Issue 15 Danuta Hübner: A passion for the regions

danuta hubner

For Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner, regions lie at the heart of Europe. In a wide-ranging interview with Peter Cheney, she shares her impressions of Belfast and her hopes for the future of the EU as it faces new global challenges. Northern Ireland, she explains, needs to get more involved in Europe and make the most of the goodwill on offer after reaching a peaceful settlement.

In terms of regional policy to date, what has worked well and what has worked not so well?

You are asking someone who loves this policy! I think it is the most important European policy because it gets ordinary citizens involved in European affairs. People really can see that Europe can bring changes to their daily lives.

I see its value not only through the financial instrument but also in the mobilisation of the potential that we have at local and regional level and also the impact on the quality of administration and co-operation, with people getting involved in other, often very remote, regions.

Also, we have recently shifted its purpose to meeting what we consider to be the most important challenges to the European Union today: investing in innovation, in competitiveness, and in renewable energy – against climate change.

Where I would like to have progress is attenuating the bureaucracy that comes with European policies.

What will be the future priorities for regional policy after 2013, when the current regional policy programmes finish?

This policy has evolved over time. It started 30 years ago with 5 per cent of the EU budget; today we have 35 per cent of the EU budget. We have also been changing our priorities because of the challenges Europe has been facing. Europe is changing, especially with the enlargements of the European Union. With every enlargement Europe has got bigger but also, with the last enlargement, Europe on average became poorer because we had a club of 10 new member states with GDP per capita much lower than the EU-15 [existing member states]. That, of course, was a huge challenge for regional policy and also led to the reduction of allocations in European funds to many more developed regions.

Now the global challenges that come to Europe have started to play a major role in shaping our policy. We have identified, for the future, the major factors and processes which will have an impact in Europe and that’s why we also have to adjust our policies. There are new competitive pressures from global markets which require further restructuring in our economy.

Climate change means that not only coastal areas are suffering from erosion and changing sea-level. Also we have regions that suffer economically because climate change is having a strong impact on tourism, where floods come nearly every year or there are more fires and droughts. Climate change is having an asymmetric impact on Europe, affecting some regions more than others.

In the energy market, rising prices have put more pressure on the need to develop new sources of energy, and again different regions have different capacities and potential.

In demography, Europe in general is ageing but some regions are ageing faster than others. We have regions and cities that suffer from depopulation. Growth in population in Europe today is practically exclusively coming from migration.

All those global challenges have very asymmetric impacts on Europe and that’s why we need not only a European response or a national response but basically every region has to think of tailor-made strategies that will allow them to respond in advance to new phenomena.

One can assume that our political agenda, especially in economy and society, will continue to change and adjust. Europe, of course, is not only subject to challenges but is also shaping the changes, and we want to lead at a global level, especially on climate change.

What were your first impressions of Northern Ireland?

I must admit, with a certain shame, that I have never had the chance to go outside Belfast but I hope to do so next time I visit in March.

My first visit was two years ago when we were launching the second generation of the PEACE programme. We have been active through PEACE and also the International Fund for Ireland in bringing both communities together. I had the chance to see a project that involved people coming from communities that at that time were divided, and that was really a fascinating experience.

Last year, when I came in June, just a week after the establishment of the task force, I decided to go immediately and see how much we could do together because we wanted it to be very closely linked through this partnership with the Executive, and individual Ministers and the private sector. In Dublin, in September last year, there was a meeting of British and Irish chambers of industry, to discuss what the private sector could do in Northern Ireland. As one of the challenges, I see the need to reduce the dependence of the Northern Ireland economy on the public sector.

That’s why the conference Northern Ireland is organising in May to attract private companies is absolutely essential. You need the spirit of entrepreneurship. It is also important for the Commission to equip Northern Ireland to get more out of Europe and also to have more of Europe in Northern Ireland.

I have had visits from political leaders, including Gerry Adams, and we have discussed Northern Ireland’s challenges and problems. I have always understood that people in Northern Ireland want Europe to be involved. There are also people in other parts of Europe that would like to contribute to the change in Northern Ireland.

