The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the respective Prime Ministers of Portugal and Spain, António Costa and Mariano Rajoy, had a meeting during the European Council on Friday 23 March. The objective of this meeting was to provide support to the outermost regions (OR) as part of the next European budget cycle.
We have been informed that this initiative will be the first of its kind and is in direct continuity with the annual conference of the outermost regions held last October in French Guiana, attended by the President of European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker (see EUROPE 11894).
The meeting also sought to establish a political alignment between these three member states, in view of the next multi-annual financial framework, for which a proposal is expected to be presented by the European Commission on 2 May next (see EUROPE 11968). These three member states are affectively seeking to address a message of support to the OR in the context of article 349 of the TFEU, which provides specificity of treatment to these regions, whilst emphasising the fact that they are also a way of promoting the European Union throughout the world.
The heads of state and government, together with the president and vice president of several OR, also discussed the concrete ramifications of the strategy for the OR presented by the European Commission in October (see EUROPE 11890). The meeting lasted a little under an hour and no other meeting has as yet been planned at this political level.
It should be recalled that the OR consist of the Azores, the Canary Islands, Guadalupe, Guiana, Madeira, Martinique, Mayotte, la Réunion and Saint-Martin. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)