General Assembly
ANNUAL REPORT 2002
Report
by President,
Bent Hansen.
Dear friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Another working year has passed and we meet
again for the General Assembly of the North Sea Commission. I always look
forward to seeing good colleagues and friends from the North Sea regions,
and again I am impressed and proud to see that almost 350 people have
taken time to spend a few days in the beautiful Norfolk area, to discuss
and exchange experience with colleagues from the member regions of the
North Sea Commission.
We are all aware of the cultural heritage
that surrounds the North Sea region, but for a Dane it is a very special
pleasure to visit Norfolk. This time we are a little more polite than a
thousand years ago when the Danes ruled here, but through both war and
trade there is a special connection between Norfolk and Denmark, and I
believe a little Viking blood is still flowing in the veins of the people
of Norfolk.
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I believe I say it every year, but it is
evident that an organisation like the North Sea Commission, is only as
strong as the support it has. It is therefore a great pleasure for me to
welcome six new members at this General Assembly. From Norway we welcome
Buskerud and Nordland, and from England we welcome Cambridgeshire, Essex,
Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Along with our old members from Suffolk
and Norfolk, the four new English members will be represented by The East
of England Local Government Conference.
This means, that the North Sea Commission now
has the support of 67 regions coming from all countries around the North
Sea. 67 regions with close to 40 million people!
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From new members I move on to activities. At
last year’s General Assembly in Aalborg I introduced a working document
on the future visions and actions of the North Sea Commission. The working
paper was debated at the General Assembly and during the autumn last year
many comments and contributions were given by the member regions. A draft
version was presented to the Executive Committee and finally in March this
document “The North Sea Commission - From Vision to Action” was
approved. You will find it in you conference papers.
In this document you will find the long term
goals set for the North Sea Commission, but just as importantly you will
also find some of the specific actions we will strive to carry out during
the coming years.
I will not go through the entire document,
but let me just mention a few topics we must take action on. In the coming
years the European Union faces big structural challenges and I believe the
Convention on the Future of Europe along with the consequences of the
enlargement process, will bring a new balance between regional, national
and European political levels. In line with this, the regional level is
right now up for debate in many of our countries, but in both debates -
European and national - I fear that the importance of grass-root democracy
is forgotten. We must fight for a Europe built on respect for the
diversity of the regions and respect for regional democracy.
In practice this means hard work to influence
European and national policies, and to succeed we must do this through a
number of sources. The national governments, CPMR, The Committee of the
Regions and at any occasion we get the opportunity. But it is a game with
many strong players, and we need to strengthen the recognition of the
North Sea Commission if we want to be heard in the corridors of power. We
will work on that matter through conferences, international projects and
the direct involvement in the future European policies.
As in most cases the backbone in this work
will be our six thematic groups. Having mentioned them I will also mention
the second part of the North Sea Commission work. The practical exchange
of best practice, the work on common solutions to common problems, the
partnership in international projects and much more. As regional
authorities we are quite often the implementing or controlling authority,
and as such we can gain much from the experience of our colleagues.
I believe that this document gives us good
guidance for our future work, and a marketing tool to be used back home in
our regions, as well as in a broader European perspective. But remember,
the success of a document like this lies in your hands – out in the
member regions. I will encourage you to go through it and find the
specific action that fits your region, to decide where your region will
place its efforts the coming years.
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Many good activities are continually carried
out within the framework of the North Sea Commission, and during the last
year we have on many occasions worked hard to influence the European
agenda. Let me just mention to you the three most outstanding examples.
When the European Commission published its
White Paper on the Common Transport Policy our thematic group on Transport
and Communication right away started an internal discussion on the North
Sea perspective of the White Paper. A response highlighting important
North Sea issues like personal mobility and short sea shipping was sent to
the Commission, and the group will pursue these issues through their
contacts to the Commission. Parallel to this work they have taken part in
the CPMR intercom group on transport, and in close co-operation with our
colleagues in other peripheral maritime regions, a CPMR response to the
White Paper was made. With the advantage of the strong CPMR network, a
clear message was sent to the Commission.
In co-operation with the Environment group,
the Transport and Communication group organised a conference on
Sustainable Transport in April, and 100 politicians and officers
participated in workshops and shared examples and knowledge on this
important issue. These examples illustrate a well functioning group with
focus on the political issues as well as the practical problems we all
have to solve at regional level.
My second example also illustrates good
political work and strong co-operation between our groups. In March the
Fifth North Sea Conference took place in Bergen, Norway, and the
responsible Ministers signed a declaration on the future of the North Sea.
