Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-24-Speech-2-283"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2000-10-24"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Outermost regions of the EU2
dcterms:Language	"pt"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20001024.9.2-283"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2000-10-24-Speech-2-2842
lpv:speaker	lp:Sérgio Marques2
lpv:spokenAs	member; Delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand (1999-10-06--2002-01-14)3 substitute; Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 unknown; Partido Social Democrata (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Romania Joint Parliamentary Committee (1999-10-11--2002-01-14)3 member; Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 member; EPP-ED (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, Commissioner, had the Treaty of Amsterdam not included Article 299(2), we would not be here today, debating this excellent report by Mrs Sudre, whom I wish to congratulate on her outstanding work. This legislation really is of considerable importance. Under this article, the outermost regions obtained recognition by the European Union of a genuine right to be different, a right to be dealt with on a specific and special basis reflecting their unique situation, a situation that is completely different to that of the rest of the European Union. This is now recognised legally and constitutionally and no longer, as was the case until Amsterdam, simply through declarations annexed to the Treaties, which had merely political status. It should be noted that this right to be different is nothing more than a demonstration of the principle of equality, which also requires different treatment for anything that is different. I reject reactionary and populist interpretations of the principle of equality, which seek equal treatment for things that are not the same. Article 299(2) is therefore a crucial instrument in various way: firstly, in helping to promote equal opportunities for European citizens who are resident in the outermost regions. Secondly, it is crucial to promoting full and successful integration of the outermost regions into the European Union and into the dynamic of the single market. Thirdly, this article is crucial to enabling the outermost regions to respond better to the challenges posed by globalisation and by the enlargement of the European Union, to which they are particularly vulnerable. This is the only reason we want Article 299(2), not in order to secure any privileged status for ourselves. Mr President, Commissioner, the qualitative leap represented by Article 299(2) must be matched by an identical qualitative step forward in the special treatment that the European Union must give to the outermost regions. Furthermore, this must go beyond POSEI, the Programme of Options Specific to Remoteness and Insularity. This qualitative leap must be reflected in the definition and implementation of a global and coherent strategy by the European Union, which is what Mrs Sudre’s report has rightly proposed. The outermost regions and the citizens who live there have high hopes for the European institutions’ action in implementing Article 299(2)."@en1

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