Can you tell us a bit about Plan D for Dialogue, Debate and Democracy – the Commission’s programme to get citizens reconnected to Europe? How is it going?

I personally believe that if we failed on anything in Europe, it is a lack of communication with people and a lack of connection between the European institutions. With enlargement in 2004, we also didn’t manage to convince all the citizens in the EU-15 that it was a good thing and we all would benefit.

As Commissioner responsible for regional policy, my role gives me the chance to be close to the people. I do “globetrotting” practically all the time and I’ve made a commitment to visit all the regions – there are 268 regions in Europe and I’m about 60 per cent there.

danuta hubner I think we could do better to connect all of us, not only the institutions but also people, member states, regions and universities. You cannot do this communication just by producing folders, brochures or having programmes on TV, because today people have a remote control. If something’s boring, they will turn to another channel. I feel we should have a different approach.

My feeling is that people today don’t want to be just informed, they want to be involved. That’s why this policy gives me the chance to offer involvement. People can prepare projects, they can get support from us and they can be part of a big group of Europeans who are doing projects with the European label. We have shifted from pure information to communication and dialogue and to the direct involvement and the participation of the people in Europe, which is something that I think is very important.

That’s why one of our tasks in the Northern Ireland Task Force is to get people from Northern Ireland involved in European programmes, policies and initiatives that the Commission is proposing, in all areas – not only in regional policy but in transport and the environment, in education and research. We would like to have more young people from Northern Ireland in the Erasmus programme. We need a lot of investment in learning languages in the UK and Ireland. We want to have more universities in Belfast and Dublin in the Seventh Framework Research Programme, more participation of small and medium-sized companies in our projects.

We also want to have more of a political presence. We have talked to Mr Paisley, Mr McGuinness and also Minister Robinson and would like more of them [Ministers] coming to meetings and having discussions like we had recently, not only us going there. We have agreed to launch the task force report in Northern Ireland at the end of February, to show the business community that it is serious. We also had Minister Ritchie visiting during our Open Days week and a special seminar presenting your experience in reconciliation, because we still have places in Europe where we have walls in the cities, like in Cyprus, or conflict-torn areas, where Northern Ireland can teach us something.

The task force will see if there are still areas where Northern Ireland could benefit more. It’s not always money, though of course money is important. But also what is important is just being with others and sharing with others, learning from and teaching them. Northern Ireland must also feel responsible for Europe. Because we are so small as a continent, every region has to contribute.

Have you any personal reflections on the region?

I was asked whether the fact that I come from Poland makes it easier for me to understand Northern Ireland. I think there is something in it because I also come from a country that has a difficult history and from a society that has not only found recent times very challenging and very difficult, but also through the ages been in a difficult neighbourhood, being a battlefield and also going through hunger. There is probably something in my genes that helps to understand people who go through troubles and want to get out.

As a Professor of Economics, I have spent my entire professional life teaching students and trying to understand their different experiences. Northern Ireland is to me a society with specific problems to which we have to find a solution. As I went through the change in Poland to democracy and the empowerment of people, I also want people in Northern Ireland to get the future in their own hands in a constructive way.

Plus, I also think that the real Europe is down at a regional and local level where things are happening and changing. It’s not only the top-level politicians that decide on what Europe is; I think that Europe is created on the ground.

For me the most emotional moments in Belfast were when I saw some extremely ambitious projects bringing people together. There was a project where the leaders of groups of young people who were making trouble were given each others’ mobile phones and agreed to call a team of people who could help with conflict resolution. When a fight happened, they would call the leaders of that project and they would come and help to find reconciliation.

But also I saw the wall. I remember the Berlin Wall and I was also in Nicosia, in Cyprus, two years ago to see the wall there. To see a wall in a city, that really is something you can cry on.

What all those involved in reconciliation in Ireland must realise is that we have a short period of time to bring the change and the difference.

There are many people who have expectations and are just waiting to see the results and I think it’s our responsibility – in the Executive there and in Europe – to use the next two or three years to make the change.