Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-19-Speech-3-196"
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"en.20031119.8.3-196"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the first Action Plan for the Northern Dimension in the external and cross-border policies of the European Union for 2000–2003, adopted by the Feira European Council on 19 and 20 June 2000, will expire by the end of this year. Therefore, in order to pursue the Northern Dimension policies beyond 2003, intensive preparatory work was launched a year ago.
In particular, I recall that the guidelines for a new Action Plan were set out at the Ministerial Conference on the Northern Dimension and the Arctic Window in Greenland in August 2002, and the subsequent Foreign Ministers’ Conference in Luxembourg in October of that year. In line with these guidelines, the Commission established contacts with all the relevant actors, including regional organisations and associations and representatives of the private sector, with a view to preparing a working document on the new Action Plan.
On 11 June this year, the Commission submitted to the Council the working document ‘The Second Northern Dimension Action Plan, 2004-2006’, which incorporated a number of suggestions presented by the relevant actors and took into account experience gained with the first action plan as well as the new demands for the coming years. This document was then examined by the Council on 29 September 2003 and later endorsed by the European Council at its meeting on 16 and 17 October 2003 in Brussels. On that occasion, it was underlined by the Heads of State or Government that the Northern Dimension will assume increasing importance in the context of the Union’s enlargement and will have an important contribution to make in carrying forward the Union's new neighbourhood policy throughout the region.
The Action Plan for 2004–2006 lays down the guidelines for the next three years. In this respect, it guarantees the continuation of the Northern Dimension of the Union’s policies, defined in the document as a ‘horizontal concept that applies within the existing financial and institutional framework in the relevant region’.
The Northern Dimension is particularly important for certain priority sectors in which potential added value is greatest, such as the economy, business, infrastructure, human resources, education, culture, scientific research, health, the environment, nuclear safety, natural resources, cross-border cooperation and regional development, as well as justice and home affairs.
The common framework for the promotion of political dialogue and practical cooperation that the Northern Dimension provides will cover a broad, diverse geographical area around the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic. Special consideration will be given to regions with specific needs, such as Kaliningrad and the Arctic region. In the context of the Northern Dimension, increased interaction at all levels between Russia and the EU will therefore be essential.
The Commission will keep its overall leading role but all relevant actors, whether at national, regional or local levels, from the business community or from civil society generally, will be called upon to play an active part. Specific activities in the five broad priority sectors just mentioned - the economy and infrastructure; education, culture, research and health; the environment, nuclear safety and natural resources; cross-border cooperation and regional development; justice and home affairs – need to be carried forward in a cooperative spirit based on inclusive participation for all, subsidiarity and complementarity, with an effective division of labour and overall coordination and monitoring."@en1
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