Executive Committee

Minutes of the 34th Executive Committee Meeting on 27th October 2003, Bergen, Norway

NSC Executive Committee Participants:

President Cllr. Bent Hansen (Viborg)
Vice-President Cllr. Gunn Marit Helgesen (Telemark) accompanied by Lars Haukvik (Telemark)
Vice-President Cllr. Audrey Findlay (Aberdeenshire)
Belgian Representative Not represented
Danish Representative Cllr. Harry Jensen (Ringkjøbing) 
Dutch Representative Cllr. Peter Byman (SNN) accompanied by Toine Janssen (SNN) 
English Representative Cllr. Jane Hore (Suffolk)
German Representative Represented by Peter Wieland, (Niedersachsen)
Norwegian Representative Not represented
Scottish Representative Cllr. Kathleen Matheson (Highland) accompanied by Gordon Summers (highland)
Swedish Representative Cllr. Roland Andersson (Västra Götaland) accompanied by Jörgen Niemann

NSC Executive Secretary Henrik M Jensen
NSC Assistant Executive Sec. Karen Greve Somerset  
CPMR Representative Pascalle Gruselle

NSC Vice-chairs of Thematic Groups present:
Cllr. Alison McInnes (Aberdeenshire), Environment Group
Cllr. Birgitte Josefsen (North Jutland), Education & Research
Cllr. Sandy Cluness (Shetland), Fisheries Group

Observers
Cllr. Torill Selsvold Nyborg (Hordaland)
Svein Schrøder Amundsen (Hordaland)
Alex Midlen and Clive Goilbert, SAIL project (Present for item 1 only)

NSC Thematic Group Co-ordinators present:

Business Development Vivien Collie, (Fife)
Transport & Communications Jon Halvard Eide (Vest-Agder)
Culture & Tourism Geir Sør-Reime (Rogaland)
Education & Research Ann Brown (Suffolk)
Environment Per Hörberg (Västra Götaland)
Fisheries Ann Bell (Aberdeenshire)

The President started by welcoming everyone to the 34th Executive Committee and he gave the word to Cllr. Torill Selsvold Nyborg, leader of Hordaland County Council, who welcomed everyone to Bergen and Hordaland and gave a brief introduction to the region.

1. Presentation of the SAIL project by Clive Gilbert and Alex Midlen
The SAIL project, funded by Interreg North West Europe, incorporates 14 regions and local authorities in the southern part of the North Sea and it has been running since 1999. Many of the issues dealt with by this project are identical to issues taken up within the North Sea Commission, such as offshore wind energy, climate change and branding of the area.

The SAIL project is now looking to establish a Political Forum for the Southern North Sea and asked members of the NSC Executive Committee to sit on their forum and to play an active role with their Political Forum.

Members of the NSC Executive Committee thought the project sounded interesting, but there was a fear that due to the overlap of membership in the regions in the southern part of the North Sea and duplication in the issues discussed, they did not find it advantageous to be involved in both organisations. The North Sea Commission is a strong body because it is united and represents the whole North Sea. Members of the SAIL partnership were, however, invited to participate in the work of the Thematic Groups.

2. Minutes of the 33rd Executive Committee meeting
The minutes were approved as a true record of the meeting.

3. Financial Matters

3a. Financial Statement up to 30th September 2003
Henrik M Jensen presented the financial statement, which showed income of about € 130,000. Two regions have still to pay their subscription, which will bring the total income up to €143,000. All items of expenditure are within the budget. There is still some conference money, which has been carried over from last year, but even so there should be a good surplus at the end of the year.

3b. Membership update
Euregio Scheldemond

Copies of the correspondence relating to Euregio Scheldemond’s withdrawal from the CPMR and the NSC was noted.

There is still a chance that the Flanders regions and Zeeland may join individually and it is hoped contact can be maintained between these regions and the NSC.

Nord-Pas de Calais
Nord-pas de Calais was accepted as member of the CPMR at its General Assembly in September and they would now subsequently like to join the NSC. This was unanimously accepted.

If more French regions would wish to join, it would be necessary to draw a line somewhere, as it is then debatable how far south the North Sea goes.

Map of member regions
This was noted.

4. Follow-up from the CPMR General Assembly
Henrik M Jensen pointed out that he thought it would be advantageous to see what had happened to the five resolutions, which had been accepted at the NSC General Assembly. They were all sent to the CPMR General Assembly, but not all brought forward in their original format.

