Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-19-Speech-1-189"
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"en.20080519.26.1-189"2
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Mr President, obviously I want to thank all the speakers who have contributed to the debate, and I would also like to reiterate my thanks to the Commission for its initiative last week on future strategy for the ORs.
I should like to reply to some of the points raised by my fellow Members, and I am grateful to them for their warm reception of this report. In answer to Mr Guerreiro, the support that he wants to see for renewal and research in relation to fisheries and the increase in aid is all already covered by the European Fisheries Fund. It already forms part of the policies to which the EU, and specifically the Commission and the Fisheries Committee, are committed, whereas this report is concerned with regional development policy. That is why, while taking account of the tremendous importance of fisheries for our development, my report does not give it the extensive space that Mr Guerreiro would have wished. Let me remind him that what we are talking about here is regional development.
Mr Medina Ortega has already replied to our Greek colleagues who called for the same policy to be applied to all islands, and has explained the difference that is created by distances of many thousands of kilometres from the continent of Europe. However much progress we achieve, we will still be thousands of kilometres away. And however well I understand the problems experienced by all island dwellers, we clearly cannot apply the same derogations and the same rules to islands that are only a few hours away by boat or a few minutes by plane. This is certainly not a matter of failing to consider the situation of islands but – let me repeat – there is a huge difference between your islands, with their proximity to the continent, and ours that are so very distant.
Mr Guerreiro, you spoke a second time to urge that our approach should not be based on transient criteria. Obviously there is nothing transient about our situation: that is quite permanent, but we are not asking for a permanent guarantee of aid at the same level in perpetuity, because our hope is to catch up with the average in the rest of the Community."@en1
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