Brussels, 08/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - During his meeting with president Barroso on 3 March in Brussels, the president of the Assembly of the European Regions (AER) and president of the region of Friuli Venezia, Giulia Riccardo Illy regretted the lack of vision from the EU on its future. Illy stressed that the, “new vision for the EU should therefore be to bring Europe closer to its citizens by deepening cooperation between European regions”. Mr Illy said that that many European regions encounter opposition from national governments, “regional cooperation should therefore become a matter of EU internal affairs policy, so as to enable the regions build regional partnerships and to manage on their own cross-border, interregional and transnational cooperation, with respect for the principle of subsidiary”.
Mr Barroso and Mr Illy exchanged points of view on liberalisation of the services market and reached an agreement on the need for more liberalisation of sectors such as electricity, gas, and railway transport where monopolies should be abolished. The ARE press release, however, said that health and social services should never be included in this process.
Riccardo Illy welcomed the new directives on aviation and regional airports, as well as the Commission initiative for launching consultation on these new guidelines. Speaking on behalf of the ARE and the European Forum of Regional Airports (FARE), Riccardo Illy called on president Barroso to ensure that obstacles for the future development of regional airports and the obligation of prior notification of start-up- aids, especially for small regional airports, were removed from the final regulation.