Brussels, 10/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Should the solidarity criterion be widened to more than just GDP? The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) debated the issue of “European Solidarity as a driving force behind the development of Europe's territories” on Friday 10 February. Opening the conference, association President Jean-Yves Le Drian stated that “the concept of solidarity is at the root of Europe, and is a vital pillar of cohesion policy”. He said that, in making Europe competitive again, no harm must be done to European solidarity. On the contrary, “cohesion policy has now become a policy for territorial investments that support solidarity, and we need to create a climate of confidence and solidarity to start recovering growth again”, he argued. Could such a climate for more inclusive development be encouraged by widening the concept of GDP, which is more a criterion of wealth, on which the whole cohesion policy for the allocation of resources is based? Committee of the Regions President Mercedes Bresso called on the regions to reflect on and debate that question. She called for “an end to giving GDP per inhabitant an exclusive and central position and to consider regions' demographic and health situations, differences in income, education levels, the state of the environment and physical constraints, for example, as criteria for the allocation of funding”. (MD/transl.rt)