Executive Committee
Minutes
of the 30th Executive Committee Meeting on 19th June 2002,
Norwich, England.
NSC
Executive Committee Participants:
President:
Cllr. Bent Hansen (Viborg)
Vice-President:
Cllr. Gunn Marit Helgesen (Telemark) accompanied by Lars Haukvik
Belgian Representative:
Cllr. Laus Coppoolse (Scheldemond)
Danish Representative:
Cllr. Harry Jensen (Ringkjøbing)
Dutch Representative:
Represented by Toine Janssen (SNN)
English Representative: Cllr. Eve Collishaw (Norfolk) accompanied by Karen Gibson
German Representative: Represented by Peter Wieland, (Niedersachsen)
Norwegian Representative: Cllr. Gisle
Handeland (Hordaland)
Scottish Representative: Cllr. Audrey Findlay (Aberdeenshire) and Cllr. Kathleen
Matheson (Highland) accompanied by Iain Gabriel (Aberdeenshire)
Swedish Representative: Cllr. Jan Hallberg
(Västra Götaland) accompanied by Lars-Erik Blomgren
NSC
Executive Secretary: Henrik M Jensen
NSC Assistant Executive Sec.: Karen Greve Somerset
NSC Assistant: Anne Stewart
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)
Apologies
were received from Anne McGovern, Thore Westermoen, Ros Scott, Wolfgang Senff,
Wilfrid Adam and Joop Boertjens.
The
President started by welcoming everyone to the 30th Executive
Committee and especially to Eve Collishaw for hosting the Executive Committee in
conjunction with the NSC General Assembly.
1.
Minutes of the 29th Executive Committee meeting
The
minutes were approved as a true record of the meeting after the correction of a
misspelling of the name Tavis Scott.
2.
Financial Matters
2a.
Financial Statement up to 31st May 2002
There will be an increase in the income compared to 2001, which is due to new
members. Not much money has yet been spent by the co-ordinators, but they are
sure they will spend it by the end of the year. Travel and accommodation still
constitute a large proportion of the budget. In the spring the NSC attended some
extraordinary meetings in connection with EMRLGA, CONSSO and the 5th
North Sea Conference.
2b. NSC Budget
2003
Due to new members who are likely to be accepted at this meeting, the NSC
Secretariat is proposing an increase in the income of 8000 Euro. This means that
there should not be a deficit at the end of the year. Due to the large overspend
in travel and accommodation in 2001, this post has been increased by about 3500
Euro.
The budget for 2003 was
accepted by the Executive Committee.
2c.
Membership Up-date
The list of current members was enclosed for information.
2d. Application for membership
The NSC Secretariat had received two applications from Norway for membership of
the NSC. These were Buskerud and Nordland. Both had already been accepted by the
CPMR.
The East of England Regional Assembly had also applied. They consist of
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. They
are expected to be approved by the CPMR at the CPMR General Assembly in Greece
in September.
On this condition The NSC Executive Committee approved all as members of the NSC.
3a.
11th NSC General Assembly
The President mentioned that there would be about 400 people in Norwich over the
next few days and he wished everyone a good General Assembly.
On the subject of resolutions, it was pointed out that on the 5th
Ministerial Conference in Bergen, it was felt that the theme for the next
Ministerial Conference - which will be held in Sweden at the latest in 2006, was
too narrow as it is supposed to concentrate on just fisheries and shipping. Per
Hörberg also pointed out that it is important that the NSC has an opinion on
these ministerial conferences, which is why a background paper is included in
the conference bags.
There was some discussion as to whether it would be possible to combine the two
resolutions on transport, but that was subsequently rejected. All three
resolutions were approved by the Executive Committee and will be forwarded to
the General Assembly.
The
President thanked everyone, who had worked on producing these resolutions.
3b. Nominations for the new Executive Committee
As the Executive Committee was elected for two years in 2001, only three
countries had to elect new substitutes.
