The President of the Regional Government of the Azores (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM), José Manuel Bolieiro, said today that the islands and the peripheral and maritime regions of Europe must assert themselves “as laboratories of the future”, with “the capacity to innovate”.
“As we said at the Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions, the islands and these regions must assert themselves as laboratories of the future, with the ability to innovate, with the guarantee that we can exercise the right to live on our islands and not need to migrate to find opportunities for happiness,” said José Manuel Bolieiro.
The leader of the Azorean executive was speaking to journalists this afternoon in Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, after taking part in the opening session of the General Assembly of the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR), which is taking place until Wednesday in that Azorean city.
According to José Manuel Bolieiro, the islands are also important in terms of social cohesion, territorial cohesion and the affirmation of the principle of territorial continuity, at a time of major transitions in terms of climate, energy, mobility and migratory transition.
In his opening statement, the president of the Azorean executive stressed the importance of cohesion at a time of political and strategic transitions in the European Union and in some Member States.
“This was a very strong statement, unanimous and recognized by all the islands and […] I am convinced that, both within the framework of the Commission of Peripheral Maritime Regions, and even within the Committee of the Regions and the European Commission itself, they will be aware of our struggle and, above all, of our reason,” he admitted.
José Manuel Bolieiro also highlighted the fact that the CPMR General Assembly will be held in the Azores.
“With this, we also mark our centrality in the political debate on the islands and their geostrategic importance, starting with European policy, the definition of cohesion policies and the relevant importance of the sea and the recognition, not only of the ultra-peripheral, maritime and island constraints that remain, but also with the level of discussion on the opportunities that the islands offer the world and European policy,” he said.
The CPMR program includes sessions dedicated to maritime affairs, energy, transport, the environment and climate, as well as a session on the future of the islands in the European Union after the next European elections.
In a statement, the Government of the Azores said that around half a hundred members from eleven island regions from countries such as Portugal (Azores and Madeira), Spain (Canary Islands and Balearic Islands), France (Brittany, Corsica, Guadeloupe and Réunion), Malta (Gozo), Estonia (Saarema) and Sweden (Gotland) are taking part.
Representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the Council of the European Union and associations linked to the different realities of the islands are also taking part.
The Islands Commission, which meets in General Assembly once a year, “is one of the CPMR’s six geographical commissions, covering 19 European island regional authorities located in the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans”, according to the press release.
The closing session, scheduled for 12:50 local time (13:50 in Lisbon) on Wednesday, will be chaired by the Vice-President of the Regional Government of the Azores, Artur Lima.
The main objective of the Islands Commission is “to encourage the European institutions and the Member States to pay special attention to the islands, to recognize the permanent disadvantages and vulnerabilities resulting from their insularity and to apply the policies best suited to their specific characteristics”.