The North Sea Commission has the status of observer to this conference,
and through many meetings among the senior officers at ministerial level,
the secretariat, along with the co-ordinators of the Environment and
Fishery groups, has worked to influence the final declaration. In Bergen
our Vice-President Gunn Marit Helgesen had the opportunity to address the
ministers and in the final declaration we noticed with satisfaction the
improved co-operation against pollution from ships, further co-operation
on the spatial planning of the North Sea – involving the regional
governments, and the ministers’ recognition of progress made by the
Fisheries Partnership.
In general we had hoped for a more
progressive declaration, and especially progress on the very important
issue of radioactive pollution -
a problem the ministers once again failed to solve. Despite this, there is
no doubt that the North Sea Commission finds the conference on the future
of the North Sea very important, and we regret that the ministers in
Bergen took no clear decision on the future of the Conference. The next
conference to be held at the latest in 2006 in Sweden will
focus on the very important issues of shipping and fishery, and we
will again take active part in the work, but we did recommend keeping a
broad perspective in the future North Sea Conferences, to keep the
conferences as a strong political tool.
My third example will be the Fisheries
Partnership. Once again this partnership between fishermen and scientists
has proved its value, and as just mentioned the ministers in Bergen
recognised the important work. During the last year, new important
milestones of the Partnership have been reached. Fishermen from around the
North Sea were for the first time given the opportunity to provide
information and comments on the fish stock assessments on which quotas are
based, and the Partnership’s suggestion to insert a peer review panel
into the advisory process on fish stock assessments has been approved by
the EU Commission and ICES. Finally the Partnership has been granted
financial support from the Interreg North Sea Programme, and thanks to
this support, the unique co-operation can develop its work until 2005. A
co-operation that in the light of the newly announced common fisheries
policy seems even more important than ever.
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From a partnership supported by the Interreg
programme let’s turn to the programme itself. The Interreg IIIB North
Sea Programme that is so strongly connected to the North Sea Commission.
Last summer we where all waiting for the final approval of the programme,
and after a short setback it was approved by the EU Commission in December
last year and followed by the first Monitoring Committee meeting held in
Cambridge in mid January. Finally we were ready for what this programme is all about –
supporting good trans-national projects with the purpose of achieving
sustainable and balanced development within the North Sea region. The
first call for projects closed on the 1st of March and at the
Steering Committee meeting in Copenhagen, 7 projects were approved with 15
million Euro in funding. The second call will close at the end of
September this year, and to promote the programme a Directoria was
organized Wednesday in this very room, where 220 project developers with
more than 90 project ideas spent the day with the Interreg secretariat, to
hear of the formalities of the programme and of course to set up good and
valid projects. The North Sea Commission regions were well represented in
the first call, but I will once more stress how important it is to us,
that we take full advantage of the opportunities given to us within this
programme. With 140 million Euro for funding, the opportunities are there
for us to look deeper into the fundamental spatial development issues of
the North Sea regions. Let’s prove that we, with the funding available,
can set up visionary and tangible projects that fulfil the goals set for
the programme. It takes time and effort to develop international projects,
but I believe the results will prove it is worth it. Programme Manager
Lorraine George will later this morning give a status and some details of
the programme.
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My focus on our ability to fulfil the goals
set for the Interreg programme leads me to the next issue I would like to
discuss with you. The European regional and structural policies beyond
2006. You might think that 2006 - where the present period for structural
funds will end - is so far away, and that we should concentrate on the
present programmes, but we must do both. The discussion has started and
with the enlargement of the European Union it is obvious to me that
funding for North Sea regional and structural issues will come under
pressure. We must ascertain that our region is not forgotten in the big
discussion on funding for enlargement, restructuring of the Agriculture
Policy and new priorities for the structural funds. Again we must
influence the debate and the decision making at all possible levels. Along
with our colleagues in the CPMR, the North Sea Commission will continue to
work on these matters, but I would like to encourage you all to use your
national networks to get in a close dialogue with our national
governments. It is vital to us that the specific weaknesses and
opportunities of our region are taken into account in the future EU
policies.
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Summing up – 2001 was another positive year
for the North Sea Commission. New members, many good activities carried
out in our hard working thematic groups, and new goals set for the future.
A future with many challenges, but we are ready to meet them.
I will end my report here, by thanking all of
you for taking part in the work of the North Sea Commission. A special
thanks to our host Norfolk County where Alison King and her staff have
done a tremendous job organising this General Assembly. The beautiful
surroundings and the inspiring study tours yesterday have been a perfect
setting for this General Assembly.
Thank you !
Mr Bent Hansen
NSC President
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