The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations defended in Corsica that the "Motorways of the Sea" should include the Azores and the islands of Outermost Regions.
 
Rui Bettencourt spoke on the panel entitled "Transport and accessibility on European islands" at the General Assembly of the Island Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR). On the occasion, he raised the Regional Government's concerns on the policy under the next multiannual financial framework for the 2021/2027 period, reiterating the need for the additional costs of transporting people and goods in these regions to be covered by Community funding.
 
"We need regular transport and with a certain level of frequency that can put us on equal footing with any European citizen," said Rui Bettencourt. The government official stressed that they allow us "on the one hand, to have increased mobility and, on the other hand, to be able to export and move goods inside and outside the Region."
 
According to the Secretary for External Relations, transport and accessibility "are not only a commercial and economic matter, but also a matter of European citizenship." Furthermore, it is also "a matter that concerns the Region's competitiveness and the attractiveness of the territory," which can "minimise the effects of being outermost regions."
 
"We have specificities as islands," the Regional Secretary said, stressing that the Azores are "twofold outermost region" due to the considerable distance from the European continent and distance between the islands within the archipelago. Therefore, he defended the need for "a transport policy funded by the European Commission."
 
In his speech, the Regional Secretary addressed the theme "The islands of the Outermost Regions on the roads of Europe - the case of the Azores," considering that accessibility promotes tourism, the economy of the sea and exports, namely dairy products, tea and agricultural products. Moreover, he also stressed that it improves the mobility of people, whether internal or external, without forgetting the "scale effect" given the fragility and size of these economic markets.
 
Rui Bettencourt also pointed out the example of the Macaronesia, which includes the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries and Cape Verde, a market that grows from 250 thousand consumers to more than three million consumers as well as from one million tourists to more than 200 million tourists. The situation may improve even further with regular transport if this matter is addressed by Community policies.