Welcoming the adoption of his report on optimising the potential of outermost regions today in the European Parliament, French GUE/NGL MEP Younous Omarjee said the text “aims to go beyond current EU and member state views on the outermost regions”.

 

“I call for genuine change in European politics in 2014, to bolster these assets and the opportunity represented by these regions of the EU. These regions must feature more prominently in all EU policies and programmes, such as research, energy, culture, education, SMEs, transport, telecommunications and the environment,” the Réunion MEP said after the proposals were adopted with a massive majority.

 

“It is time for Europe to make the overseas territories a component of all its policies and its intrinsic development prospects. We must break the isolation of the outermost regions and help them overcome their structural problems through better integration into European strategies.”

 

GUE/NGL Press:

David Lundy +32 470 85 05 09

Emily Macintosh +32 470 85 05 08

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20