European Parliament resolution on a stronger partnership for the outermost regions (2004/2253(INI))
Date: 2005-09-28
Institutions: Committee on Development, European Parliament
Subjects: EU action, EU policy, economic and social cohesion, peripheral region, regional development

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P6_TA(2005)0359

Partnership for the outermost regions

European Parliament

resolution on a

stronger partnership for

the outermost

regions

(2004/2253(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission Communications of 26 May 2004 entitled ‘A stronger partnership
for the outermost regions’
(COM(2004)0343) and of 6 August 2004 on a stronger partnership
strengthened for the outermost regions: assessment and prospects (COM(2004)0543), and to the annex
to the latter (SEC(2004)1030),

— having regard to the process which has served to establish the special status of the outermost regions
in primary EU law (Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty) and to the substance and legal scope of that status,

— having regard to Community action as a whole in aid of the outermost regions,

— having regard to paragraph 58 of the Presidency Conclusions of the Seville European Council of 21
and 22 June 2002, which formed the basis for the above-mentioned Commission Communications on
a stronger partnership for the outermost regions,

— having regard to the memorandum by Spain, France, Portugal and the outermost regions on measures
to build on Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty and to the contribution of the outermost regions to that
memorandum, sent to the Commission on 2 June 2003,

— having regard to the report by the Presidents of the Outermost Regions on the Commission Communi-
cation entitled ‘A stronger partnership for the outermost regions’ , sent to the Commission on 17 June
2004,

— having regard to paragraph 47, final indent, of the Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European

Council of 17 and 18 June 2004,

— having regard to the Final Declaration of the Tenth Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions,

held in Ponta Delgada on 2 September 2004,

— having regard to the opinions of the Committee of the Regions of 18 November 2004 on the Commis-
sion Communication entitled ‘A stronger partnership for the outermost regions’ (1) and of 13 December
2000 on the outermost regions of the EU and implementation of Article 299 (2),

— having regard to the opinions of the European Economic and Social Committee of 19 July 2005 on the
Commission Communication entitled ‘A stronger partnership for the outermost regions’
(CES/
847/2005) and of 29 May 2002 on the future strategy for the outermost regions of the European
Union (3),

— having regard to its previous resolutions and opinions concerning the position of the outermost
regions, in particular its resolution of 25 October 2000 on the measures to implement Article 299(2):
the outermost regions of the European Union (4),

— having regard to the Commission Communication of 26 February 2004 entitled ‘Building our common
Enlarged Union 2007-2013’
and Budgetary means of

challenges

the

Future — Policy
(COM(2004)0101),

(1) OJ C 71, 22.3.2005, p. 40.
(2) OJ C 144, 16.5.2001, p. 11.
(3) OJ C 221, 17.9.2002, p. 37.
(4) OJ C 197, 12.7.2001, p. 197.

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— having regard to the Commission Communication of 18 February 2004 entitled ‘Third progress report
on economic and social cohesion’ (COM(2004)0107); its resolution of 22 April 2004 on the third
report on economic and social cohesion (1); and the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 16
June 2004 on the third report on economic and social cohesion (2) and the opinion of the European
Economic and Social Committee of 30 June 2004 on the third report on economic and social
cohesion (3),

— having regard to the first contribution from the outermost regions on the future of economic and

social cohesion, delivered to the Commission in February 2002,

— having regard to the Commission Communication of 14 July 2004 on the Financial Perspectives
2007-2013 (COM(2004)0487) and other related documents, and to the fact that the Temporary
Committee on Policy Challenges and Budgetary Means of the enlarged Union 2007-2013 was set up
within Parliament to probe into the European Union's budget resources in the period from 2007 to
2013, which Committee adopted its report on 19 May 2005 (A6-0153/2005),

— having regard to its resolution of 8 June 2005 on Policy Challenges and Budgetary Means of the

enlarged Union 2007-2013 (4),

— having regard to the proposal for a Council regulation laying down general provisions on the European
Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund (COM(2004)0492); the
proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Regional
Development Fund (COM(2004)0495); the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of
the Council on the European Social Fund (COM(2004)0493); and the proposal for a Council regulation
establishing a Cohesion Fund (COM(2004)0494),

— having regard to the proposal for a Council regulation on support for rural development by the Euro-
pean Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (COM(2004)0490); and the proposal for a
Council regulation on the European Fisheries Fund (COM(2004)0497),

