Outermost regions - smart growth

The essential Key points  (For PRESS reactions see below)

The EESC raises many points in its opinion, including the following in particular:

• The POSEI (Programme of Options Specifically Relating to Remoteness and Insularity) instrument should be evaluated and extended to cover all the ORs' products, both agricultural and non-agricultural.
• Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) needs to be properly implemented in relation to certain European policies, such as those on competition, public procurement, fisheries and the environment, so as to take account of the ORs' specific geographical and climatic circumstances. Given the text of the Treaty, the European Commission's current silence on these issues is not really justified. The EESC calls on the European Commission to draw up and publish an analysis of the application of Article 349.