In an open European letter, on Wednesday 18 April, the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) called on the European Commission to enshrine European territorial cooperation in the maritime area.
The CPMR is concerned by certain information according to which the Commission is planning to do away with the Interreg programmes in the maritime sector.
The organisation also reiterates the position held by the General Affairs Council on 12 April. The Council had given its full support to European regional cooperation for the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 12000).
The CPMR urges the Commission to: - not neglect the maritime territorial cooperation programmes; - maintain a cohesion budget that is adequate to ensure European regional cooperation is not threatened, with reference to the budgetary downturn envisaged at the European Commission (see EUROPE 11961); - and preserve the role of the regional authorities at the heart of the macro-regional cooperation programmes.
When contacted by EUROPE, the European Commission did not confirm the plan to do away with the Interreg programmes in the maritime area.
The Council, like Parliament (see EUROPE 12003), launched a strong message towards the European Commission so that the budget for cohesion policy might be grafted into the next multiannual financial framework. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)