The 2004 revision of the TransEuropean Network – TEN-T
This resolution had been included in the CPMR Final Declaration

Northern Dimension Action Plan
This resolution had not been one of the resolutions at the CPMR General Assembly, as it had been decided that it should wait for the meeting in the Baltic Sea Commission Executive Committee. Comments from that meeting should be available shortly.

Henrik M Jensen mentioned that Niedersachsen has been doing some work in the Committee of the Regions concerning the North Sea Commission’s role in relation to the Northern Dimension. The draft opinion of the Committee of the Regions proposes to establish a consultative body within an existing organisation, which is where the NSC is mentioned as such a possible organisation.

Norwegian regions originally drafted the resolution and they were asked by the President to follow developments within this area of work.

NSC Fisheries Statement
This was not presented as a resolution at the CPMR General Assembly, but was included in the conference papers to all the delegates as a statement.

Resolution on Nuclear Reprocessing Plants
This resolution was not brought forward, as the OSPAR meeting in Bremen the week after the NSC General Assembly had been informed that the moratorium asked for had subsequently been implemented. It was suggested writing to the Department of the Environment in England in spring 2004 saying the NSC would like to see the moratorium continuing.

Local Management of Inshore Fisheries
This resolution was brought forward in its original form.

All the resolutions mentioned above were accepted by the delegates at the CPMR General Assembly.

Henrik M Jensen also mentioned a few other CPMR resolutions dealing with fisheries, the reform of the CAP and amendments to the CPMR Charter.

5. 13th NSC General Assembly 2004
Karen Greve Somerset went through the proposed changes to the programme of the General Assembly 2004. It has been an aim to involve delegates more in the debate at the General Assembly and to make the programme less tight. The Executive Committee approved the proposal and the NSC Secretariat, co-ordinators and the host region, Västra Götaland will pursue preparations.

Roland Andersson mentioned he thought the programme sounded interesting and he welcomed everyone to the General Assembly in Gothenburg.

6. Thematic Groups

6a. Recent and future activities  

Transport & Communication Group
Jon Halvard Eide presented details of the group’s recent activities, which included a group meeting in Gent in September dealing with sea transport issues. Various Interreg projects were also discussed and there is a certain membership overlap between the projects and the Thematic Group, which is considered a strength.

Many group members also participated in the Interreg Thematic Seminar on transport, which took place in connection with the Thematic Group meeting.

The Transport & Communication Group together with the Economic Development Group, are working on establishing a Port and Water Transport Partnership, which will involve relevant stakeholders and be a forum of good practice and exchange of information.

The study tour for the General Assembly is also well underway. It will visit Lundby Mobility Centre and focus on sustainable transport solutions. The centre is built up within the project TARGET 2 financed by Interreg IIIB.

The group has also been working on its own Interreg application dealing with improving accessibility to gateway cities and sustainable modes of transport. The project has been revised in order to avoid overlap with other projects. It is hoped it will be submitted in the spring.

Economic Development Group
The Group has had one meeting since the last Executive Committee meeting, which was held in Fife and Vivien Collie presented the recent activities of the Group. The overall topic for the meeting was lobbying and funding and expert speakers spoke of, for example, Interreg and Leader+.

The Economic Development Group has formed two sub-groups dealing with renewable energy and business centres with the aim of encouraging networking across the North Sea.

The Group is also involved in a number of other initiatives across the Thematic Groups, such as establishing a Port & Water Transport Partnership, broadband seminar, the  changing role of women in fishing and rural communities and a seminar on culinary heritage.

The next meeting of the full group will take place in Viborg in January and it will look at DG Enterprise, consultation and business opportunities in Eastern Europe as well as waste management.

Culture & Tourism Group
Geir Sør-Reime spoke about the recent activities in the Group, which held its last meeting in Middelburg in October. The meeting discussed the role of the Group, which has changed from concentrating on cultural exchange to now focussing more on the role of culture in regional development. A report on the work of the Culture & Tourism Group to the Executive Committee was included in the meeting papers and was noted.

At the meeting in Middelburg, the Group also discussed a report from the Interreg Secretariat dealing with sustainable tourism development in the North Sea region. The purpose of the report seemed rather unclear to the Group and they had drafted a letter to the Interreg Secretariat. After slight amendments, it should be sent to the Interreg Secretariat inviting them to participate in the next meeting.

