Executive Committee

Minutes of the 35th Executive Committee Meeting on 26th March 2004, Skarrildhus, Denmark

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)
Danish Representative Cllr. Harry Jensen (Ringkjøbing) accompanied by Karsten Bækgaard
Dutch Representative Cllr. Peter Byman (SNN) accompanied by Toine Janssen (SNN) 
English Representative Cllr. Jane Hore (Suffolk)
France: Not represented
German Representative Not represented
Norwegian Representative Cllr. Gisle Handeland (Hordaland)
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 Pascal Gruselle

NSC Vice-chairs of Thematic Groups present:
Education & Research Group, Cllr. Alec Thomsen (Fife) accompanied by Bruce Manson
Fisheries Group, Cllr. Sandy Cluness (Shetland)
Transport & Communication Group, Tor Ottar Karlsen (Buskerud)

Observers
Thomas Pfannkuch (Schleswig-Holstein)
Leif Theilgaard and Mads Nedergaard, Ringkjøbing Amt (present for item 6)

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 35th Executive Committee and he thanked Harry Jensen and his staff for organising and hosting this meeting.

1. Summary of Thematic Meeting
As almost everyone had attended the Thematic Meeting, it was not considered necessary to spend much time on repeating the content of the meeting from the previous day. The topics discussed were the Northern Dimension and the debate forum at the coming NSC General Assembly and there was a good debate on both topics.

2. Minutes of the 34th Executive Committee meeting
The minutes were approved as a true record of the meeting.

3. Financial Matters

3a. Accounts for 2003
Henrik M Jensen presented the accounts for 2003. They showed a surplus of 184,746 DKK. The surplus was mainly due to three things: the postponement of two conferences, one conference had been held as planned but the money had not been claimed yet and the fact that the General Assembly in 2003 was in Germany and the 2004 General Assembly would be in Sweden, which means relatively cheap travel for the NSC Secretariat staff in Denmark.

The accounts were accepted by the NSC Executive Committee without comments.

3b. Budget for 2005
The budget for 2005, which is identical to the 2004 budget, was accepted without comments.

3c. Financial Statement up until 29th February 2004
Henrik M Jensen presented the financial statement, which this early in the year did not show much expenditure. Audrey Findlay asked whether it would be possible to give some additional help to support for example, regions or co-ordinators. The President commented that it might very well be possible to support special occasions, as they arise.

3d. Membership update
Application for membership from the Province of Zeeland

Following Euregio Scheldemond’s withdrawal from the CPMR and the NSC at the end of 2003, the Province of Zeeland has decided to apply for individual membership. This was unanimously accepted.

Map of member regions
This was noted. It was requested that it becomes apparent from the list, which members are both members of a consortia and at the same time also individual members.

3e. Specifications – co-ordinator money 2003
At the beginning of 2003, each of the six co-ordinators were given their 50,000 DKK contribution up front and it was agreed that at the spring meeting of 2004 they should present a list of activities and expenses verifying the use of the funding given. It was also decided to find a common structure for the reports in order to make an overview easier. These lists were noted.

The President thanked the co-ordinators for all their hard work and pointed out that the money received only goes a little way to paying for all their hard work during the year.

4. Elections
4a. New NSC president
Due to extraordinary circumstances in Denmark with much debate on the proposed re-organisation of the Danish counties and municipalities, which Bent Hansen is heavily involved in, he has with regret decided to step down as President of the North Sea Commission. This would have effect as from the General Assembly in June 2004.

The President stressed the importance of the NSC Executive Committee agreeing on one candidate, if at all possible, in order to give the new President the best possible start to develop the organisation even further.

Roland Andersson, Västra Götaland, took the word and announced that he would like to stand as candidate for the post of President and to take on the NSC Secretariat and he would like to give the NSC a strong position in an enlarged Europe.

Vice-President, Gunn Marit Helgesen, Telemark, said she was sad to hear that Bent Hansen would be stepping down but stated that she would also be standing as a candidate for the post of President.

It was pointed out that if it should come to a vote at the Annual Business Meeting on 18th June 2004, each member would have one vote, including the associations.

