By Martin Banks - 8th July 2010
We need the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions to help us deliver the Integrated Maritime Policy
Claudio Martini
A leading regional politician says that EU attempts to boost the economies of maritime regions have so far not lived up to expectations.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, president of the Brittany region in France, was speaking after meeting commission president José Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Wednesday.
Le Drian was part of a delegation of eight regional leaders from different countries who discussed EU regional policy, maritime issue and the role of Europe's regions with Barroso.
The discussions come amid ongoing debate about the future of EU regional policy after the current EU spending round expires in 2013.
After the meeting, Le Drian was particularly critical of the impact of the EU's "integrated maritime policy" (IMP) whose overall aim is to improve the economic performance of Europe's coastal regions.
The Frenchman said that the success of the Europe 2020 strategy "depends on the seas and coasts."
But he said, “Although the IMP gave a high level of priority to the issues of maritime jobs, energy and marine research, the actual achievements have so far not lived up to expectations."
The delegation presented Barroso with a report which shows that 55 per cent of European regions have a gross domestic product (GDP) below the EU average.
According to the document, “This figure highlights the lack of competitiveness of European regions at an EU-wide level.
"This underperformance is also true at global level. According to OECD data, the GDP of European regions is on average significantly lower than its direct competitors, especially in the US.”
Barroso expressed satisfaction with the meeting, saying, “Despite the difficult budgetary context, we need to join up cohesion policy and EU 2020 in order to ensure growth within Europe."
Further reaction to the meeting came from Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions president, Claudio Martini, who said, "The economic context gives grounds for maintaining a cohesion policy for all European regions.
"A cohesion policy coherent with the Europe 2020 Strategy, but which maintains its own mission: it cannot become just the financial instrument for this strategy for growth.
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