Education & Research Group
Ann Brown reported that the Education & Research Group has not had a meeting since the last Executive Committee meeting because both the chair and vice-chair had not been re-elected. The next meeting will be held in Fife in December for which there is rather limited interest. It appears to be difficult to get in contact with the relevant people from County Councils, and the people, who originally came to the meetings, primarily from Further Education Colleges, do not seem to be so interested any more because in general they had a narrow self-interest in funding programmes and Interreg does not fit their needs.

Everyone agreed that it is an important Thematic Group and everybody on the Executive Committee was encouraged to try and help find members from their County Councils to the group. All member regions were also encouraged to appoint the “right” people. An update on progress will be given at the next Executive Committee meeting.

Despite difficulties in attracting members to the Group, some members have, however, been busy preparing project applications and organising a working seminar titled “Learning from the North Sea”, due to be held in 2004.

The President welcomed Birgitte Josefsen, North Jutland, as new vice-chair of the group.

Environment Group
Per Hörberg mentioned the annual conference of the Environment Group, which is due to be held in Leeuwarden on 13th –14th November dealing with climate change and biodiversity.

A questionnaire relating to the Porsgrunn Challenge will be sent out in 2004 and suggestions for questions are welcome. The previous updates took place in 1999 and 2001. It was agreed that the Environment Group should decide on how the reporting back should take place, whether it should be at the General Assembly or at an Executive Committee meeting.

Per Hörberg has also been dealing with work relating to CONSSO and OSPAR. See agenda items 7, 8 and 9.

Fisheries Group
Ann Bell stated that the Fisheries Group had had its last meeting during the previous week in Molde, Norway. The meeting heard a presentation from Åsmund Bjørdal, who is a member of the NSC Fisheries Partnership but also chairman of the Nordic Council Working Group on Fisheries. The presentation was very interesting and pointed out several areas of interest between the Nordic Council and the North Sea Commission and it is hoped a co-operation can be established between the two organisations.

Another interesting item on the agenda, which originated from Ringkjøbing Amt, was the idea of creating a forum on the NSC website, where examples of re-generation of rural areas and regional development can be placed, which can serve as inspiration to all NSC member regions. All Thematic Groups were encouraged to supply this sort of information.

The statement from Tjärnö on inshore fisheries will be followed up at the next meeting, at which point the conference report will be available. It is hoped a Fisheries Partnership can also be established for inshore fisheries.

The NSC Fisheries Partnership is progressing well and it has now got access to 4 of the ICES working groups, which means that it can have its input into the decision process much earlier. An application to become a RAC (Regional Advisory Council) for the North Sea will be submitted to Interreg in the spring. A trial run of how to work as a RAC will take place in November.

The NSC Fisheries Partnership has also helped colleagues in the Baltic Sea develop a Fisheries Partnership for the Baltic Sea.

The next meeting will be a joint meeting with the Environment Group in Harlem, the Netherlands, in January 2004 which, among other things, will look at marine protected areas.

The President welcomed Cllr. Sandy Cluness as new vice-chair of the Fisheries Group.

6b. New Chairman of the Education & Research Group
No nominations were forthcoming, so the item will be on the agenda again for the next Executive Committee meeting in March 2004.

6c. New co-ordinator of the Economic Development Group
A letter from Fife Council was included in the papers saying that Fife Council is no longer able to support Vivien as co-ordinator of the Economic Development Group. No other candidates have been nominated and the group is therefore hoping to raise some money among group members in order to keep Vivien until the summer of 2004.  It would be a pity if the group would lose the stability and continuity, which Vivien can give it, as well as her expertise.

The President stated he hoped the group would succeed in finding the money, so Vivien could continue as co-ordinator for the time being. The post is, however, still open and interested people should contact the NSC Secretariat.

6d. Additional vice-chairs
Following the decision in the summer to give the Thematic Groups two vice-chairs, three groups only have one vice-chair, which are the Environment Group, Transport Group and Fisheries Group. There were nominations from Peter Byman (SNN) as vice-chair of the Environment Group and Tor Ottar Karlsen (Buskerud) for the Transport Group. There were no nominations for the Fisheries Group at this meeting. Both Peter Byman and Tor Ottar Karlsen were accepted by the NSC Executive Committee.

East Midlands Regional Local Government Association had given an informal indication of interest in the Environment Group, but it was hoped that another way of involving them in the work of the NSC could be found.

