The Conference of Presidents sees the ‘Fit for 55’ package as “insufficient” and demands impact studies of all community measures
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions (ORP), which brings together the Portuguese regions of the Azores and Madeira, the Spanish Canary Islands and the French overseas regions of Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, La Réunion, Mayotte and Saint Martin, has underlined this Thursday the need for governments to be effectively involved in presenting and defending the objectives of the ORs before the European Commission and the European Parliament.
In the final declaration of the XXVIII Conference of Presidents of the ORs, held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and in which the presidency was handed over to La Reunión, the representatives of the governments of the nine OR regions highlighted the value of a sheet of route marked on objectives linked to the cohesion fund policy, migratory flows, transport or access to energy.
The final declaration of the Conference emphasizes the need for the European Union to seek “balances for the future, always ensuring its stability and internal cohesion based on the approach of strategic autonomy advocated by the European Commission.”
In this scenario, the ORs consider that the community political approach “cannot only be continental, but must also be projected with respect to the regions, those furthest from the European continent.”
“The principle of ‘do not harm cohesion’ must be projected in all European policies, avoiding initiatives that could have a negative impact on territorial cohesion and even leave some regions behind,” indicate the governments of the ORs in the face of a “concern that “must be clearly shared” by states in defense of the outermost periphery.
The governments of the Outermost Regions also emphasize in the final declaration of their XXVIII Conference of Presidents that the next electoral horizon in the European Union is an added factor to the uncertainty that surrounds politics and the economy in recent years.
In this sense, they emphasize that the next European elections scheduled for 2024 “will be decisive for the immediate future of the EU” due to the renewal of the European Parliament and its direct impact on the formation of a new European Commission, “both fundamental for the push for a united Europe and a visible outermost periphery”.
Among the objectives set by the roadmap approved at the Conference of the ORs, initiatives in the field of territorial cohesion stand out, where remote regions demand that the new European institutions that emerge from the 2024 elections defend cohesion policy “as fundamental pillar of the European integration process, guaranteeing its identity, initial objectives and its current multi-level governance approach”.
SOLIDARITY IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS
In this sense, the ORs emphasize that the review of the Multiannual Financial Framework offers a unique opportunity to provide the EU with the necessary resources to meet current and future challenges based on a solidarity approach that takes into account the principle of geographical reality. .
“Any new instrument must therefore guarantee”, point out the governments of the ORs, “the inclusion of the outermost regions in accordance with article 349 of the TFEU, preventing them from benefiting only the most developed ones.”
Another first-order element is the so-called ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package with a series of measures against climate change, whose negotiation is about to be closed in the EU.
In this area, the ORs have achieved exceptions and derogations, but they consider these safeguards “clearly insufficient and mostly transitory.”
In their final declaration, the nine Outermost Regions “remain extremely concerned about the effects on the ground that the application of ‘Fit for 55’ will have on their economies, on the mobility of their citizens, supplies at reasonable prices and their convergence with the EU.
“We therefore demand,” the ORs underline, “a global impact assessment on the application of this Fit for 55 package and an analysis of the cumulative and combined effects of the different measures in the Outermost Regions.”
In migration policy, the XXVIII Conference of Presidents of the ORs also emphasizes the need for greater commitment from the Member States and the EU itself in the management of migratory flows that try to reach community territory from Africa and other areas of the Caribbean.
LEGAL, ORDERLY AND SAFE EMIGRATION
In this area, the ORs demand long-term measures with a focus on co-development with the countries of origin and the establishment of legal, orderly and safe migration routes.
“It is urgent to address the emergency situations we are experiencing,” states the joint declaration of the governments of the ORs, and “once again we demand true co-responsibility of the Union and all its Member States, guaranteeing dignified and respectful care for the human rights to people who arrive, especially with respect to unaccompanied migrant minors”.
Linked to European transport and primary sector policies, the governments of the ORs raise the need to expand compensation mechanisms for remote areas of the continent.
In transport, the Outermost Regions demand the implementation of a specific financial operational program for transport and connectivity in the ORs, as “a transport POSEI” that is “outside the structural funds and that can alleviate the difficulties derived from remoteness and the increase in prices, to guarantee the connectivity of our regions at the internal, national and European level.
This measure has a direct impact on the agriculture sector in the ORs, where these nine regions demand political support to “strengthen the POSEI budget with the aim of improving agricultural, agro-industrial and agri-food autonomy” in remote areas.
IMPACT STUDY ON EMISSION RIGHTS
Among the first commitments announced by the new Presidency of the Outermost Regions, Huguette Bello insisted on the preparation of an impact study on the emission rights trading system in air and maritime transport of the ORs, in order to be able to justify exceptions wider.
The Commission representatives who traveled to the Canary Islands have committed to strengthening dialogue with the ORs, whose role they have highlighted as “the spearhead of the EU in the world”, while highlighting the importance of the MAC program (Madeira, Azores, Canary Islands) that includes cooperation with seven African countries.
Thus, the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, has defended the “commitment” of the EC to “improve the lives” of people in all EU territories and has given as an example the deployment of cohesion funds, the modernization of small fishing boats or biodiversity projects for an amount of six million through the ‘LIFE’ program.
He has called for “accelerating” investments and strengthening administrative teams to increase the effectiveness of the funds and a “real political commitment” from national authorities to boost development in the ORs.
Ferreira has announced that the EC is going to prepare a study on water, housing, heating and digital connection in the ORs and has admitted that “there is a lot of work to be done” to materialize the strategy.
“The European Commission supports them but the ORs are in the driving seat, we must work together to achieve a bright and prosperous future,” he highlighted.
