Brussels, 10/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Italian prime minister and former president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, a guest at the round table organised by Unioncamere and the Conference of Italian Regions and Autonomous Provinces, in cooperation with Eurochambres, which was held on Wednesday 10 October as part of Open Days 2007, called for “Italian companies to move forward”. “We must kick-start our economy”, he said, adding that the strong euro, “which nobody expected, was not advantageous for exports”. Romano Prodi also stressed that Italy had a future “as an industrial country”. He went on to state that “we must encourage innovation, particularly via clusters. This can also be done by a rigorous and coherent policy and by the cleansing of public finances”. He then pointed out that it is the “regions which make Europe more competitive”.
At this round table, the president of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Michel Delebarre, stressed that the outcome of the Open Days would hopefully be to promote a Europe “richer in employment, research and innovation”. “By signing up to the strategies of Lisbon and of Gothenburg, we hope to look into the best possible use of the cohesion policy”, added President Delebarre.
The president of the PES group at the CoR and president of the region of Piedmont, Mercedes Bresso, pointed out that the regions represented “the natural link between Europe and the citizens”, which must be “reinforced in the years to come on the basis of a strong territorial integration model”. “This is the keystone of the success of the EU”, she concluded.
Lastly, the president of Eurochambres, Pierre Simon, stated that today, Europe of the regions exists. “Foreign investors are not wondering whether to set up in France or Italy… They are wondering whether to set up in Stockholm or in Turin. Today, competition takes place between the territories”, he explained. (gb)