Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on "The outermost regions of the EU and implementation of Article 299"

(2001/C 144/04)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 13 June 2000, under the fifth paragraph of Article 265 of the EC Treaty, to issue an opinion on the outermost regions of the European Union and to instruct Commission 1 - Regional Policy, Structural Funds, Economic and Social Cohesion and Cross-border and Inter-regional Cooperation - to prepare the opinion on this matter;

having regard to its opinion (CdR 23/98 fin)(1) on the future of peripheral areas in the European Union, which noted in point 1.2 that: "Despite a number of obvious similarities, the distinctive features of the most remote regions have lead to their specific situation being dealt with under Article 299(2) of the Amsterdam Treaty, which is not the subject of this opinion. The COR reserves the right to deliver an opinion at a later date on this matter";

having regard to the European Parliament reports on the development problems of the outermost regions of the European Union (A4-0128/97 of 11 April 1997), relations between the overseas countries and territories, the ACP and the outermost regions of the European Union (A4-0036/99 of 26 January 1999) and the measures to implement Article 299(2): the outermost regions of the European Union (A5-0285/2000 of 25 October 2000);

having regard to the Memorandum drawn up by the Outermost Regions at their meeting in Cayenne on 5 March 1999;

having regard to the Memorandum from the Spanish Government on The Canary Islands: implementing conditions and procedures in respect of Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty, dated 7 November 1999;

having regard to the Memorandum from the Portuguese Government on The outermost regions of the Azores and Madeira (November 1999);

having regard to the Memorandum from the French Government entitled "The overseas regions and Europe: Memorandum issued by France on the Implementation of Article 299(2) of the Treaty of Amsterdam" (10 December 1999);

having regard to the Final Declaration issued by the Outermost Regions at their meeting in Funchal on 31 March 2000;

having regard to the Report from the European Commission on The measures to implement Article 299(2) of the Treaty of Amsterdam in respect of the outermost regions of the European Union (COM(2000) 147 final, dated 14 March 2000);

having regard to the presidency conclusions of the Lisbon European Council, which took note of the abovementioned report, the presidency conclusions of the Santa Maria da Feira European Council, which spelled out the Council's expectations as regards implementation of Article 299(2) following the submission of the European Commission's work programme and the presidency conclusions of the Nice European Council stipulating that the European Council would take note of the progress made in work on this subject as a whole at its next meeting in Göteborg;

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 156/2000 rev. 2) adopted by Commission 1 on 14 September 2000 (rapporteur: Mr Karam, President of the Regional Council of French Guiana, F/PSE);

whereas the outermost regions - the Azores, the Canary Islands, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Madeira, Martinique and Réunion - are full members of the European Union, and whereas they reflect the European dimension (economic, social and cultural) in their regional environment;

whereas these regions are marked by major structural underdevelopment owing to the many serious handicaps from which they suffer permanently, and whereas their specific characteristics place these regions in a unique situation in the European Union;

whereas the unique and original nature of these parts of the EU fully justifies special treatment by the EU and the need to consider the situation of the outermost regions in EU policies;

whereas support should thus be given to the calls being made by the outermost regions and the national authorities concerned for the introduction, on the basis of Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty, of a Community policy for the outermost regions, which will enable these regions to catch up with the rest of the EU in socio-economic terms and to exploit the advantages which they offer in providing an interface with new areas of regional economic cooperation,

adopted the following opinion, by a unanimous vote, at its 36th plenary session, held on 13 and 14 December 2000 (meeting of 13 December).

The Committee of the Regions

1. welcomes the fact that the European Commission, with the support of the European Parliament, started to give thought back in 1986 to the introduction of an appropriate framework for applying EU law and policies to these regions;

2. endorses the approach adopted by the European Commission, which recognised that the situation of the outermost regions was not comparable to that of other regions of the EU and, despite the various national and EU legal bases involved(2), proposed a common framework for assisting the seven outermost regions. These proposals took the form of global action programmes - the so-called "programmes of options specific to the remote and insular nature" of the regions involved - which made adjustments to Community law and policies to take account of the specific characteristics of the outermost regions(3);

3. notes that the above programmes, based on the two principles that the outermost regions form part of the European Community and that their special regional situation must be recognised, provide for the differentiated application of the common framework according to the needs of each of the outermost regions, through appropriate application of the principle of equal treatment, without jeopardising the coherence and unity of Community law or the single market;

