17. Stresses the role that local and regional authorities could play in achieving the Europe 2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; reiterates the importance of the partnership between central authorities and regional and local authorities in setting priorities and providing the necessary co-financing for the implementation of programmes as a prerequisite for achieving maximum effect with limited resources in seeking to achieve these objectives; highlights, in this context, the importance of the new instrument f ...[+++]or community-led local development, which would allow action groups at local level to develop and implement local strategies for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; calls on the Member States to provide for such opportunities as part of the ongoing programming process, so as to make use of local action groups’ great potential for innovation; emphasises the importance of local and regional authorities and, where applicable, the social partners and other relevant partners in the programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Structural Funds and the preparation of the partnership agreements, which could result in better linkages between EU, national, regional and local strategies;

G. whereas the EU-wide collapse in public finance triggered by the sovereign debt crisis caused austerity policies to become widespread; whereas their effects on local finances have been devastating, causing several budget lines to be reduced or moderated and heavily jeopardising the financing/co-financing capacities for productive investment of national, regional and local authorities;

‘Where emissions of a greenhouse gas from an installation are specified in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC in relation to an activity carried out in that installation, the permit shall not include an emission limit value for direct emissions of that gas unless it is necessary to ensure that no significant local pollution is caused.

‘Where emissions of a greenhouse gas from an installation are specified in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (*1) in relation to an activity carried out in that installation, the permit shall not include an emission limit value for direct emissions of that gas unless it is necessary to ensure that no significant local pollution is caused.

(9) Improvements need to be made to the poor conditions for supplying fresh milk products to local markets in the FOD, which at present come mainly from imports; this aim can be achieved on the one hand by continuing aid to develop cow's milk production within the limits of local consumption requirements as periodically evaluated under a supply balance, and on the other hand by ceasing to apply the arrangements for an additional levy on cow's milk producers laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92(4); the poor supply conditions typical of the outermost regions, which are completely different from those prevailing in the rest of the Com ...[+++]munity, and the need for a local production development incentive justify this derogation.

3. Is convinced that local development and employment initiatives are preconditions for lasting development which contribute not only to an improvement of the living environment in urban and rural areas but above all represent the proper framework for the creation of permanent employment opportunities and hence are an important first step in finding a solution for the EU's crisis areas which have degenerated into social exclusion and where local infrastructure has been destroyed. It is, therefore, incomprehensible that only 10% of the entire amount for the period 1994-1999 has been allocated to local development, while on the other hand, ...[+++] a large proportion of the large-scale projects promoted by considerable contributions from the Structural Funds have no more than short-term effects on employment and in some cases actually hamper or prevent the creation of jobs linked to the area; calls therefore on the Member States to introduce greater variety into their employment programmes and to include in them a chapter on local employment; calls on the Commission to support the Member States in such efforts and to insist, as being crucial to the efficient use of appropriations, on the proportion of Structural Fund allocations earmarked for local employment initiatives being raised;