During the meeting with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, which was held in Brussels on Wednesday, Carlos César sais that he concerned with “a certain tendency that can be found in some documents drafted by the EU Commission to dilute or merge the unique and specific concept of the Outermost Regions with other European geographic realities, whose contexts are quite different from the ORs.”
Therefore, Carlos César requested Durão Barroso to influence EU regional policies in order to stress that those regions are the only European regions whose structural and permanent constraints are exceptionally severe.”
As these constraints are clearly identified in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - impairing the development and convergence of the ORs – “this is the legal basis for the specific and exceptional measures that are claimed.
For that reason, the 2007-2013 programming period has stipulated, for the first time, a special allocation, under the FEDER programme, to compensate the additional costs in the Outermost Regions.
“In this context, what is requested to the President of the EU Commission is the guarantee that in the preparatory works and documents of the European Commission, particularly with regard to the future of cohesion policy and the next financial framework, the ORs continue to be positively differentiated,” added Carlos César.
The President of the Regional Government also stated that should be carried out “by maintaining and reinforcing a line to compensate the additional costs in compliance with the legal and political status of the ORs in the context of the European Union.”
Defending the consolidation of the previous work carried out by the Outermost Regions to claim their rights within the European Union, Carlos César stressed the need to continue their convergence process.
“In this process, the investment in new strategic sectors should be considered in addition to the maintenance of compensation measures that allow the defence of the traditional production sectors, the support of the industries and services of the ORs by reducing the deficit accessibility, the promotion of competitiveness and regional integration,” added Carlos César. 
Bearing in mind the regional policy after 2013, as well as the EU financial perspectives, in view of the international crisis – one of the most important constraints to solidarity and success of the European project – Carlos César assured Durão Barroso “the EU Commission may count on his support to develop an ambitious regional policy that promotes territorial cohesion.”
After the meeting, the President of the Government of the Azores conveyed his belief that “the dimension of regional policy and cohesion policies will boost the Community funds in the next programming period, either with regard to its goals or to the allocation of funds among the regions. In this context, Durão Barroso made an explicit reference to the Azores...
According to Carlos César, the President of the EU Commission ensured that positive discrimination in the outermost regions will be continued and even reinforced.