4. recognises that the programmes implemented by the European Commission in respect of the outermost regions have had a positive impact on the sectors concerned (agriculture, fisheries, energy, the environment, craft industries and the import-substitution sector). In the case of the agriculture and fisheries sectors, these programmes have brought about a relative reduction in production costs and an improvement in both the quality and quantity of local production. The programmes have also promoted diversification of energy resources, inter alia by boosting the use of renewable sources. Customs measures and the retention of the indirect fiscal measures peculiar to each of these regions(4) have, to a certain extent, offset the socio-economic disadvantages deriving from the remoteness of these regions whilst preserving autonomous sources of revenue for the local authorities;

5. highlights the fact that application of the Structural Funds in the outermost regions has proved a success in that it has enabled commercial infrastructure, particularly ports and airports, to be brought up to standard. In pursuance of the policy of promoting economic and social cohesion, the outermost regions received in the 1989-1993 and 1994-1999 programming periods Structural Fund support totalling EUR 7,2 billion for a population of 3,5 million - a figure which represents 2,5 % of the sum allocated to the EU regions as a whole;

6. believes, however, that, in the case of measures to bolster economic development in the outermost regions, the Structural Funds have had less impact. Six of the outermost regions are still amongst the ten poorest regions in the EU, and levels of underemployment are amongst the highest in the EU in these regions, which frequently have young populations;

7. points to the failure to adequately address several issues, such as the interplay of Community policies in the geographical areas of the outermost regions (Structural Funds and interventions by the European Development Fund in the ACP; Pilot Programme to Conserve the Brazilian Rain Forest - PPG7) and the adaptation of competition policy to the economies of the outermost regions;

8. considers that this net result - positive in overall terms but limited in some areas - has justified, in the light of the important changes which have taken place at EU and international levels, the inclusion in the Treaty of a specific Article 299(2) designed to take account of the most isolated of all the EU's regions;

9. points out that the new Article 299(2) in the Amsterdam Treaty meets the objectives which were clearly pinpointed throughout the negotiations, namely,

- to underscore the unique nature of the outermost regions and to take account of this concept in all EU policies, in particular, by maintaining the priority aid granted under the structural policy to promote economic and social cohesion;

- to adapt the common policies to the situation obtaining in the regions by implementing special measures, and to lay down special provisions for implementing the Treaty in cases where such provisions are shown to be necessary for the development of the outermost regions;

- to take account of the specific geographical environment of the outermost regions in trade and cooperation policies, as well as in agreements with the ACP countries;

10. stresses that, against the background of new challenges involved in the construction of Europe and the organisation of world trade, the above objectives need to be reiterated and taken into account when Article 299(2) is implemented;

11. expresses its satisfaction at the adoption of the European Commission's report on the measures to implement Article 299(2) of the Amsterdam Treaty; this represents a "quantum leap" in the Community's approach to the outermost regions;

12. considers that this report represents the beginning of a decisive new stage on the road towards a coherent global strategy for the sustainable development of the outermost regions;

13. notes the convergence between the principles set out in the European Commission's report and the proposals put forward by the outermost regions in the Cayenne Memorandum of 5 March 1999, particularly as regards the definition and interlinking of development priorities for these territories and the recognition of their key role in providing a dynamic frontier between the EU and a number of strategic geographical and economic areas;

14. also notes that the policy guidelines set out in the report represent positive progress in a number of areas, such as the beneficial changes to the EU provisions governing operational aid, the account to be taken of areas' remoteness and isolation in the development of the information society, the submission of appropriate proposals in the fields of transport and energy, long-term maintenance of permanent regional policy objectives and the fact that the vital aid granted to these regions is to be put on a permanent footing;

15. observes, however, that the Commission's report fails to provide all of the responses sought by the outermost regions for translating the new legal basis into a strategy for action;

16. notes the agreement over the need for closer partnership and thinks that this is absolutely vital if the Commission is to draw up more in-depth proposals and if the EU regulatory framework is to be adapted for the benefit of the outermost regions;

17. congratulates the European Commission, in this context, on having organised the First Partnership with the Outermost Regions Day on 23 November 1999, and endorses the proposal put forward by the presidents of the regional executives in the outermost regions that the second Partnership Day be held as early as the first quarter of 2001 to take stock of the initial measures adopted under Article 299(2) and to enable the Commission to take account of the observations made by the regional executive presidents and their proposed amendments so as to ensure that optimum progress is made when this matter is considered by the Göteborg European Council;

18. supports the formulation of an overall, sustainable policy for the outermost regions designed to a) step up support for the productive sector and the development of enterprises and services and b) bring the outermost regions up to standard in current and future strategic sectors such as the information society, the environment, research and new technologies;

