Samuli Pohjamo (ALDE). – (FI) Madam President, I wish to bring a northern perspective to this debate. Two years or so ago I worked in a regional development organisation close to the Arctic Circle and the Russian border. For that distant region, globalisation was both a threat and an opportunity. We began development work, trusting in our own strengths as we took advantage of globalisation. Companies, the public sector, the education system and universities pooled their resources to build a productive innovation environment. The skills base was strengthened by networking with global skills networks in the spirit of the Lisbon Strategy. At the same time renewable energy projects were launched. The results are encouraging. A particular example is the fast growth in international tourism in the area. I believe that this region would serve as a useful model elsewhere in Europe, and the EU should make this sort of work much more feasible.