Transcript Federica Busillo, Ministry of Economic Development Italy

ESPON Open Seminar
Evidence and Knowledge Needs for the Territorial
Agenda 2020 and EU Cohesion Policy
Godollo, Hungary 21-22 June 2011
Federica Busillo
Ministry of Economic Development
Department for Development and Economic
Cohesion - Italy
The situation before
the crisis
GDP per head 2006-2008; UE27=100
(Eurostat Regional Accounts more
recent data available)
In 2006-2008 64 regions
with a GDP per head
below 75% of the EU-27
average (24 % of EU
population)
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–
The effect of the economic and financial crisis has been very
differentiated among European regions. In many developed
economies the gap between richer and poorer regions widened
because of the recession.
–
In the coming years, the pressure for the consolidation of public
finance in Europe is expected to have a greater impact on less
prosperous areas, which are more dependent on public transfers
and expenditure.
–
Moreover, public investments, acknowledged as growth-enhancing
measures, will be more and more a target of cuts both at national
and sub-national level. Countries and Regions should do more
with less.
–
Even so, empirical evidence shows that the potentialities for growth
exist in all regions and convergence is possible. The issue “how to
better link information and policy” become therefore crucial.
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What is needed in terms of knowledge and analysis on territorial
development?
–
Focus on all dimensions of development (competitiveness, equity/social
inclusion, sustainability) and find out complementarities among the three
dimensions.
–
Increase in productivity has a major impact on growth; therefore, regional
data on productivity by sectors can help better understand the
specialization of the regions. Moreover, more analysis on the productivity of
the tertiary sector;
–
Regional disparities in terms of education are still very large. Analysis and
data on the level of education can help design better skill-enhancing
strategy. E.g. in Italy a regionalization of the OECD PISA assessment is
carried out.
–
Focus on the regional dimension of well-being by a wider perspective: looking
not only at regional income disparities, but assess inequalities in
non market resources (access to public services, inclusion and social
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development, quality of life, participation in the society).
What is needed in terms of knowledge and analysis on territorial
development?
The quality of information is very important when we look for
comparability: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, …of the
statistics
It is relevant to work on different geographies: cities, urban-rural,
metropolitan area, functional regions, administrative regions, macroregions
It is relevant to work on definitions: e.g. what do we mean for typologies
of territories, functional regions, quality of services, quality of
government….? Which type of indicators are more appropriate to assess
what?
Finally, it is crucial the use of effective communication tools such as GIS
data, but also interactive platform
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