FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE: COR SOCIALISTS CALL FOR FUNDING FOR "COMPETITIVENESS AND EMPLOYMENT".

The Socialist group in the EU's Committee of the Regions (CoR) has tabled six demands on the European Parliament's draft report on the 2007-2013 financial perspective (report by Reimer Boge - EPP/ED, Germany), sent to all socialist members of the relevant temporary parliamentary committee. These demands concern:

- the need to ensure a coherent line on the political challenges of the financial perspectives and concrete proposals to allocate funds between the various sub-headings: the CoR's Socialist group thus highlights a "flagrant" contradiction between the affirmation that "European regional policy is a vital tool for the promotion of economic and social cohesion" and the proposal to funding cut for sub-heading 1a on competitiveness and employment;

- acknowledgement of the interdependence of cohesion strategies (sub-heading 1b) and competitiveness (1a);

- the need for adequate...