Umea, 26/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 26 September, Vasco Alves Cordeiro was elected President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), at the 42nd general meeting of the association, in Umeå, Sweden. He takes over from Annika Annerby Jansson, president of the regional council of the Swedish region of Skåne.
Cordeiro has been President of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, Portugal, since 2012 and is a member of the Committee of the Regions. His priorities during his term in office will be territorial cohesion and a strong regional policy within the EU, the implementation of the integrated maritime policy and improving the accessibility of the peripheral regions.
Fight against extremism. Cordeiro started his mandate by calling for tough policies to tackle radicalism, fundamentalism and extremism. “This is a major political objective which can be effective if the regions get involved in this type of strategy”, he said. In a statement adopted on the sidelines of its general assembly, the CPMR said that the regions can make use of their proximity to the citizens to help to implement these policies at regional level. The CPMR went on to warn against intolerant political rhetoric, which is not solely the preserve of the extremist parties, but also of politicians who use it to draw in the electorate. “Democratic parties must discuss these issues instead of letting the extremists set the agenda”, the declaration reads (our translation throughout). (MD)