6e. Funding for conferences 2004
Five projects were approved to receive a share of the money available to the Thematic Groups for arranging conferences and seminars:

Learning from the North Sea from the Education & Research Group, which received Dkk. 30,000, seminar on traditional food arranged by the Culture & Tourism Group together with the Economic Development Group also received Dkk. 30,000, the annual conference of the Environment Group received Dkk. 40,000 and the Fisheries Group received Dkk. 10,000 for a Fishing for Facts conference. Finally the joint initiative between the Transport & Communication Group and the Economic Development Group, NSC Ports and Water Transport Partnership, was given Dkk. 20,000.

In addition, it was decided to make available another 10,000 Euro for conferences also in 2004 and the Thematic Groups would be able to apply in March for this amount of money.

7. Position Paper on offshore wind parks
Following the decision at the last Executive Committee meeting, the NSC Secretariat has drafted a position paper, which it asked the Thematic Groups to look at from their point of view and to send all comments to the NSC Secretariat as soon as possible and preferably by the beginning of January. A Technical note from OSPAR should also be available shortly and will be forwarded to the Thematic Groups as soon as it can be obtained. The Groups were asked to consider whether the Guidelines live up to the NSC’s expectations.

It was also agreed to try to obtain the views of national governments on the guidelines, in order to encourage them to implement the guidelines. Some members felt that the guidelines may be too slack, but further research is needed on the subject before the NSC can comment. It was also pointed out that an evaluation of the guidelines will be quite complicated as it depends on who does the evaluation. It is, however, hoped that when the Thematic Groups have commented, the NSC will be able to present a well-founded and complete view including all the interests of the NSC.

The President encouraged the Executive Committee to send the guidelines to wind experts in their home countries and to make this subject a matter of priority over the coming months.

8. CONSSO
A summary of a meeting held in September in the Netherlands was on the agenda giving the background to the work within CONSSO. Further details were given by Per Hörberg. There are four priorities; antifouling paint, ballast water, clean ship concept and incentives to promote sustainable shipping. The NSC takes part in the priority dealing with the clean ship concept, thanks to Västra Götaland, which has kindly made two experts available to attend the meetings.

The next meeting will be held on the Shetland Islands in March 2004 at which point the group will progress work within the field of incentives, such as air pollution.

Ann Bell informed the meeting that during the previous week the first meeting of the Issue Group dealing with fisheries had been held. There had been some discussions of the role of this group, as it should not duplicate things taking place in other fora. It was therefore decided to set up an ad hoc working group and the next meeting will take place in Brussels in March.

9. OSPAR
Per Hörberg gave an outline of the OSPAR Convention to which the CPMR now has observer status. The practical work in relation to the observership will be carried out by the NSC. Per Hörberg mentioned that there are 6 Committees for which much of the work dealt with is of direct relevance to the NSC, such as marine litter, offshore wind farms, marine protected areas etc. Being involved in the work of OSPAR will put great demands on the NSC and it will be a challenge to obtain the necessary expertise needed to play an active role in this forum.

It was therefore decided that 10.000 Euro should be put aside to assist the NSC in buying in expert help whenever needed.

10. CPMR Matters of interest to the NSC
Pascalle Gruselle mentioned several initiatives, which the CPMR has been working on recently. They include Intergovernmental conference, regional policy, competition policy, maritime safety, transport, rural development etc. Further details on the various activities can be obtained from the CPMR website www.cpmr.org

11. Towards a common CPMR view on the agricultural negotiations in WTO
Gunn Marit Helgesen spoke on the letter to the NSC received from Sør-Trøndelag in Norway, who are following the negotiations closely and hoping a common position within the CPMR can be found. This is a tricky question as not all member regions would have the same interests, but it was decided to let CPMR deal with this, as they are already carrying out much work within this field.

12. Interreg North Sea Programme
Henrik M Jensen gave an update on the Interreg Programme. The last call closed at the end of September at which point 22 applications had been received. Dates to note are the meeting of the Monitoring Committee, which will meet in Groningen on 13th –14th November and the Steering Committee, which will meet on 11th – 12th December 2003 in Antwerp, which is where decisions on the project applications will be taken.

13. Date and location of next meeting
The next meeting will take place on 26th March in Ringkjøbing Amt and preceded by a Thematic Meeting on the 25th March 2003.

10. Any Other Business
Nothing to report.

Karen Greve Somerset
North Sea Commission