Mr President, Commissioner, thank you for your statement, which suggests that mountain regions will perhaps no longer be entirely overlooked in European policy. Until now, unfortunately, mountain regions have rarely been a subject on which we have made observations or recommendations. And yet these regions warrant particular attention. Mountain areas offer a huge variety of riches. They are usually exceptional areas, which must therefore be managed in a very specific way, within a global policy of sustainable development of the mountains. These are complex areas due to their geography and their climate. They are areas in which farming plays a crucial role, but not any old farming; it must be a form of farming which is extensive, that takes care to preserve species of fauna and flora and the abundant supply of water, and to protect forests and natural habitats as defined by the European Union. This type of farming cannot exist, however, without people, hence the need to preserve these mountain areas from desertification and to do everything possible to maintain a human presence there. We must therefore strengthen and update provisions to benefit young farmers. The Commission has set up a number of programmes with which we are quite familiar: Leader and Interreg, inter alia, as you mentioned, Commissioner. This aid probably needs to be simplified, precisely because these are areas with specific characteristics, in order to make them more flexible to ensure that they are better suited to the terrain and that they take account of the specific characteristics of the region, the necessary protection of the environment and the existence of numerous specific methods for the management of these areas, such as pastoralism, for example. The same applies to tourism. We must encourage sustainable tourism, promoting the natural wealth of these areas but refusing to allow mountains to be turned into leisure parks built of concrete – which has, unfortunately, happened all too frequently in the Alps, amongst other areas. In order to achieve this, we must encourage private initiative, we must help local SMEs, which often suffer as a result of their isolation and communication difficulties and we must maintain services. Commissioner, I was very pleased to hear what you had to say on this matter, particularly your reminder that it is important for services to be available everywhere, including the most remote areas. We must therefore give priority to structural projects aimed at promoting forms of transport that respect the environment and probably at giving a greater role to the railways. In mountain areas, this is, of course, more difficult, but, in the Alps, we have first-hand knowledge of these problems. We must also give priority to renewable energies such as water and wood and increase research into the prevention of both natural and material risks. You also emphasised, however, the need to define mountain areas and not to forget hilly areas, because these play a crucial buffer role between mountains and lowland areas. We must also bear in mind, when talking about mountains, that the Alps are not the only ones; there are also the ancient massifs, which have their own specific characteristics and which must also be taken into account. In conclusion, the sustainable development of mountain areas can only be achieved if all partners are fully involved.

Political group: PPE-DE