Text tabled : B7-0518/2010

  Nuno Teixeira (PPE), in writing. – (PT) There are many regional disparities in the European Union with regard to development levels. As an expression of European solidarity, the territorial cohesion objective aims to eliminate these differences and promote harmonious development through financial means of structural adjustment and the adaptation of the various sectoral policies to the specific nature of each region.

Mountain regions, islands and sparsely populated areas are particularly disadvantaged regions, and their social and economic development is affected by their natural and geographical characteristics. It is therefore necessary to grant them particular attention, not least by taking into account various development indicators, in addition to gross domestic product, that duly reflect the specific attributes of each region; by eliminating rigid eligibility criteria for cross-border cooperation programmes; by coordinating the various sources of funding; and by developing a vertical approach involving all levels of government.

In this respect, the same rationale suggests that the outermost regions, which have some features in common with these regions, likewise deserve to have the proposals contained in this resolution applied to them, according to the specific nature of the particular region in question.