Artur Lima attends 165th plenary session of European Committee of the Regions - Communication

Vice-Presidência do Governo Regional

The Vice-President of the Government participated in the 165th plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), which took place in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday and today.

During the two-day work, topics of interest to the Autonomous Region of the Azores were discussed, such as the competitiveness of the European agricultural sector and the European Oceans Pact, the latter being prepared by the European Commission. Cohesion Policy was also addressed, with the presence of the European Commission's Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, Raffaele Fitto.

According to the Vice-President of the Regional Government, it is essential to "fight for the sustainability, resilience and competitiveness of agriculture with the European institutions in a sector of crucial importance for the vitality and economic, social and territorial cohesion of the Azores."

The European Oceans Pact will define a general framework for all European policies concerning the ocean.

"Sustainable marine economic development is essential for the local, regional, European and global future," stated Artur Lima.

The economy of the sea is "one of the region's promising new axes of development, in terms of transport, fishing, tourism, world-class marine research and other emerging activities," stated the Vice-President.

Therefore, the "policies resulting from the Oceans Pact must consider the centrality and dependence of this sector in Outermost Regions (ORs) in all their aspects and with due recognition of their unique features," continued Artur Lima. He recalled that the "Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Outermost Regions account for more than half of the EEZ of the European Union."

At a time when there are proposals from the European Commission to change the European Social Fund (ESF+) and allocate other existing Cohesion Policy funds to the Defence sector, the Vice-President of the Government stressed that the Azores "are Europe's main Atlantic border and are great strategic interest to the European Union in various areas, as indeed are all Outermost Regions."

In this regard, he defended that "this undeniable reality must be taken into serious consideration by the Commission now and in the future."

Also, regarding the future of Cohesion, Artur Lima warned of the "lack of clarification on the regional and local role in its programming, implementation and management."

The European Committee of the Regions is an advisory body to the European Union that meets up to six times a year in assembly with 329 local and regional members from all member states. The 166th plenary session is scheduled for May 14 and 15.