Sweden: Annelie Stark, Västra Götaland, will be the new Swedish substitute.
Denmark: Ib Bjerregaard, Viborg, will replace Aage Koch-Jensen, Viborg.
The Netherlands: Bob Verburg, Noord-Holland, will replace Gerard van
Klaveren,
Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland.
The new substitutes were all approved by the Executive Committee.
4.
Thematic Groups
4a. Recent and future activities
Environment Group
Per Hörberg presented the work of the Environment Group. He has been quite
busy with the 5th North Sea Conference, which took place in Bergen in
the spring. The Environment and Transport Group also held a joint conference on
sustainable transport in Aarhus in the spring. It was a great success and a good
source of inspiration and it is hoped it can be developed into a project, which
will include more conferences, R & D, an educational and awareness campaign,
initiatives to get the media interested etc.
The Environment group is also in the middle of planning the next Annual Meeting
and Conference, which will take place in Blankenberge, Belgium in the autumn.
The theme this year will be
wind energy. The first notification of the event will be tabled at the General
Assembly. The conference will take place in the middle of a strong public debate
and should be of interest to several of the other thematic groups.
Fisheries
Group
Ann Bell presented the report of the Fisheries Group. Last autumn, the Fisheries
Group organised a conference on predators in Ringkjøbing, which was supported
by the Environment Group. It was a good conference, which made it possible for
the first time to legitimately discuss the issue of predators.
The action plan for the coming year includes looking at wind energy, the reform
of the CFP, the organisation of a new conference looking at the changing role of
women in fishing communities, and the need to work more closely with the
European Commission.
The NSC Fisheries Partnership was fortunately one of the 7 projects, which were
approved by Interreg in the first round. ICES is now also a member of the
Partnership and OSPAR (the Oslo and Paris Commission) is now an observer. At the
next meeting to be held in Sweden in July, a representative of the EU will also
be there.
Education
and Research Group
Ann Brown highlighted a few points from the work of the group. The Group has
tried to begin working more closely with the other Thematic Groups and has
attended some of their meetings. This has resulted in a project proposal
together with the Business Development Group. The Education & Research group
will have its next meeting in Belgium at the same time as the Environment Group,
which should hopefully improve the co-operation between these two groups.
Ann Brown also pointed out that it has been a great advantage for her to be a
co-ordinator, as it has meant she has had to work more closely with other people
in Suffolk, who are members of the other NSC Thematic Groups.
Culture
& Tourism Group
Geir Sør-Reime concentrated his report on the North Sea Youth Festival,
which will be held in Kristiansand in September. Unfortunately there are no
participants from Germany and the UK, but many from all the other countries.
The Group has also been looking at the outcome from the conference “On the
Edge”, as the final report has now been published.
On the 19th June, the group, partly financed by the Business
Development Group, organised a seminar at Dunston Hall, which was very
interesting and which attracted 70 delegates. It may now be worth evaluating if
this should be a regular feature of the General Assembly.
Business
Development Group
The Business Development Group is quite varied in the members, who attend
the meetings and their different backgrounds. This has resulted in the group
sending out questionnaires in order to determine the different approaches to
business development in the various countries and should also give some
indication of the problems facing businesses. It is anticipated that the results
will form the basis for creating an action plan.
Transport
& Communication Group
Jon Halvard Eide mentioned that the Transport Group had its last meeting in
Aarhus in connection with the conference. The Conference attracted 100
participants, including 30 regional politicians. The group is now setting up a
mechanism for monitoring the implementation of best practice. The EU speaker at
the conference also acknowledged the need for such conferences.
Some members of the group have also been involved in the response to the EU’s
White Paper on Transport, and attended a meeting in Santiago del Compostella,
where they chaired a workshop and thereby had the opportunity to present the
views of the NSC. The CPMR has been very complimentary of how the NSC has
organised its consultation process, but it was not felt that the CPMR itself
follows the same principles, so the Transport Group will write to the CPMR
encouraging it to improve its consultation process and democracy.
