The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations expressed today his "great satisfaction" for the work carried out by participants in the prospective workshops held under the involvement process of the Azorean society in defining the future of Cohesion Policy post 2020.
 
Rui Bettencourt spoke at the end of the third workshop promoted by the Government of the Azores. He highlighted the group's "heterogeneity" and its different opinions and origins in terms of the social role they play, which is an "asset" for the work that has been carried out in recent months.
 
"We all have very different opinions, which enhance the overall vision we have for the Azores," the government official said, stressing that "our very heterogeneous group is what gives us a much clearer, more convincing and more legitimate vision that allow us to defend the Azorean position with the European Commission."
 
The Secretary for External Relations underlined that what is important is to have "new ideas" as well as ideas on "the factors that should be taken into consideration from 2020 onwards for the Azores, for European cohesion and for regional territorial cohesion, i.e., the factors on which must take action from 2020."
 
The three workshops were attended by nearly fifty social partners, political parties and members of civil society organisations. According to the Regional Secretary, these initiatives brought together "commentators and people with an in-depth knowledge on Azorean society."
 
Rui Bettencourt also recalled that the Azoreans may submit their opinions and suggestions until December at the email [email protected], thus taking active part in this process.
 
The process ends in early 2018 with the presentation of the "vision that the Azorean society has regarding the Cohesion Policy post 2020." It includes the delivery of a report containing the final results to the regional entities, namely the Legislative Assembly, which will be then submitted to the European Union through the European Commission.
 
In this context, all participants in the prospective workshops will gather for a final meeting on December 4 and 5 to jointly analyse "the global vision of this process" and to rank the importance of the factors identified throughout the three sessions already held, congregating them in the final document, said Rui Bettencourt.
 
The process to involve the Azorean society in the definition of the future of Cohesion Policy post 2020, which began in early July, is structured in three axes, including three conferences, the last of which will take place on November 22 and will address the Community situation and the position of the Azores. In addition, it also included the organisation of three prospective and strategic analysis workshops that will assess the impact of each of the factors identified in the previous phase to find the best strategic position for each of them in the Region.