The Government of the Azores, on behalf of the Conference of Presidents of Outermost Regions, conveyed its satisfaction with the approval of the report on "The role of cohesion policy in the Outermost Regions of the European Union in the context of EU 2020," drafted by MEP Nuno Teixeira. The approval took place at the plenary session of European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday morning.
 
"In addition to relevance of the contents featured by this report, which was drafted in close coordination and the direct contribution of the Conference of ORs, it is important to emphasise the timing of its approval when there is an ongoing EU Parliament's Communication on Outermost Regions," stated the Regional Under Secretary for European Affairs and External Cooperation.

Rodrigo Oliveira personally conveyed to MEP Nuno Teixeira the Regional Government's satisfaction, mentioning that he also expects "that the Commission, which is not obliged to accept the contents of this report, be attentive to the positions taken by Outermost Regions in this document. These positions should be included in the Communication under preparation, which is to be adopted by the College of Commissioners soon."

One should recall that the report approved today at the plenary session - with 565 votes in favour, 74 against and 21 abstentions - was already approved at the Committee on Regional Development on March 20. The document reflects the political positions of ORs that had already been defended in other documents such as the 2009 and 2010 Memoranda as well as the changes proposed by the Conference Presidents of Outermost Regions. This contribution was only made possible due to the good cooperation between this body and rapporteur Nuno Teixeira.