Brussels, 05/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Spanish Presidency of the EU is holding a ministerial meeting on the Outermost Regions (ORs) in Las Palmas (Canaries) on Friday 7 May. At this meeting, to be attended by Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn, the nine outermost regions and the countries of which they form part (France, Portugal and Spain) will sign a memorandum reflecting their joint positions on the new EU strategy with regard to the ORs until 2020. Hahn said that these joint positions would provide the Commission with the basis for thought in drafting the OR component of the new strategy. He added, however, that it was too soon to talk about the ideas in the strategy. One thing was certain, though, and that was that the ambitious targets the EU had set itself for 2020 would not be achieved without the full involvement of these regions.
The ORs recognise that some progress has been made over the last few years in taking account of their situation in Community policies, particularly in cohesion, agricultural and fisheries policies, but they are still faced with difficulties in adapting effectively to certain policies which were not designed with them in mind, such as, for example, transport policy. The ORs call, then, for new ways of taking account of how things are for them.
2010 is an important year for the ORs in other ways as debate on the new EC budget and on the architecture of the new cohesion policy after 2013 has been engaged. Furthermore, the ORs have a role to play in the EU 2020 strategy, inter alia in the area of renewable energy. Discussion on the post-2013 EU strategy with regard to the ORs will continue in Brussels on 27-28 May at the first Forum for Outermost Europe. This forum will showcase the potential of the ORs and highlight development initiatives for these regions and for Europe, the Commission has announced. For further information, go to: http: //ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/rup2010/index_en.htm
Between 2007 and 2013, the ORs will benefit from €7.8 billion in Community investment from the ERDF, ESF, EAFRD, and POSEI. The ORs hope that the EU will maintain, or even increase, these financing levels after 2013. They are strong in agriculture, fisheries and tourism, but also in renewable energy, agri-food, oceanography, biodiversity and risk prevention, and bio-sciences.
Since the Lisbon Treaty came into effect, the European Union has had nine outermost regions: the four French overseas departments of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion and Martinique, two French overseas collectivities, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, the Portuguese Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, and the Spanish Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. The Commission also points out that: - the EU has recognised the specific nature of the ORs compared with other European regions since 1999, that is: insularity, distance, small size and economic dependence; - in 2008, it adopted a communication which proposes a renewed European policy for ORs (see EUROPE 9768). (G.B./transl.rt)