— having regard to the decision taken by the Heads of State or Government of the Member States of the
European Union on 18 June 2004 to adopt the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (herein-
after ‘the Constitutional Treaty’ ),

— having regard to the fact that under the Constitutional Treaty a new pillar has been added to cohesion

policy, namely the territorial cohesion pillar,

— having regard to the fact that the status of the outermost regions has been incorporated and strength-

ened in Articles III-424 and IV-440(2) of the Constitutional Treaty ,

— having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Regional Development and the opinions of the
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Fisheries (A6-0246/2005),

A. whereas primary EU law and, recently, the Constitutional Treaty have recognised the nature of the
constraints affecting the outermost regions (great distance, island status, small land area, difficult relief
and climate, and economic dependency on a small number of products), which constraints, by reason
of their permanent and pervasive nature and combined presence, differentiate those regions from the
Union's other regions having geographical disadvantages or population problems,

B. having regard to the importance of the various Community measures adopted in favour of the outer-
most regions, while nonetheless pointing out their the insufficiency of such measures, especially in
areas that are of strategic importance for development,

C. whereas it remains essential that the European Union supports the outermost regions given their
unequal position vis-à-vis the Community as a whole, with a view to their development and to bringing
them up to a level of sustained convergence; whereas this support must also enable the outermost
regions to be integrated into such highly competitive processes as the internal market, economic and
monetary union, the Lisbon strategy, enlargement and globalisation,

(1) OJ C 104E, 30.4.2004, p. 1000.
(2) OJ C 318, 22.12.2004, p. 1.
(3) OJ C 302, 7.12.2004, p. 60.
(4) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0224.

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D. having regard to the need to guarantee the economically, socially and environmentally sustainable
exploitation of living aquatic resources, particularly the need to preserve fish stocks in the outermost
regions,

E. whereas the outermost regions have fragile economies with little possibilities for diversification,

in
which in some cases fishing and ancestral fishing communities play a key social and economic role and
strengthen other economic activities upstream and downstream,

F. welcoming the potential of the future development strategy for the outermost regions as defined by the
Commission in the above-mentioned Communications on a stronger partnership for the outermost
regions — guided by the ‘competitiveness’ , ‘access and the offsetting of other constraints’ and ‘integra-
tion into the regional area’ priorities for action — whose implementation calls for input both from the
revised economic and social cohesion policy and from the other Community policies,

G. noting that, in the context of the revised cohesion policy, input remains insufficient, confined as it is to
the establishment of a specific programme to compensate for additional costs and the action plan for a
wider neighbourhood,

H. whereas there have been repeated calls for a specific strategy and programme for the outermost

regions,

I. welcoming, nonetheless,

the objectives whose achievement

is envisaged through the specific

programme to compensate for additional costs and the action plan for a wider neighbourhood,

J. whereas the situation of the outermost regions needs to be referred to in the cohesion policy objective
‘European territorial cooperation’ , thus linking up with the action plan for a wider neighbourhood;
whereas the Commission should, in this context, allocate funds on a case-by-case basis, on similar lines
to those followed for the specific programme, and should establish criteria which do not limit the parti-
cipation of the outermost regions; whereas the Commission must ensure that those regions are eligible
in practice for crossborder cooperation,

K. whereas, in the context of the action plan for a wider neighbourhood (and, therefore, of the cohesion
policy objective ‘European territorial cooperation’ ), and, additionally, of the European Union's new
neighbourhood policy, it is necessary to promote not only the integration of the outermost regions
within their respective geographic areas, but also their socio-economic and cultural links with countries
with emigrant communities from those regions or with which those regions have traditional ties (e.g.
Venezuela, Brazil, the United States, South Africa, Canada and Australia),

L. whereas the Commission needs,

in the context of the action plan for a wider neighbourhood, to
propose responses to the difficulties now faced by certain outermost regions regarding illegal immigra-
tion and other related problems,

M. whereas, in addition, with regard to the general framework for access to Structural Funds, the present
period of negotiation of the financial perspectives and of the reform of cohesion policy is a crucial one
for the future of the outermost regions, and it is therefore essential to defend and safeguard, in this
connection,
the unique situation of those regions by continuing to provide prioritised financial
support,