The Transport Group has invited Vivien Colllie of the Business Development Group
to attend the next meeting of the Transport group and they will also be working
more closely with the Baltic Sea.
The
President thanked all the co-ordinators for all their hard work and for
presenting the reports.
4b.
Nomination for vice-chair of the Transport & Communication Group
The NSC Secretariat had not received any nominations, so it was decided to
contact the EMRLGA, to see if they have a politician, who may be interested in
this position. The Executive Committee agreed that it would be an advantage to
have a spread in the nationalities having a position in the Thematic Groups.
5.
CPMR matters of particular interest to the NSC
Due to a strike in France, Sandra Mezzadri was unable to attend the meeting, but
her report was tabled. It listed the results of the Political Bureau meeting in
Schwerin, for example, that more time will be set aside for discussions at the
next CPMR General Assembly and that Stig Østdahl will not stand for
re-election. The CPMR has already received notification of one candidate for the
post, who is Mr Martini from Tuscany. However, Gunn Marit Helgesen was also
prepared to stand as candidate, if there was no one else from the NSC region, as
she finds it very important that the work of the CPMR reflects the wish of the
regions. This was fully supported by the whole NSC Executive Committee and it
was decided to write to all CPMR regions informing them of our candidate. The
CPMR Political Bureau shall elect the new President at its meeting in Greece in
September.
6.
Northern Dimension
The final Action Plan was sent out with the meeting papers and it had been voted
on by the CPMR General Assembly last year. There was some disappointment
expressed as to the focus on the Baltic Sea as opposed to the North Sea. It was,
however, pointed out that the Baltic Sea Commission had taken the initiative and
besides the section on environment, the text had been compiled by the BSC and
considering the NSC had not dedicated any more time for this initiative, the
results are as such.
The president thanked Cllr. Jan Hallberg and his staff very much for all the
work and time they had put into it and suggested the NSC look at the Action Plan
as an extension of our own Vision Document and take on the ideas listed in order
to progress from there.
7.
Interreg IIIB North Sea Programme
On the vary same day as the Executive Committee was taking place, about 300
people were gathered at Dunston Hall for the Interreg Directoria. In the first
call for projects that closed the first of March 7 projects were approved for a
total amount of 15 mill Euro. The second call will close on 30th
September 2002. Programme Manger Lorraine George would give a full report at the
Annual Business Meeting on 21st June.
8.
Correspondence to and from the NSC
A letter from Commissioner Loyola de Palacio to CPMR President Stig Østdahl was
enclosed for information in reply to the NSC resolutions on maritime safety
adopted in 2001. The NSC was pleased to see that the CPMR had progressed the
issue with the European Commission.
9.
Dissemination within Aberdeenshire Council
Following the meeting in Groningen in the spring, it was decided to circulate a
briefing note on how Aberdeenshire has organised its internal practices with
respect to NSC matters and other European matters. The importance of reaching
out to many departments in a Council was stressed and Alison McInnes also
pointed out that the more involved they get, the more important it is to have a
formal structure. The President pointed out that we could all learn something
from the example in Aberdeenshire and thanked them for their work and
involvement in the NSC.
10.
Date and location of next meeting
Jan Hallberg welcomed the Executive Committee to Västra Götaland for its next
meeting, which will take place on 17th-18th October 2002.
The exact venue in Västra Götaland will be decided later. It was also agreed
to have a meeting of chairs, vice-chairs, co-ordinators etc. on the Thursday
afternoon.
11.
Any Other Business
Peter Wieland; Niedersachsen, presented the President with a letter of
invitation for the next NSC General Assembly in 2003 to be held in Germany. The
exact dates and venue have still to be confirmed. The President thanked for the
invitation and stated that he is very much looking forward to starting working
with the Germans on the preparations for next summer.
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