Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-20-Speech-4-098-000"

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"en.20110120.6.4-098-000"2
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"Madam President, I am very glad that the Black Sea region is high on the agenda of the European Parliament. This region is important for the European Union and we need to focus on it to reflect its extreme sensitivity for us. We can draw on our know-how from other strategies, such as the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region and the EU Danube strategy. Indeed, the Danube strategy will require obvious interactions with the Black Sea. However, we are aware that each European basin region is different. Accordingly, we need to ensure that all future EU strategies should be adapted to their own sectoral characteristics, economic and social development, environment and energy, infrastructure and natural resources. The report on developing an EU strategy for the Black Sea region offers an overview of the future challenges for the region, but it will also be relevant for establishing solid channels with the state partners in the region to ensure its smooth and effective implementation. We need to use this opportunity to consult extensively with all stakeholders, starting with our partners in the regions and with the involvement of Parliament. Again, this report is welcome and we are keen to draw on its recommendations. The External Action Service and the relevant Commission services will be committing their efforts to prepare a Black Sea strategy for which we will seek your and the Council’s support. I want to thank and congratulate the rapporteur for the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr Traian Ungureanu, on an excellent and very substantive report. The report and its recommendations are interesting and innovative on the many issues. Since the latest enlargement, the Black Sea is also an EU sea. We have responsibilities towards it, just as we do to all other basin regions that border us. We have to tackle this new responsibility resolutely. As part of the European Neighbourhood Policy, we already have an initiative targeting this region: the Black Sea Synergy. However, we must admit that its implementation has proved much more difficult than we had thought. Not everything we want to do is being welcomed with enthusiasm by everybody in the region. Precisely for these reasons, Parliament has chosen an approach based on regional ownership and fostering dialogue. I believe that this is now the right approach for us to pursue, but these commitments can only be credible if and when they bring concrete improvements to the peoples in the region. Thus, the report on developing a new European Union strategy for the Black Sea represents our commitment to the region and to our Member States who belong to this area by giving them our full support in facing the challenges linked to their specific geographic situation. We understand that a strategy for the Black Sea region should not be interpreted as a replacement for existing efforts, particularly the Black Sea Synergy. It should rather be a comprehensive framework where guidance can be found for all European Union activities in the region. The Black Sea strategy can provide an ideal occasion to review our interests in the region, including strategic, political and economic interests, and to discuss how best they can be achieved. Parliament has identified the appropriate fields in which the strategy should be developed, like governance, security and energy, transport, environment, trade, local economic development and social and human development. Developing this strategy can also provide the opportunity to add a maritime dimension to ongoing activities in the region. The Commission is currently developing a comprehensive package that will address maritime policy initiatives, management of natural resources and the fight against illegal fishing activities."@en1
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