N. having regard to the right to differentiated treatment in this area laid down in Article 299(2) of the EC
Treaty, which forsees the possibility of adopting relevant measures for the outermost regions with
regard, especially, to the conditions of access to Structural Funds; recalling the EU's position thus far
towards the outermost regions with regard to Structural Funds and that those regions have even been
granted, in view of their special circumstances, higher co-financing rates than those granted to the
other cohesion regions,

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General considerations

1. Calls on the Commission to bring its efforts to bear, exercising the right of initiative accorded to it
under Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty, to launch procedures to enable the aspirations of the outermost
regions to be met in full, be it under cohesion policy or in connection with the other policies, Community
measures and areas important for their development, namely agriculture, fisheries, competition and state
interest and services of general economic interest, taxation,
aids, enterprise policy, services of general
customs measures, environment, energy, research and technological development, vocational training,
transport, trans-European networks, new information and communication technologies, regional coopera-
tion, and so forth;

2. Calls on the Commission to carry out an assessment of the impact of the Community legislation liable
to have implications for the outermost regions; calls for the special situation of the outermost regions to
be properly taken into account at all levels of implementation of Community policies and actions;

3. Recalls that most of the positive discrimination measures adopted for these regions are not such as to
affect the fundamental principles of the functioning of the EU;

4. Calls on the Commission to include the outermost regions in the EU's efforts to achieve the objectives
of the Lisbon strategy and the Gothenburg goals;

Financial perspective and cohesion policy

5. Calls on the Council to ensure that the adoption of the financial perspective for 2007-2013 results in
guaranteed status for the measures aimed at achieving the objectives of the Union, including the economic,
social and territorial development of the outermost regions;

6. Calls on the Commission to ensure, whether under the specific programme to compensate for addi-
tional costs or under the wider neighbourhood action plan, or where access in general to Structural Funds
is concerned, that equal treatment continues along the lines which the Union has been following in its
measures concerning the outermost regions;

Strongly supports the special action of 1 100 million Euro for the outermost regions proposed by the
7.
Commission, as well as the possibility of financing operating aid, as provided in Article 11 of the above-
mentioned proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European
Regional Development Fund; calls for full practical expression to be given to the requirement laid down in
Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty for the outermost regions to be treated as a special case as regards their
access to the Structural Funds, including those regions whose GDP has already risen above 75 % of the
Community average;

8. Calls for the amounts allocated to the specific programme to be increased and devoted exclusively to
the outermost regions without penalising any one such region;

9. Calls for the wider neighbourhood action plan to be based on a concept of closeness in the broad
sense so as to enable support to be provided for projects involving organisations in countries which have
large communities of emigrants from outermost regions, to whom those regions consequently feel very
close;

10.
Insists that the action plan for a wider neighbourhood should be granted a specific financial alloca-
tion for transnational and crossborder cooperation, and that the long-expected coordination between the
actions funded by the European Regional Development Fund in support of the outermost regions and their
counterparts funded by the European Development Fund (EDF) in support of neighbouring ACP countries
or overseas possessions and territories at last become a reality, whether or not budgetisation of the EDF
takes place;

11. Calls for the action plan to be used to tackle the problems of illegal immigration which face some
outermost regions;

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Human capital

12. Calls on the Commission to boost this important part of development in the outermost regions by
encouraging training and specific consolidation in areas devoted exclusively to the promotion of competi-
tion and growth;

Agriculture and fisheries

13. Reminds the Commission that the economies of the outermost regions are based on small-scale
sectors, including agriculture and fisheries, which tend to require support on various levels and, especially,
incentives to enhance the attractiveness of the employment of young people;

14. Calls on the Commission, in the context of the revision currently under way of the agricultural
component of the Programme of Options Specifically Relating to Remoteness and Insularity (POSEI), to
ensure the stability of the resources allocated, allowing for possible adjustments in line with exceptional
needs and simplifying the administrative arrangements;

15. Calls on the Commission, in the context of the future rules of the EAFRD, to take account of the
specific circumstances of the outermost regions, allocating them sufficient financial resources to attain the
rural development policy objectives and preserving uniform treatment for those regions when setting the
Fund's contribution rates, on lines similar to those of the European Fisheries Fund (EFF);

16. Calls on the Commission, in the context of the external dimension of the Common Market Organisa-
tion (CMO) in bananas, to introduce a single tariff at a level high enough to preserve the Community's
banana production, and, if necessary, to propose compensatory measures for Community producers;

