The Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations emphasised in Ponta Delgada the need for the European Commission to 'know in situ' the remoteness of the Azores" so that it may "better understand and feel the regional reality" to further "develop and implement various EU schemes and rules, with the flexibility and adaptability required by the Treaty."

Rodrigo Oliveira spoke at the opening session of a training course on EU rules on competition and State aid, an initiative promoted by the Regional Government with the support of the Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) of the European Commission. Its aim is to "provide the regional administration with a detailed knowledge on a series of guidelines and regulations" that will be analysed over this two-day course.

"The presence of DG COMP and the opportunity of this training are, likewise, a healthy exercise of sharing and open collaboration. This will allow the European Commission to better understand the operation and characteristics of a market consisting of nine small islands spread over 600 km of ocean and located about 1,500 km off the Portuguese coast," said Rodrigo Oliveira.

This training course is organised by the Under Secretariat of the Regional Secretariat for External Relations in partnership with the Regional Directorate for Support to Investment and Competitiveness. It is taught by DG COMP officials Miek Van Der Wee, Head of the Regional Aid Unit, and Ramona Ianus, State aid policy Technician, as well as by Carlos Oliveira, member of the Coordination team of State aid of the Directorate-General for European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The revision of the State aid scheme was intended to reinforce the transparency and better monitoring of the compatibility between public support, the internal market and free competition. In this regard, we must acknowledge that the constraints of the outermost regions effectively deserved a more favourable treatment in some areas," said the Regional Under Secretary.

However, Rodrigo Oliveira added that "this does not mean that we are fully satisfied with this framework. There is always room for improvement, especially with regard to the practical application in terms of interpretation, modulation and flexibility of the State aid scheme, taking into consideration the constraints and the additional costs that Outermost Regions face."