SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Victor Torres, has valued the recognition of the specificities of the Outermost Regions (RUP) in the new Strategy of the European Union for these territories and has highlighted that this new pronouncement is in line with continuous work carried out by the Canary Islands and the rest of the RUP in defense of their singularities.
This has been stated, as a result of the General Affairs Council of the European Union having approved its report of conclusions on the Union Strategy for the Outermost Regions, a document that was adopted at the beginning of last April by the European Commission itself.
These considerations of the Council, in line with what the ORs have been defending, will serve as the basis for the implementation of differentiated policies in these remote regions, especially in this new stage full of challenges for the Canary Islands and the rest of the ORs within the Union European.
This Council report includes broad and exhaustive conclusions on the aforementioned EU Strategy for the ORs, and they recognize the specificities of these territories; that is to say, the structural socioeconomic situation of the ORs, aggravated by their great distance, insularity, small surface area, adverse relief and climate, natural risks and economic dependence.
The Council also welcomed the fact that the European Commission has once again presented a communication on the EU’s Outermost Regions, in reference to the aforementioned Strategy approved in April this year.
In relation to the report of the Council’s conclusions, it should be underlined that its content shows satisfaction with the emphasis placed on the communication raised by the Commission to give priority to people and guarantee that economic recovery and sustainable growth meet the needs of the ORs.
The Council’s assessment is also in line with the Commission’s determination to support the ORs and integrate their specificities into the EU legislation and policies mentioned in that communication, in order to promote the development of these regions through adapted and territorialized approaches.
The Council document recognizes the need to provide support to the Outermost Regions in order to achieve the objectives set out in the Objective 55 package of measures (those for the decarbonisation of the EU); the will of the States in which the ORs are integrated, including the Government of Spain, to intensify the use of European funds in shared management within the field of migration, especially the FAMI (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund), and the recognition of the importance of the ORs in the external relations of the EU.
The work that the French Presidency of the Council has carried out jointly with the Spanish and Portuguese governments (the three countries with ORs), as well as with the nine outermost regions, including the Canary Islands, has allowed the adoption of this report of conclusions. These considerations will be the basis, and here its importance, for the implementation of differentiated policies in these regions, in a stage full of challenges for the Canary Islands and the other ORs within the EU.
