Programming was based on the Phare Guidelines[2], which were subsequently revised on 6 September 2002[3] with the adoption by the Commission of an ad-hoc phasing-out strategy for Phare, to address the unprecedented transition from pre-accession aid to structural support, and to accompany changes to the Cross Border Co-operation (CBC) regulation (EC) No. 2760/98, to accommodate the unique approach required in the field of nuclear safety and to emphasise the transition to EDIS (see also section 3.1).

B. whereas it is crucial that different EU initiatives for growth and jobs, as well as environment and climate protection, maintain a coherent approach; whereas the Europe 2020 strategy flagship initiatives play a key role in enhancing coordination at local and regional level as regards the implementation of cohesion policy; whereas there is no explicit mechanism built into the programming or the reporting provisions that would explicitly target flagship initiatives in terms of the contribution of the European Structural and Investm ...[+++]ent Funds (ESI Funds) to their delivery; whereas the Europe 2020 strategy review will need to address the implementation of the flagship initiatives and aim for a balance between financial, fiscal and economic measures on the one hand and social, educational, environmental and equality (especially gender equality) aspects on the other;

B. whereas it is crucial that different EU initiatives for growth and jobs, as well as environment and climate protection, maintain a coherent approach; whereas the Europe 2020 strategy flagship initiatives play a key role in enhancing coordination at local and regional level as regards the implementation of cohesion policy; whereas there is no explicit mechanism built into the programming or the reporting provisions that would explicitly target flagship initiatives in terms of the contribution of the European Structural and Invest ...[+++]ment Funds (ESI Funds) to their delivery; whereas the Europe 2020 strategy review will need to address the implementation of the flagship initiatives and aim for a balance between financial, fiscal and economic measures on the one hand and social, educational, environmental and equality (especially gender equality) aspects on the other;

12. Notes that the flagship initiatives are considered to be serving their purpose, but also highlights the fact that their visibility is considered to be rather low; regrets that the economic and financial crisis has aggravated the disparities within the European Union and that insufficient progress has been made towards several of the strategy’s headline targets, especially as regards employment, research and development, poverty and social exclusion; welcomes the conclusion drawn as to the need to enhance ownership and involvement on the ground, by consolidating vertical and horizontal partnerships with a view to improving the delivery of the strategy; stresses that the strategy should encourage the shift from process and outcome orie ...[+++]ntation to an actual result orientation approach in order to ensure the highest possible efficiency and effectiveness for the EU policies linked thereto;

Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) activities will concretise different logics of intervention, from completely open to varying degrees of structuring of topics, communities and funding, structured around three strands - FET Open, FET Proactive and FET Flagships .

In this respect, it is worth mentioning that the Council has, on 7 March 2011, welcomed the Commission's Communication on its Flagship initiative ("The European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion"), which proposes an integrated and innovative approach aiming at a joint commitment among the Member States at national, regional and local levels, as well as among EU institutions and the key stakeholders (social partners and NGOs), in their efforts to fight poverty and social exclusion.