Home

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) last week adopted an opinion on the "Recommendations for the successful design of regional development strategies beyond 2020" led by Rapporteur Mr Adam Struzik (PL/EPP), Marshal of PURPLE Member region, Mazovia (PL)

As PURPLE members will recall, we reported at both the 30th and 31st General Assemblies that PURPLE had taken part in the public consultation and engagement exercise which shaped the text of the report.

Of particular note from a peri-urban perspective is the reference to “Territorial cooperation in functional areas” and the paragraph (No.45 in the original text) which “notes that administrative boundaries often do not correspond to economic links throughout a territory. For example, there can be important links between cities and their surrounding commuter areas, between rural and urban areas or between neighbouring regions in different countries;”

With regard to our own previous work as regards peri-urban governance the following paragraph (No.46) is also particularly welcome: “stresses that the territorial impact goes beyond local areas and administrative boundaries in almost every issue of development and decisions must be made jointly at various levels. These decisions must be preceded by a joint dialogue from the very beginning when seeking answers to these questions;”, neatly concluding two paragraphs later by recommending “… developing joint strategies for functional areas and adapting relevant strategies and programmes where possible”.

Copies of the report in all official languages can be found at:

https://cor.europa.eu/EN/our-work/Pages/OpinionTimeline.aspx?opId=CDR-644-2019