EU Strategy for the Atlantic Region

Key points:

The EESC

• welcomes the European Commission's proposal for the Atlantic under the European Integrated Maritime Policy:

• proposes a more ambitious approach, however; a macro-regional strategy which, in conjunction with the maritime pillar, incorporates the territorial pillar, taking account of the experiences of the Baltic Sea and Danube regions.

• underlines that the EESC position is supported by the position of the European Parliament, the governments of the regions of the Atlantic Arc Commission, the Economic and Social Councils within the Transnational Atlantic Arc and a number of civil society stakeholders (business leaders, unions, chambers of commerce, towns and cities, etc.).

• believes that the Atlantic Forum provided for by the Atlantic maritime strategy is a first step towards transforming the Atlantic maritime strategy into a macro-regional Atlantic strategy.

• as member of the Atlantic Forum leadership group, has proposed that the Atlantic Transnational Network (ATN) of Economic and Social Councils participate in the Forum.

• finds that the priority objectives of the Atlantic macro-region should be based on the thematic pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

• recommends that in future, macro-regional policies have appropriate legislation, their own funding and the necessary administrative structures.