Madeira, 07/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - Concluding its General Assembly, the Conference of the Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) approved a “final declaration” and several resolutions whereby it:
- confirms support by the Conference member regions of the European Union's cohesion policy, rejecting the tendency to reduce its budgetary allocation and efficiency. The resolve to achieve equitable development of the Union's territories is an essential condition for re-conquering acceptance by citizens and their regional representatives for reviving European construction;
- welcomes the strengthening of structured dialogue between the European Commission and the organisations of towns and regions;
- notes the growing awareness of the European Parliament and of its president, Josep Borrell, when it comes to regional concerns;
- stresses that active involvement of the regions is indispensable if the Lisbon strategy is to be a success and suggests launching a new generation of territorial cooperation programmes to this end;
- welcomes the European Commission's commitment to developing a Green Paper on the maritime dimension of Europe, and requests that this Green Paper represent the point of departure for European maritime policy, which would be a key area for relaunching the EU. The CPMR should play a major and active role in defining this policy;
- and calls for strengthened European action regarding maritime security, mainly in order to combat oil slicks and other disasters, as well as the reactivation of Euro-Mediterranean policy.
Commission President José Manuel Barroso confirmed that the Green Paper on a future European maritime policy will be approved by the Commission during the first half of 2006. The director of the Task Force responsible for preparing the document, John Richardson, has already sketched out the guidelines.