The Regional Under Secretary for European Affairs and External Cooperation defended in Brussels that the future EU cohesion policy, “which is intended to reduce regional disparities in Europe,” should not become an oppressive tool with regional impact on the issues regarding the central of Member States.”

Rodrigo Oliveira attended a meeting, on behalf of the President of the Government, with the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, and stated that “macroeconomic policy and regional policy are – and should remain as such – dimensions and goals with different scope in the European Union, without detriment to the improvement of the specific rules of cohesion policy in the future framework, such as the monitoring and performance assessment systems whose indicators should be clear and easily measurable, taking into account the features and specificities of Outermost Regions.”

At the meeting held in the headquarters of the European Commission, Rodrigo Oliveira recalled “the intense participation of the ORs in the ongoing meetings as well as the effective joint contribution to a series of issues of fundamental interest, such as the future of cohesion policies; he also reminded that “this is mostly a time of expectation regarding the Commission’s proposals that will be known in coming months.

Commenting on the speech delivered by Johannes Hahn, the Regional Under Secretary stated that the Government of the Azores “welcomes the fact that the EU Commission intends to maintain the current scheme for the Outermost Regions in the regulation proposals,” urging “the EU Commission, the ORs and its Member States for the necessity of defending a joint position that also provides” the necessary financial resources, particularly, for the Outermost Regions.”

With regard to the regulations of the future cohesion policy, Rodrigo Oliveira also said that “it is necessary to ensure that a greater concentration of themes, particularly its alignment with the Europe 2020 Strategy, so that it may better respond to the specific challenges of the ORs and assure a greater flexibility in the definition of priorities, without being too restrictive in the areas of implementation.”

Concerning the regional integration axis of the ORs, it was defended that “the European Union, given the strategic position of the ORs as European outposts in the world, should foster cooperation with territories from developing countries and take into account the Atlantic western border and the potentialities of the privileged relations between the Azores, the United States and Canada.

During a discussion on the future of the ORs’ economy, Rodrigo Oliveira urged the need to define a future EU strategy, “taking into account a consistent and transverse vision of several policies, mainly in the defence of the ORs’ traditional production sectors, thus boosting the agricultural and fisheries sectors in the case of the Azores.” 

“Cohesion policy should continue to be a tool with actual impact, providing a significant contribution to the reduction of regional disparities through an ambitious financial envelope, with special emphasis on the specific features and exclusive status of the Outermost Regions,” stated Rodrigo Oliveira.