Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-19-Speech-1-171"
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"en.20080519.26.1-171"2
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"Mr President, let me first of all say that we appreciate this report very much. This is a very professional report and I would like to thank Margie Sudre not only for the report but also for her presence and strong involvement in the Conference of Outermost Regions that we held last week in Brussels.
I would like also to extend my gratitude to the Regional Development Committee and also the Fisheries Committee, particularly its draftsman, Mr Guerreiro, for the contribution to the reflection on the future strategy for the outermost regions, and also to Mr Fernandes, Mr Marques and Mr Casaca. I would like to extend my gratitude for the contribution to the public consultation that we launched last September. This phase of consultation has just ended with the conference last week.
What came out from this conference very strongly is the challenge of double integration of the outermost regions, and also the idea of the outermost regions as test beds with pilot projects, especially in areas like renewable energy. It was also very clear in the conference that outermost regions have a wealth of unique opportunities and that they represent a living force as well as a strength for the Union as a whole.
On the report itself, let me stress that I fully share the importance Parliament attaches to the need to preserve a strategy specifically adapted to the characteristics and the assets of the outermost regions, and we are ready, in the Commission, to widen the scope of the strategy to new challenges. Clearly those identified by the Commission – climate change, demographic change and migration management, agriculture and the maritime policy – are not exclusive and we are open to other ideas.
I can also agree with Mme Sudre when she calls for an improvement in the coordination between the Regional Fund and the European Development Fund. I also believe it important to further integrate the outermost regions into the European Research Area as well as promoting cooperation with neighbouring regions. In this regard, I believe that the reformed cohesion policy has clearly helped to strengthen the position of the outermost regions under the cooperation objective.
The ‘outermost region dimension’, if I may call it so, has been safeguarded and intensified following the reform of many Community policies: not only the cohesion policy, but also agricultural and rural development, regional state aid frameworks, the European POSEI programmes or the EU maritime policy.
I strongly believe that these policy developments correspond well to the needs of the outermost regions. With the September 2007 communication, we underlined the need to exploit all of the opportunities offered by the reforms of European policies during the period 2007-2013, and from my different and numerous visits to the outermost regions I can see that many initiatives have been taken in that direction, although I believe that these initiatives should be further strengthened and developed.
Concerning the way in which the Commission conducted the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations as well as the Emission Trading Scheme discussions, allow me to say that the outermost regions have been an integral part of the discussions from the very start and the Commission has systematically informed and also involved the representatives of the outermost regions in the discussions.
Having said this, let me also assure you that the Commission will continue to take account of the specific interests of the outermost regions in current, but also in future, negotiations of this nature."@en1
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