The Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations defended in Brussels the need for the European Union to "decisively support" regions with aptitude for milk production, warning for the "serious crisis" the sector is facing.
 
"The European Union must decisively support the more traditional sectors in regions, such as the Azores, with aptitude for dairy production," Rodrigo Oliveira said, considering that "the responses of the European Union to the dairy sector crisis have been, above all, inadequate and misguided."
 
Rodrigo Oliveira spoke Wednesday at the plenary session of the Committee of the Regions during the discussion of the draft report on '"Innovation and Modernisation of Rural Economy," whose rapporteur is Randel Lants, member of the Municipal Council of Viljandi, Estonia. In this regard, the government official warned for the "serious crisis" the dairy sector is facing.
 
For the Regional Secretary, one cannot speak of innovation in rural areas if there are no conditions for "a rural economy" that allows regions to "develop the activities where they have territorial aptitude."
 
"Outermost regions, by definition, have very few alternatives to this territorial aptitude", Rodrigo Oliveira said, stressing that "if the European Union does not support these activities, we will not have a rural economy to diversify and innovate."
 
Predominantly rural or intermediate regions make up 91% of the EU territory and 60% of its population, representing 43% of gross added value and 56% of EU jobs.
 
In this context, the report on "Innovation and Modernisation of Rural Economy" aims to draw attention to the importance of rural areas as development hubs and highlight their key contribution to the Europe 2020 strategy.
 
During the 116th plenary session of the Committee of the Regions, held this week in Brussels, other reports were approved, namely those concerning territorial development indicators, data collection in the fisheries sector, cooperation in the area of youth and adapted tourism, among others. Rodrigo Oliveira participated in the meeting on behalf of the President of the Government.