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| WELSH
VOLUNTARY SECTOR CAMPAIGNS ON EUROPEAN FUNDING |
30/03/04 |
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A
new manifesto urges the government to ensure Welsh charities do not lose
out when the European Union changes its economic, social and environmental
policies.
Published by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) at the recent
Welsh Labour Party Spring Conference, the manifesto is designed to influence
MPs ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.
Called "Civil society, civil space - the European agenda", the
document emphasises the importance of social inclusion throughout Europe
in order to make the EU the world's most competitive economy.
It asks all MEPs to renew their commitments to the EU's Lisbon Strategy,
a ten-year plan to ensure this competitiveness, which WCVA fears is being
forgotten as new strategies are developed.
Phil Fiander, WCVA’s director of Europe, says: "The fear is that social
inclusion is fast being sidelined with the push towards these new priorities.
We feel it is timely for WCVA to input this debate, with the EU manifesto
emphasising the crucial role of civil society in creating a socially inclusive
and prosperous EU."
Phil Fiander added that Europe had also just published its “crucially important”
third Cohesion Report, which would determine what funding support will be
given to the new countries joining the European Union in May and start to
consider what would happen to areas like Wales that are currently receiving
Objective 1 funding.
It looks as though Wales will become a statistical effect region (dependent
on GDP statistics from 2001-2003), receiving around 80 per cent of Objective
1 entitlement, to be phased out to 65 per cent over the lifetime of the
programme.
The UK Government feels the 2007-2013 financial perspective is “unrealistic”
and “unacceptable”, and has said it wants to see a more flexible European
policy that is simpler to implement than the current Structural Funds programme.
"There are also key questions just about Welsh and UK involvement in
Europe," says Fiander. "The structural funds supporting the European
Social Model have been a consistent support for progressive strategies committed
to social inclusion and good governance. Welsh voluntary sector organisations
don’t want to lose this commitment."
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