The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations stated in Ponta Delgada that it is with great satisfaction that the Government of the Azores welcome the approval of a report by the European Parliament on the promotion of cohesion and development in Outermost Regions.
 
"The report awards priority status to the defence of Outermost Regions of some European regions and urges the European Union to pay the utmost attention to these regions," Rui Bettencourt said, alluding to the document adopted at the plenary session in Strasbourg.
 
For the government official, the decision of the European Parliament politically strengthens the position of the Azores and what the Region has defended. In this context, he considered that "good allies" have been chosen to defend Outermost Regions and that the efforts are "yielding results."
 
Rui Bettencourt also considered that this approval comes at a "very important" moment, when the Cohesion Policy for the post 2020 is already under consideration and when "a very specific care is needed regarding Outermost Regions." This underlines the relevance of the defence of outermost regions by the European Parliament.
 
According to the Regional Secretary, the very significant result of 420 votes in favour and 75 against indicates that "there is a great understanding on outermost regions by MEPs."
 
The European Parliament asked the European Commission to propose an action plan and legislative initiatives taking into account the specificities of outermost regions and their economic and social situation. It allows the implementation of a coherent strategy in these regions according to their status under Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, whose practical application was assessed in this document.
 
The report was drafted by MEP Omarjee, from Réunion. It gathers the contributions of ORs and proposals from their Members, in particular the Azores, which were coordinated through the Conference of Presidents of Outermost Regions and its Monitoring Committee. The proposals cover several areas, such as the EU trade policy, maritime policy, fisheries, sustainable blue growth, cohesion policy, competition, research, agriculture, environment, transport, energy and telecommunications.