The Government of the Azores, as holder of the presidency of the Conference of Presidents of Outermost Region, presented to MEP Nuno Teixeira, on February 29, a series of amendment proposals to the report drafted by that MEP on the theme "The role of Cohesion Policy in Outermost Regions in the context of Europe 2020."

The introduction of these amendments is the result of an ongoing monitoring work carried out by the ORs on this report, which included the organisation of a bilateral meeting at the end of January; after which Nuno Teixeira met with the Monitoring Committee of Outermost Regions, chaired by the Azores.

The amendments submitted for the consideration of Nuno Teixeira, jointly developed by the Governments of the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and by the Regional Councils of Martinique, Guadalupe and Reunion, give voice to the ORs' claims, already conveyed in several contributions submitted to the European Commission and other institutions.

The series of amendments include those that aim to reinforce the importance of the legal basis of outermost regions, the claim for increased co-funding rates under the specific allocation ORs/ERDF, the need to maintain the intensity of support under State Aid, the need to improve coordination between EU funds for cooperation and the projects developed in Outermost Regions, particularly in the area of renewable energy.

The Azorean Government welcomes the fact that MEP Nuno Teixeira included in his report several issues and measures defended by the Governments of Outermost Regions, through the development of a specific programme in the area of energy, transport and information and communication technologies, similar to POSEI, as suggested in the Memorandum on Outermost Regions and their Member States in 2010.
 
The report drafted by Nuno Teixeira, which should be put to vote for the European Parliament's Regional Development Commission in March and for the Plenary in April, comes at a time when the European Commission is about to adopt a Communication on the Renewed European Strategy for Outermost Regions; it is considered as another opportunity to draw the attention of European institutions for the constraints of Outermost Regions, but also for the assets that these regions may bring to Europe.