19. shares the European Commission's view that under the new Article 299(2) it will be possible to establish specific arrangements which take account of all the burdens which are imposed on the outermost regions because of their remote location;

20. considers that this new legal basis should provide a key policy tool for facilitating the introduction of Community action which is better targeted, more flexible and more effective in dealing with the current challenges posed by the construction of Europe and globalisation;

21. thanks the European Council for having always taken into account and supported the EU's outermost regions and for having drawn attention, at its meetings in Santa Maria da Feira and in Nice, to the urgent need to implement Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty(5);

Recommendations

22. encourages the European Commission to submit timely proposals for implementing Article 299(2), as it has been called upon to do by the European Council. To this end, it endorses the action taken by the presidents of the regional executives of the outermost regions and their Conference with a view to ensuring that the Commission's work programme is implemented in accordance with the principles of partnership and good governance;

23. urges the European Commission to take into account the requests made by these regions and to flesh out the EU policies concerned; it is essential to pay maximum attention to the effective measures to be put forward as part of the overall strategy advocated for the outermost regions;

24. points out that the adoption of measures to preserve the existing framework represents both a very strong obligation and a priority and asks the Commission to undertake to make up for the delays which have already occurred in this area, since they are highly prejudicial to attaining the objectives set;

25. also urges that special attention be paid to the new partnership agreement between the EU and the ACP states, signed at Cotonou on 23 June 2000, in order to ensure that the economic development of the outermost regions is not adversely affected by this agreement and that these regions, which form part of the EU's frontier with the ACP states, can play an active role in international cooperation and supports the request made by the outermost regions to be involved in the assessment of the impact of these agreements on their regions;

26. suggests that the Commission draw up an annual work programme, accompanied by an outline timetable, and that the outermost regions be consulted on these documents at the partnership days; the priority areas of action must be discussed, particularly in view of the interaction between such areas and the common policies currently being formulated;

27. suggests that instruments be established for carrying out an ongoing assessment of the impact of new EU provisions on the outermost regions with a view to ensuring that such provisions not only do not jeopardise the expansion of economic activities in these regions but also further their real and sustainable development, inter alia, by exploiting the comparative advantages of their staple products;

28. thinks that if the strategic objectives are to be accomplished, effective coordination is necessary, particularly via the interdepartmental working party at the Commission, whose permanent resources within the secretariat general need to be strengthened;

29. advocates the introduction, by both EU and regional institutions, of a communication strategy for informing public opinion in the EU of the issues affecting the outermost regions and of the special EU dimension represented by these - hitherto little known - regions;

30. encourages the outermost regions to continue to cooperate in all possible areas, and urges the Commission to support them in this venture in order to meet the challenges posed by their development within the EU and the challenges of globalisation.

Brussels, 13 December 2000.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos Chabert

(1) OJ C 315, 13.10.1998, p. 15.

(2) Article 227(2) of the Treaty of Rome of 1957 recognised that the special situation of the French overseas departments vis-à-vis France placed them in a special situation within the European Economic Community (EEC). In the same way a special Protocol on the Canary Islands and a specific Declaration on the Azores and Madeira, which were included in the Acts of Accession of Spain and Portugal to the EC in 1986, recognised the specific nature of these regions under EU law.

(3) The programme of specific options relating to the French overseas departments (Poseidom) was adopted under Council Decision 89/687/EEC of 22 December 1989; the equivalent programme in respect of the Azores and Madeira (Poseima) was adopted under Council Decision 91/314/EEC of 26 June 1991; and the programme of specific options in respect of the Canary Islands (Poseican) was adopted under Council Decision 91/315/EEC of 26 June 1991.

(4) Reduced rates of VAT are applied in these regions. They also apply specific indirect taxes, such as the Canary Islands general indirect tax, the special island tax and the production and import tax levied in the Canary Islands and the dock dues levied in the French overseas departments. Spain and France are authorised to exempt the Canary Islands and the French overseas departments from the general provisions in respect of products liable to excise duty. In the case of Madeira and the Azores, reduced levels of excise duties are applied.

(5) Conclusions of the European Council held in Santa Maria da Feira on 19 and 20 June 2000: "The European Council took note of the Commission's work programme for carrying out the measures to implement Article 299(2) of the Treaty on the outermost regions. It calls upon the Commission to study the information provided or to be provided by the Member States with a view to taking the measures falling within its sphere of competence, and to submit the appropriate proposals, which must be adopted at the earliest opportunity, to the Council as quickly as possible. The European Council will examine progress achieved at its meeting in Nice in December 2000." (point 53 of the Conclusions).