you want an excellent local project, that targets local needs and mobilises local energy, then you must start by talking with local people. And you must continue, throughout the project life cycle, to work closely with local people.

And if you want young people to gain the most out of our projects you must involve young people, in planning and delivery.

So citizen participation is not an optional extra: it is one of the foundations, and preconditions, of project success.

And in addition, as the excellent report from the OECD makes clear, we must move from citizen consultation to citizen engagement. It is one thing to ask citizens for their views but it is another level to truly engage them, throughout the process. This then is the challenge.

Today's event is the last of a series of four. We started on 8 February with a meeting on Integrity Pacts, where we met with practitioners and reflected together on the future of clean contracting and investment in Europe.

Second, on the 16^th of February, we organised a Forum for Managing Authorities. Together with them and the OECD, we shared experiences, and explored new ideas for building administrative capacity, based on the pilot projects.

Third, on the 1^st of March, we presented concrete tools for administrative capacity building. These tools were prepared for you by the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy. The tools included training, a community of practice and access to various other toolboxes.

Finally, today I am delighted that we meet once again for a political debate on citizen participation in cohesion policy.

So what are we doing to promote citizen participation? And what are the next steps?

Today, the European Commission is negotiating programmes in all Member States. There is no programme that is not scrutinised through the lens of partnership. We want the consultation to be broad, the participation process to be transparent and the governance to be open.

This is our commitment. And we know that citizens are willing to engage. We see this in the Conference on the Future of Europe. We get a clear message that there is no EU topic in which citizens do not wish to participate.

But between the willingness on our part, as European Commission, and as programmers, and the willingness on the part of citizens, there is the practical question: how concretely do we structure this participation to make it a success? What are the operational solutions?

Today we hear answers, from the pilot projects. Launched two years ago, in partnership with the OECD, these pilots show practical next steps for all of us who want to deepen our work with citizens.

Many thanks to the OECD. As well as to the regions of Cantabria, and Emilia Romagna, to the Interreg programmes “Belgium-Netherlands” and “Bulgaria-Romania”, and to the Centre for EU Transport Projects in Poland.

Your work on the pilots has shown that we need to go beyond traditional stakeholders to include all citizens, including young people.

The pilots have also shown that we need to go beyond traditional participation methods, such as public consultations, and that we need to have innovative methods. The pilots show that civil society is well placed to involve citizens using these innovative methods, from involving young people in remote areas, to developing new tools to collect, in a structured way, the voice of citizens, such as citizen juries.

From the pilots, it has emerged that citizens are willing to get involved, in topics across the board, from local development to local governance, from the green transition to the fight against fraud.

The pilots have also shown the need to support citizen participation with human resources and financial resources, as well as the time needed for meaningful engagement.

In this context, I urge you to make maximum use of the new provisions in cohesion policy for supporting administrative capacity as well as the simplifications in using technical assistance flat rate support. So far, only a few countries are using these provisions to the full: we in cohesion policy are providing the resources to build administrative capacity. Please use them!

And we are also providing another key resource. We want to share these experiences with everyone. So we will soon be launching a new Community of Practitioners to enable discussion of how best to “do participation” in your programme.

I will finish with a reminder of what is at stake.

We in Europe are at a defining moment, plotting the course for our green and digital future.

And we in cohesion policy have a once-in-a-generation opportunity, with once-in-a-generation levels of investment to ensure that every region benefits from the new green and digital economy, and no region is left behind.

For exceptional changes and exceptional investments we must bring out our best: exceptional governance and exceptional levels of public participation.

We in the European Commission are determined to make a success of cohesion projects and a success of citizen participation. We are providing the tools, we are providing the exchange of experience, and we are providing the financial means.

My thanks to all of you who have gathered today to bring your ideas, your energy, and your enthusiasm. More than 300 people have registered to each of the four events. From the national and regional level, programmers and stakeholders, civil servants and civil society.

We need you all! We count on your support, and on your discussions today, and your work in the weeks and months to come.

I look forward to our discussion.

Thank you

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