The President of the Government alerted the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, to the need to “protect the regional policy under the definition of future policies” of the European Union.
During a meeting that took place on Wednesday night - included in the programme of the 38th General Assembly of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), held this year in the city of Aberdeen in Scotland, United Kingdom - Carlos César reiterated to the Commissioner the conviction that “all those who defend European cohesion, regional policy and equality of opportunities across the European Union should strive for this great purpose.”
According to the President of the Azorean Government, what is in question is lack of reaction from the European Commission for Regional Policy regarding a memorandum submitted by the outermost regions (ORs) about their own future for 2020.
For Carlos César, “the receptiveness of the Commissioner was very positive regarding the issues on the outermost regions, but acknowledges that “there is also a major doubt on the EU’s capacity to allocate resources to regional and cohesion policies in the face other countries’ challenges and interests.”
As these interests often clash with the major goals of regional policy, it is important, as the President of the Government stated, to combine forces and call the attention of Commissioner Hahn for the need to ensure a positive response to the issues of outermost regions, which should be reflected in the allocation of funds.
“I have also posed a very important question for us in the Azores, which unfortunately has become reality in recent times: on several occasions the Commission has resisted, especially with regard to agricultural policy issues, or even opposed the application of Article 349 as a legal basis for the issues of outermost regions,” Carlos César said, adding that he has requested the involvement of Johannes Hahn in this matter.
The issues on the EU budget were also discussed at the meeting in Aberdeen, during which Carlos César urged the Commissioner “to convey an opinion on behalf of the Commission regarding what he considered satisfactory as the ideal budget for an efficient regional and cohesion policy.
As he stated, Johannes Hahn “appeared to have agreed with what we have defended at the level of regional bodies, especially the fact that a much lower budget than the current one will not allow an efficient policy in this area at a moment when the number of regions has grown.”
Finally, Carlos César and Johannes Hahn talked about the need to stimulate EU policies towards economic growth, cohesion and as well as the need to carefully differentiate regions, such as the Azores, a region with special features.