4b. Vacant position as chair, vice-chair and co-ordinator
There were three vacant positions in the NSC: Chair of the Education & Research Group, Vice-chair of the Fisheries Group and co-ordinator of the Economic Development Group.

Audrey Findlay proposed that Alec Thomsen, currently vice-chair of the Education & Research Group was “promoted” to chair of this group. This was unanimously accepted.

There were no other candidates for the other two positions.

5. OSPAR
5a. NSC comments on OSPAR Guidelines on wind energy
In its capacity as observer of the OSPAR Convention, the NSC has produced a joint paper commenting on the OSPAR guidelines for establishing offshore wind farms. The paper is based on comments received from the three NSC Thematic Groups with an interest in offshore wind farms; Fisheries Group, Environment Group and the subgroup on Renewable Energy under the Economic Development Group.

The Executive Committee expressed its satisfaction with the work carried out and the process it had been through. It was seen as a very balanced paper giving the different views of the NSC Thematic Groups.

It was decided that the paper should be amended slightly to address OSPAR more directly. This will be done by the experts and Per Horberg, co-ordinator of the Environment Group, who had been involved in the first version. The next version will be discussed at the next meeting of the NSC Environment Group on 30th April 2004. Once agreed, it will be sent to OSPAR, national ministers responsible for offshore wind farms, and the North Sea Conference.

The President thanked all the people who had been involved in producing this paper. It was evident that much work had been carried out.

5b. NSC Observer status in OSPAR
The NSC had previously asked for volunteers to follow the work of OSPAR. Two people have already come forward, who would like to attend meetings and follow the work closely. However, Harry Jensen, also mentioned that he may have a member of staff, who would also like to become involved.

Henrik M Jensen pointed out that the workload is heavy and the details often very technical, but that is was considered important for the NSC to use this opportunity to follow and influence the work of OSPAR. €10,000 has been set aside to cover expenses in connection with meetings.

6. Thematic Groups
6a. Recent and future activities

Culture & Tourism Group
Geir Sør-Reime mentioned the proposed next three meetings of the Culture & Tourism Group which will take place over the next 1½ years. The first meeting will be a joint meeting in Wesermarsch dealing with culinary heritage and it will also involve members of most of the other NSC Thematic Groups.

The second meeting will take place in Suffolk in autumn 2004 and will deal with libraries and archives. The aim is that networks of interested libraries and archives can be established around the North Sea.

The third meeting will take place in the spring of 2005 in Ringkjøbing county and deal with cultural innovation in rural regeneration projects. There will be a link to the newly approved NS rural project.

A letter has been received from the Interreg Secretariat in response to a letter from the NSC Culture & Tourism Group. In this, the Interreg Secretariat suggests that the NSC Culture & Tourism Group draws up a proposal for the writing of a Tourism Strategy for the whole North Sea, which is one of the goals of the Interreg Programme. Geir Sør-Reime proposed establishing a new Thematic Group, which would cease to exist once the project was completed. In realising the potential of such a project, the Executive Committee supported the proposal. The work carried out by a previous unsuccessful project application will be incorporated into the new application and any information which NSC member regions might have will be greatly appreciated by the project group.

Environment Group
Per Hörberg mentioned the annual conference of the Environment Group, which was held in Leeuwarden on 13th –14th November dealing with climate change and biodiversity. It had been a very interesting and successful conference. At the Annual Business Meeting, the work programme for 2004 was also approved, which includes, for example, a review of the Porsgrunn Challenge which is due to take place in the spring, and work relating to sustainable shipping within CONSSO.

The next annual conference of the Environment Group will take place in Arendal, Norway on 21st – 22nd October 2004. It will deal with sustainable innovation as part of regional development and it is hoped the North Sea regions can be in the forefront of this type of development.

Transport & Communication Group
Jon Halvard Eide presented details of the group’s recent activities, which included a group meeting in Gothenburg in January, which dealt with sustainable transport solutions in urban regions.

The Transport & Communication Group together with the Economic Development Group, are also 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. So far 20 stakeholders have expressed their interest in being involved.