17. Deplores the abolition of sales aid for the sugar sector; calls for the restoration of this instrument
and full compensation for loss of income in order genuinely to take account of the specific handicaps
suffered by the outermost regions; considers, moreover, that it is essential to ensure that sugar production
and refining in the Azores are given access to the national market under conditions equivalent to those in
force before the incorporation of this region in the European Union, in the same way as has been the case
with the Canary islands, without compromising the pursuit of this activity in the region;

Suggests that identical concerns regarding guaranteeing differentiated treatment and the continued
18.
viability of the industry in the outermost regions should apply to the milk and fruit and vegetable sectors,
subject to their respective specific conditions;

19. Calls on the Commission to adopt measures to boost the competitiveness of the agricultural products
of the outermost regions so that they can compete on the market with similar products originating in
countries which have association agreements with the EU or which benefit from preferential regimes;

20. Calls on the Commission, in the context of the future provisions of the EFF, to take account of the
specific needs of the outermost regions in the sector;

21. Reiterates the need for a permanent protection zone so as to allow positive discrimination in access
to maritime resources for the fishing fleets of the outermost regions in such a way as to preserve local
economies;

22. Draws attention to the simultaneous great richness and great fragility of the marine ecosystems of
the outermost regions, and the consequent need to pay particular attention to the fishing gear and practices
permitted, as well as to access to the surrounding and adjacent waters;

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23. Urges the Commission, in view of the particular circumstances of the exclusive economic zones of
the outermost regions (absence of a continental shelf in certain cases) and the limitations of their fisheries
zones (often confined to submarine hills), to apply, without hesitation, the precautionary principle and the
principle of relative stability, thereby helping ensure not only biological and ecological balance for the
species concerned, but also the protection of the socio-economic fabric related to the fisheries sector in
those regions; urges the Commission also to take account in its legislative proposals of the fact that fishing
activity in some of the outermost regions, for example in the Indian Ocean, is very recent and that fish
stocks in these areas are still rich;

24. Reiterates the need for future support for the renewal and modernisation of the fishing fleet, in the
interests of the sector's profitability and competitiveness;

25. Urges the Commission, in the light of the vulnerabilities coming from the stauts of the outermost
regions, to continue its support in those regions for the fisheries-products processing industry, at a level
equivalent to or higher than that of the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance;

26. Calls for fish-processing in the outermost regions to be taken into account in the review of state aid
for the fisheries sector;

27. Urges the Commission to accept the principle that POSEI-Fisheries aid should be permanent, and
considers that the compensation levels in respect of the additional costs arising from outermost region
status in the marketing of certain fisheries products should be increased;

28. Urges the Commission to take all possible steps towards the rapid establishment of the Regional
Advisory Councils; considers that, in the case of the Regional Advisory Council for South Western Waters,
an island subdivision should be created to deal with the specific fisheries in the outermost regions;

Competition and state aids

29. Hopes, as regards state aid for regional purposes, that the outermost regions can continue to receive
non-degressive operating aid, not limited in time, and that the aid can be extended to cover the transport
sector, provided that
the public procurement rules guarantee fair price-setting by the undertakings
concerned; hopes that the outermost regions can continue to benefit from a higher rate over and above
the amount of initial investment aid; hopes that movable transport assets will be included among eligible
costs as regards initial investment; hopes also that it will be permitted to compensate outermost regions
for the additional costs incurred in transporting goods within the EU market;

30. Calls, in the context of the revision of the guidelines on regionally-oriented state aids to be applied
from 2007, for compensation to be authorised for the outermost regions for the additional costs arising
from the transport of goods within the EU market, rather than only within the national borders of the
country concerned;

31. Calls, in addition, in the context of the revision of the same guidelines, for all due value to be given
to existing practice as regards the outermost regions, and for the relevant circumstances to be taken into
account;

32. Calls for the aid provisions for the outermost regions under Article III-167(3)(a) of the Constitutional
Treaty to be implemented without delay;

33. Calls for the rules governing very small-scale aid to be extended to cover the transport sector;

Enterprise policy

34. Calls on the Commission to adapt existing measures to the particular situation of the outermost
regions, facilitating the access of those regions to such measures; calls for action to promote the competi-
tiveness of businesses in those regions, whether via specific measures designed to further their integration
into a neighbouring geographic area, or via definition of and support for new models of competitiveness;
also advocates support for entrepreneurship and the spirit of enterprise;

