OWN-INITIATIVE OPINION of the Committee of the Regions: FOR A GREEN PAPER – TOWARDS A EUROPEAN UNION POLICYFOR UPLAND REGIONS: A EUROPEAN VISION FOR UPLAND REGIONS

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

-      recalls the fundamentally positive response from Commission President Barroso to the question asked by the European Association of Elected Representatives from Mountain Areas calling for a Green Paper on European policies for upland areas during the Structured Dialogue at the Committee of the Regions plenary session on 7 December 2006;

-      notes that upland regions are, on the one hand, areas with permanent natural and geographical handicaps and, on the other, regions with natural and human assets conducive to growth and job creation;

-      calls for the European Union to put in place a truly integrated European policy for all upland regions whilst respecting their diversity;

-      would support active development by the European Commission and the Member States of the EU of the general objectives of the renewed Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies through a European action plan for the competitiveness and sustainable development of upland areas;

-      recommends that the European Commission takes into consideration three major policy areas:

a)      improving the attractiveness and accessibility of upland areas for accommodating businesses and people, where this can be done without environmental damage, inter alia by improving land transport and telecommunication links, increasing connections to TENs, and promoting innovation and creativity by making best use of knowledge, human resources and entrepreneurship;

b)      considering upland areas on the basis of their own resources, taking into account their specificities, to enable them to overcome the extra costs associated with their permanent natural handicap and to maintain Services of General Interest;

c)      developing clusters and centres of competitiveness to bring together and consolidate the various sectors of activity with a view to sustainable development.