Brussels, 07/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is calling on member states to encourage the European Commission to develop a strategy for the North Sea/English Channel zone, based around maritime policy, the environment, energy, transport and maritime traffic, industry and science. The CoR is the main driving force behind the Baltic Sea strategy and the strategy for the Danube region. The Committee is also the leading EU body calling for a European strategy for the North/ English Channel Sea zone.
The CoR believes that such a strategy for the North Sea/English Channel zone is crucial. The problems in this zone urgently require solutions and enhanced co-operation would help provide concrete results in the fight against overfishing and marine pollution, and the sustainable transition from oil extraction to energy from wind turbines. These are domains in which a European strategy could provide a platform for improving cooperation between the regions and “an area where cities and regions are also accounted for and have their voice in this matter”. This is the demand by local and regional European delegates as contained in the opinion developed by Hermann Kuhn (PES, Germany), a member of the Bremen city parliament and the president of the North Sea and English Channel inter-group at the CoR. The opinion was adopted by the plenary session on Tuesday 5 October in Brussels.
In its North Sea/English Channel zone perspective, the CoR also includes the maritime territory of the North Sea and sea passages towards the Baltic (Skagerrak and Kattegat), the Atlantic (Channel) and the Arctic Ocean, as well as coastal regions bordering this maritime territory. The EU countries that could be affected by this strategy include Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, as well as two third countries, Norway and Iceland.
The Baltic Sea strategy introduced the concept of the “macro-region” into European policy. In order to promote understanding of this concept, the CoR is calling on the Commission to provide a general definition of the role and functions of these macro-regions. (G.B./transl.fl)