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Services of general economic interest

35. Calls on the Commission to act on its promise for a working party to study the operation of services
of general economic interest in the outermost regions and to draw up proposals geared to the special
features and needs of those regions where the market in public services is concerned;

36. Calls on the Commission, in relation to the EU's approach to services of general interest in the wake
of the White Paper (COM(2004)0374), to pay due attention to the specific constraints of the outermost
regions, especially when classifying certain service activities in those regions as services of general interest
and when determining the application to those activities of competition and internal market rules adapted
to the specific circumstances of the outermost regions;

Taxation and customs measures

37. Calls on the Commission to continue to apply specific tax measures for the benefit of the outermost
regions and to show willingness to propose other arrangements to promote the self-contained development
of those regions;

38. Calls on the Commission to show willingness to consider requests from outermost regions for
temporary suspension of Common Customs Tariff duties levied on supplies of non-agricultural commod-
ities for production uses and of fishery products, and on imported capital goods for business and industrial
use;

Environment

39. Calls on the Commission not to neglect this area in future measures in support of the outermost
regions, since resources are insufficient to meet continuing needs regarding the environment, specifically as
regards the protection of biodiversity, implementation of the Natura 2000 network, and waste manage-
ment, a fact which makes it more difficult to pursue an environmental policy in the outermost regions
which is consistent with the fundamental principles of Community environmental policy; calls on the
Commission to implement measures along the lines of the environment component of the Programme of
options specific to the remote and insular nature of Madeira and the Azores (POSEIMA);

Trans-European networks

40. Calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to the special characteristics of the outermost
regions in the context of trans-European networks;

41. Calls on the Commission, as regards trans-European energy networks, to treat projects in outermost
regions as subject to the co-financing rate laid down for projects deemed to have priority;

42. Calls on the Commission, as regards trans-European transport infrastructure networks, to enable
ports and airports in outermost regions to be co-financed by the Cohesion Fund, if eligible;

Research and technological development

43. Calls on the Commission to give operational effect to recital 14 of Decision No 1513/2002/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 concerning the sixth framework programme
of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities, contri-
buting to the creation of the European Research Area and to innovation (2002 to 2006) (1), under both the
current framework programme and its successor; calls for ways to be found under the next framework
programme to open up funding to projects in outermost regions, especially in the centres of excellence in
those regions;

(1) OJ L 232, 29.8.2002, p. 1.

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44. Calls for the action plan for research, technological development, demonstration and innovation,
submitted by the outermost regions to the Commission in 2003, to be taken into account;

45. Calls for projects in outermost regions to be financed under the framework programme for reserach
and technological development and co-financed in addition by the Structural Funds;

New information and communications technologies

46. Calls on the Commission to ensure that special attention be paid to projects in the outermost regions
in the field of information society and technological innovation, given those sectors' key role in promoting
development; recalls those regions' demands in this area as set out in the above-mentioned memorandum
of Spain, France, Portugal and the outermost regions and contribution of the outermost regions thereto,
sent to the Commission on 2 June 2003;

Transport

47. Calls for the outermost regions to be incorporated into every aspect of Community transport policy;

48. Calls on the Commission to ensure that transport projects financed by the Community in the outer-
most regions bring about improvements first and foremost to the quality of life of the inhabitants and the
self-contained development of those regions; calls for projects developed in breach of Community environ-
mental law to be halted; recommends, furthermore, that all transport projects developed for the outermost
regions must have a precise and clearly-defined analysis of the benefits for the diversification of the local
economy, social cohesion and the sustainability of the regional job market;

49. Calls for co-financing to meet additional transport costs and for transport to be developed in the
neighbourhood of the outermost regions, not least by involving non-member countries to that end;

Final considerations

50. Welcomes the fact, lastly, that the bodies working to defend the special status of the outermost
regions have established and cemented an important partnership; points to the Commission's key role in
that process, as reflected in the above-mentioned Communications on a stronger partnership for the outer-
most regions;

*

*

*

51.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Committee of
the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee, the national, regional, and local authorities of
the outermost regions, and the Chairman-in-Office of the Conference of Presidents of the Outermost
Regions.