Group members have also participated in CPMR events and the CPMR will for example organise a seminar on sea transport in late 2004, where inputs from the CPMR geographical commissions will be presented.

Unfortunately the proposed conference on broadband has been postponed, but it is hoped that this will take place later in the year.

The Transport & Communication Group would also like to lobby for the inclusion of more transport in a future Interreg programme which is currently rather limited.

Economic Development Group
The Group has had one meeting since the last Executive Committee meeting. This was held in Viborg in January and Vivien Collie presented the recent activities of the Group. The meeting was held at the Agro Business Park and they would like to establish closer contact with similar centres around the North Sea in order to set up a network. The meeting also dealt with DG Enterprise, consultation and business opportunities in Eastern Europe and waste management. The next meeting of the group will take place in Suffolk in April.

The Economic Development Group has also formed two sub-groups dealing with renewable energy and business centres with the aim of encouraging networking across the North Sea. They have held some very interesting meetings and are becoming very active sub-groups.

Education & Research Group
Ann Brown began by saying she was very pleased that Alec Thomsen has now become chair of the Education & Research Group. She then went on to report on the very interesting meeting the group had held in Fife in December 2003. It had become apparent that the theme of life-long learning has wide interest around the North Sea and it will now become the theme of the conference due to be held in September 2004 in North Jutland. The theme will be “Making lifelong learning a concrete reality in the North Sea Region” and it will be relevant for both politicians, officers and for staff from education and/or research organisations.

The SME project led by Alfa College, Groningen, joined together with a wider group led by a German partner, and it has been successful in obtaining Interreg funding. Unfortunately the NS Exchange Protocol has not been successful, but it is hoped the tourism part of the project can be involved in the proposed tourism strategy for the North Sea.

The outlook for the group is more optimistic than in the autumn, but it still needs help in identifying interested participants from county councils.

Fisheries Group
Ann Bell mentioned that the Fisheries Group had had its last meeting in Haarlem, the Netherlands, where also a joint meeting with the Environment Group had been held. Following on from this meeting, the Fisheries Group would like to organise a conference in 2005 titled “Coastal Zone Management – a focus area of tomorrow”. Leif Theilgaard and Mads Nedergaard, Ringkjøbing Amt, gave a presentation of the proposed conference. (Link to presentation).

The Executive Committee found it very interesting and it was subsequently decided to make the conference the major NSC conference in 2005. The theme has wide implications for several of the other Thematic Groups and it was therefore decided to involve them as well whenever relevant to the theme. The Environment Group will thus discuss the proposal at its next meeting in April.

It was also decided to present the conference at the General Assembly in June. It will also be discussed at the next Executive Committee meeting during which the amount of funding for the conference will be decided upon.

The NSC Fisheries Partnership is progressing well. Much work has gone into writing an application to become a RAC (Regional Advisory Council) for the North Sea and it will be on the agenda for a Council of Ministers meeting in April. A trial RAC has already been held, which was highly successful.

The next meeting will be held in Aberdeenshire in mid-June and the conference on the changing role of women will also be held in Aberdeenshire at the end of June.

6b. Funding of the co-ordinator of the Economic Development Group
12 NSC member counties have agreed to pay a contribution towards the cost of having a co-ordinator of the Economic Development Group, which will see the group through to the summer. A number of possible solutions were presented, but it is apparent that there is no easy solution to this problem. Various options were mentioned which included a gradual increase in NSC membership fees, a contribution from the CPMR or even a re-organisation of the whole structure of 6 Thematic Groups, where some groups could be merged/dissolved. It was decided to start the debate at the coming General Assembly and to subsequently discuss it again at the Thematic Meeting in October, at which point a viable long-term solution must be found.

As a temporary measure €5000 was given towards financing the co-ordinator of the Economic Development Group. Along with this extraordinary contribution, the chair would within the group find a solution to see it through to the end of 2004.

6c. Action plans from the NSC Thematic Groups
The action plans for the six Thematic Groups covering 2004 had been circulated and were approved without comments. It was agreed to find a common structure for future action plans.

