Brussels, 23/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The islands are being advised to use structural funds for tourist development carefully. The European Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, provided clear instructions to representatives from the island regions on how they could optimise cohesion policy funding since its recast. The meeting took place on Wednesday 23 April in Rhodes, Greece, during the General Assembly of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR). This meeting precedes the Informal Council of European Ministers for Regional Development on 24-25 April.
Funding for tourism. Hahn is in charge of regional policy, and he explained to island regional representatives that they could have European funds to develop their respective tourist industries and cultural products (as part of the smart specialisation strategies). He clearly pointed out that there was no question of building hotels or funding pop concerts with European finance, but rather supporting businesses that develop new innovative tourist and cultural products. In this connection he provided the example of smartphone applications in museums or sports and health related forms of tourism.
State aid. Europe's island regions have also formulated their recommendations in the conclusions adopted at the end of this meeting. These focus on the best way of using new European policies to help overcome the challenges facing the islands' inherent problems. These regions particularly regret the way in which the Commission has applied the criteria from the new state aid guidelines to the islands. The new rules focus on state aid for regional aims, energy and environment but do not correctly take into account the island regions. The islands committee at the CPMR also regrets that the peripheral regions have not been subject to differentiated treatment within the framework of state aid, given their specific island restrictions.
Informal “Cohesion” Council. Hahn took part in this meeting on the eve of the Informal Cohesion Council. During the evening of 24 April this council will look at the question of the urban agenda. On Friday 25 April, it will examine the question of accessing funding for SMEs. (MD)