Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-15-Speech-2-104"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000215.5.2-104"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"The European Parliament has delivered an opinion on the Commission guidelines for the INTERREG Community Initiative concerning cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation.
I want to defend an amendment tabled by my group on the maritime aspect of this Community initiative. This does not involve the concerns about the future of the Atlantic Arc but rather the need to integrate the principle of maritime borders into strand A on cross-border cooperation.
In the Commission guidelines, few maritime areas are eligible for INTERREG IIIA. The amendments to the Decourrière report aim to make INTERREG more maritime-oriented. This is an important development which must be supported as it is the future of the EU which is at stake. I am aware of the Commission’s reluctance on this subject as it announced during the symposium on the presentation of INTERREG III last November. However, I must point out that preventing the recognition of maritime borders amounts to denying the existence of an area which has great potential for projects and innovation.
One example of this is the ‘Celtic’ area which encompasses the territories of Brittany in France, Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom and Cork and Waterford in Ireland. This is an area whose locally-based economy is characterised by dependence on the fishing industry and the importance of the agri-foodstuffs sector. It also has excellent cultural and relational links, through twinnings for example. INTERREG III, strand A, would allow the regions in this area to advance a number of structural projects needed to develop small and medium-sized undertakings and to promote research and technical development through knowledge transfer.
The European Commission should therefore be able to participate in the construction of port and airport infrastructure to provide links between regions. This policy would have important economic consequences for the fishing industry in Brittany in that catches could be unloaded at Irish advance bases in order to then be transported to the Breton agri-foodstuffs industry.
The integration of the maritime border into strand A would finally allow the western periphery to be recognised as a unique and important economic area which is confronted by the ‘continentalisation’ of the European Union. This would show respect for these peripheral areas which are rather concerned about enlargement to the east.
The maritime world has great potential. We therefore must not leave it out of innovative and pilot Community programmes which will allow the new geographical and economic map of Europe to be defined."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples