Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- The Canary Islands will host a seminar on March 6 and 7 of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and Budget of the European Union of the Committee of the Regions that will address the future challenges of the Strategy of the Outermost Regions (RUP).
“Adapted responses from cohesion policy to territories with specific needs: the case of the outermost regions” is the title of the event, in which the regional president, Ángel Víctor Torres, will intervene, in what is the first act to be held under the Canarian Presidency of the Outermost Regions.
The events will take place at the Presidency headquarters in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the objective will be to present the European Strategy for the ORs to the citizens of the Canary Islands and facilitate a debate on the future challenges for these nine outermost territories of Spain, France and Portugal and the answers that the European Commission can provide.
“We want to emphasize the need for European policies to be designed and implemented in a way that takes into account the specific situation of the ORs and to discuss the problems that these European territories face in terms of their full economic and social development, and the opportunities that these regions can offer to the whole EU”, points out the Committee of the Regions in a preparation document for the event.
The seminar will begin on March 6 with a first “reinforced dialogue” meeting between the members of the Governing Council and the Director of Regional Policy of the European Commission responsible for the ORs, Monika Hencsey, with the objective that the Commission present to the Canarian Government the RUP Strategy.
On this same day there will also be a “Citizen Dialogue” by Torres and Hencsey, attended by representatives of Canarian institutions such as the Parliament of the Canary Islands, councils, town halls, universities, business confederations, trade unions, chambers of commerce, Third Sector organizations and experts in new technologies, innovation and transport, among others.
The meeting will take place in different thematic blocks such as the sustainable transition (digitization, environment, tourism, green economy and blue economy); social rights (care policies, education, employment, training or migratory phenomenon); and strategic sovereignty (food, industrial and energy).
There will also be a meeting of the Association of the RUP Conference of Presidents.
The following day, March 7, Ángel Víctor Torres will participate together with the president of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER) of the European Committee of the Regions, Emil Boc, in the seminar entitled “Answers adapted from cohesion policy to territories with specific needs: the case of the ORs”.
The objective of this seminar will be to advance in the application of the Strategy for the ORs “under the principle of territorial cohesion”.
This will be followed by a first round table entitled “EU support to unlock the potential of the ORs – The new European strategy for the ORs”, and the President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, will participate as a speaker, together with Hencsey and the rapporteur of the Opinion on the ORs of the European Committee of the Regions, Pedro Faria e Castro, regional vice-counselor of the Presidency of the Government of the Azores.
Subsequently, the second session will take place under the title “Adaptation of regional policy to other territorial realities with specific geographical characteristics.” EFE