Brussels, 05/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - European Commission President José Manuel Barroso will meet heads of the European regions which belong to the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) in Brussels on Wednesday 7 July. The meeting will be an opportunity for them to share their viewpoints on cohesion policy, EU maritime policy and the role of the regions with Barroso.
On cohesion policy, the CPMR will tell Barroso of its unhappiness with the ideological debate currently taking place within the European Commission and among member states. This debate is tending to view some sectoral policies as being more effective in addressing the challenges faced by the EU, and relegating cohesion policy to the rank of adjustment variable. Such a political choice would be damaging in Europe where, because of the wide regional disparities, it could lead to geographic concentration and prevent a majority of regions from developing their competitiveness. The CPMR will argue: (1) the European and global economic situation justifies maintaining a cohesion policy for all European regions; (2) cohesion policy must be consistent with the EUROPE 2020 strategy, but has to continue to have its own job to do; (3) the regional dimension has to remain at the heart of cohesion policy: on this point, the CPMR will come out in favour of substantial priority financial aid, from 2014, for regions with a GDP of less than 75% of the EU27 average, aid for regions whose GDP is above 75% of the EU27 average, and increased support for territorial cooperation; (4) increasing conditionality is needed if there is to be greater transparency and effectiveness, but this must go hand-in-hand with an adjusted method of governance based on integration and contractualisation.
The CPMR says it is prepared to “accept greater conditionality for regional policy within a framework of the right method of governance”. For conditionality to be effective, it will say, it must be applied to an integrated regionalised programme. In this context, the ERDF and the ESF must work together coherently since the Community added-value of the ESF will only arise from the tight link between structural action and action to promote employment. The same is true of EAFRD economic and social diversification measures, which are similar in all respects to ERDF action and need to come within the framework of cohesion policy, the CPMR will tell Barroso.
With regard to EU maritime policy, the CPMR will tell Barroso that there has to be more cooperation between the Commission and the regions in the following areas: (1) joining up the spatial, coastal and maritime approaches; (2) making maritime careers more attractive, making it clear that they are not limited to maritime transport or the fisheries sector, but include a whole range of other activities such as shipbuilding, new technologies, services, etc.
The CPMR will also make proposals on: (1) marine energy (how the EU can make this an economically viable alternative in the medium perm); (2) maritime transport (encouraging a shift of transport flows from road to sea, a prerequisite for the success of the motorways of the sea and improving the accessibility of the outermost regions and islands); (3) research, innovation and clusters (the maritime contribution to the EU 2020 strategy); (4) adaptation to climate change (support for the Commission White Paper).
The CPMR delegation will be led by its President Claudio Martini and Secretary General Eleni Marianou, and will comprise Gert-Inge Andersson (leader of Västra Götaland, Sweden) and Carlos Manuel Cesar, (leader of the Azores Regional Government, Portugal), along with Jaroslaw Dowrzanski (Marshall, Podlaskie, Poland), Godwin Grima (Permanent Principal Secretary, Gozo, Malta), Gunn Marit Helgesen (CPMR Vice-President and chair of the CPMR North Sea committee, County Mayor of Telemark, Norway), Carwyn Jones, (First Minister of Wales, UK), Jean-Yves Le Drian (leader of the region of Brittany, France), Ramon Luis Valcarcel Siso (Vice-President of Murcia, Spain, and Vice-President the CPMR and of the Committee of the Regions). (G.B./transl.rt)