Brussels, 06/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - At its General Assembly in Gothenburg on 1-2 October (see EUROPE 9973), the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) adopted a final statement in which it set out its priorities in the face of the current crisis putting a new perspective on Europe's challenges in the 21st century. In the statement, the 161 CPMR member regions: - call for an ambitious European response to the global crisis, a response which will strengthen the institutions and common policies and not weaken or reduce them; - consider that the regions are at the heart of European recovery and that EU regional policy should be the cornerstone of all European efforts on behalf of the said regions; - call for peripherality to be reduced so that the regions can be involved in the movement of persons and goods and derive full benefit from this, for account to be taken of the need for sustainable development as a priority for the regions and for the territorial dimension of policies to be promoted at world level. The CPMR also calls on its member regions to contribute to the Summit of the World's Regions on Food Security, which will be held in Dakar in January 2010 at the invitation of the president of the Republic of Senegal. The CPMR concluded its statement with the announcement of a series of initiatives and meetings on the priorities set out that it will organise, in conjunction with the Spanish Presidency of the EU in the first half of 2010.
Claudio Martini, President of the CPMR and of Tuscany, said the time was right to establish a European strategy for 2010, and that consideration must be given to what is needed to be put in place in order to achieve the political and governance objectives that will be set, a CPMR press release says. In response, Rudolf Niessler, Director in DG Regional Policy (European Commission) announced that the Commission was to launch a European consultation on a post-Lisbon strategy that Mr Barroso would probably present during the Open Days. “The crisis will not disrupt all policies: cohesion policy finds its legitimacy in the Treaties and it will always have positive action for the development of Europe,” he said. Vice-President of Midi-Pyrénées Regional Council (France) Alain Beneteau said that “the importance given to research and innovation in the Lisbon strategy must not decrease. We should benefit from an increased involvement of the regions, especially in the European Research Area”. Another effective speech was that of MEP Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (EPP, France) who put great emphasis on work mobility as one of the possibilities in ensuring recovery. “Employment is linked to professional mobility,” she argued. She said that the recently launched European life and work area was very practical since it allowed discussion of many topics. She added jokingly: “Europe communicates too much on legal issues and not enough on practical matters”.
Speaking on behalf of the Swedish Presidency of the EU, Swedish State Secretary for Enterprise and Energy Jöran Hagglund invited the regions and member states to always work together. Michel Delebarre (PES, France), 1st Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), noted that “by 2014 the joint struggle of the CPMR and the CoR will be to grasp the potential, the needs and the limitations of each territory and to underline the sustainability of European, national, regional and local policies.”
Lastly, the General Assembly provided the opportunity for Xavier Gizard, who was stepping down as Secretary General, to call on the 161 CPMR member regions to “be as one, steadfastly united on the common interests that dictate the characteristics of our regions. It is this authentic European Union, at times in contradiction with one of your national governments or another which has helped obtain success in previous negotiations”. Eleni Marianou was elected by the General Assembly to succeed Gizard as Secretary General. She will take up office in January 2010. (G.B./transl.rt)