In the context of General Assembly of the CPMR taking place held in Aberdeen, Scotland, Carlos César will preside over the meeting of the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) in Europe scheduled for Wednesday.
Speaking to the media last night at the Ponta Delgada airport before departing for Scotland, the President of the Government said that the participation in this meeting is relevant to the Azores, particularly in three aspects. Apart from being in charge of the coordination of the agenda, as President of the Islands Commission, Carlos César said that the meeting will also be “an occasion to exchange views with the Commissioner for Regional Policy as well as with the Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs in more restricted circumstances that allow us to discuss matters not only related to the islands in a European context, but also to the outermost regions, particularly the Azores.”
“Thirdly,” continued the President of the Government, “with the participation in the General Assembly of the Conference of European Peripheral Maritime Regions, we will we will discuss issues that are extremely important for the immediate future of the European Union: the Treaty of Lisbon, the definition of the Europe 2020 Strategy, issues on territorial and macro-regional cooperation, neighbourhood policies, cohesion policy and, above all, an issue which is very important for us, the definition of a maritime agenda for the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions.”
In this particular case, Carlos César believes that “it is up to the Azores, through me as President of the Islands Commission, to emphasise the role of regions in the European integration, define the future strategy of European development as well as to highlight aspects related to cohesion, the maritime dimension of European development, sustainable development and accessibility issues, and define the decision-making structures in the European Union, that is, issues related to a multi-level governance.”
The President of the Government stresses that “our presence in these decision-making and debate institutions at a regional level is very important. The presence of the Azores has always been taken into consideration. The fact is that nowadays we hold the Presidency of the Islands Commission and next year we will assume the presidency of the Conference of Outermost Regions. These important leadership positions in these groups also project the positive outcome of our policies on European integration.”