6d. Conference money 2004
Following the great demand for funding in October 2003, it was decided to let the Thematic Groups apply for an additional amount of €10,000. Only one application was received and it related to a meeting held in February 2004 dealing with biomass energy. It was agreed to support the meeting with DKK 11,000.

7. CONSSO
A paper dealing with air pollution from ships in harbours and energy from onshore facilities had been circulated. Per Hörberg mentioned that the paper is part of the process leading up to a Ministerial Meeting which will take place in Sweden in spring 2006. Per Hörberg outlined the content of the paper and it was decided to amend it, to make it stronger and if it were successful, it would be used in the preparations for the Ministerial Meeting.

Västra Götaland Region would also like to carry out a minor study of ports which would be interested in looking into electrical onshore connections, which will replace the burning of marine fuel oil, while the ships are berthed at quay. Ports interested in taking part in this study were asked to contact Per Hörberg. The size and type of port is not so relevant as long as it has a reasonable amount of traffic.

At a recent meeting of the Issue Group on Sustainable Shipping, the NSC supported a proposal from KIMO on a single EU directive on maritime safety and oil pollution. This meant that the topic has been retained on the agenda for the next CONSSO meeting.

Per Hörberg also tabled a list of maritime conventions, which showed that some countries have not rectified the agreements. It was decided that the NSC should write to the North Sea Ministers asking why they have not rectified them yet. This would also follow on nicely from the work done by the NSC on the EU Port Directive. Per Hörberg will draft a letter.

8. CPMR matters of interest to the NSC
Pascal Gruselle, CPMR, gave an outline of recent activities within the CPMR. These include organising or participating in meetings and seminars dealing with, for example, the regions of the new EU member countries, the future of territorial co-operation, the 3rd cohesion report, regional policy and the future of the structural strand of the fishing policy. (Link to report).

9. 13th NSC General Assembly
Roland Andersson, President of the Regional Executive Committee of Västra Götaland Region gave an outline of the planned events in connection with the General Assembly.

The North Sea Commission activities will commence on Wednesday 16th June with an Executive Committee meeting at Gunnebo Castle. Those arriving directly from the airport can go straight to the meeting as it is situated between the airport and the City. Thursday begins with a number of speeches followed by study tours and a debate forum. The Annual Business meeting will be held on the Friday and will be followed by a Swedish Midsummer event. On the Saturday, there is an optional tour to the famous rock carvings and the Nordic Water Colour Museum.

All NSC member counties were encouraged to attend the General Assembly.

10. Interreg North Sea Programme
Henrik M Jensen gave an update on the Interreg Programme. About 70% of the money has now been allocated and there was still much interest in applying for funding at the recent call for proposals. However, some aims of the programme still need to be fulfilled. These include projects within areas such as maritime safety, wind energy and the drawing up of a tourism strategy for the North Sea.

The project NS Rural, which involves six NSC member regions has been successful and work can now commence.

11. Correspondence to and from the NSC
The NSC has commented to the EU Commission on the review of the Trans-European Network for Transport. The comments have also been incorporated into a technical note produced by the CPMR. The NSC comments and the reply from the EU Commission were noted.

12. 3rd Cohesion Report
The 3rd Cohesion report on the structural funds after 2006 was circulated for information.

Gordon Summers asked how it would be possible to reach a common North Sea view on this topic, as there are so many conflicting interests. Henrik M Jensen replied that it might be difficult to agree on all the aspects of the report but it would probably be possible to find common ground within for example Interreg. It was agreed to make contact to the CPMR to have a stronger voice on this topic.

NSC member counties were also encouraged to send the NSC Secretariat their regional and national positions when available, so they can be added to the section on the NSC website dealing with the structural funds beyond 2006. A link to the papers can be found on the welcome page on the website www.northsea.org.

13. Date and location of next meeting
The next meeting will take place on 16th June in Gothenburg, Sweden, in connection with the NSC General Assembly.

The autumn meeting will be held in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

14. Any Other Business
Nothing to report.

Karen Greve Somerset
North Sea Commission