Vaya, acabo de ver la noticia en Gates of Vienna:
Spain: Galicia and Portugal, Euroregion is Born
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 23 — Galicia and northern Portugal as of yesterday are a little bit closer, after ratifying the birth of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC): a new cooperation entity envisaged by the legal order of the European Union, which mitigates the administrative borders between the two regions and represents an economic and technological engine for the area. This is the third Euroregion recognised by the EU, the first in the Iberian peninsula. The new cooperation tool, the media reported today, was officially presented by the president of the council of Galicia, Emilio Perez Tourino, and by the president of the regional coordination and development Commission of northern Portugal, Carlos Lage, in the eighth meeting of the work group of the Euroregion, which took place yesterday in Galicia. The Euroregion, with its own judicial autonomy, will allow the two administrations “to launch joint projects and to overcome the difficulties generated by the centralised nature of the Portuguese state”, the promoters explained. The new entity, which will be based in the ancient rectorate of Vigo, in Galicia, will have a budget of 97 million euro for four years, allocated by Brussels to finance cross-border projects in the sectors of innovation, transport, university research and environment. Through the technical Secretariat of cross-border cooperation, which will be based in Badajoz (Estremadura), the Euroregion Galicia-Northern Portugal will have to carry out by the end of October the first analysis of the 200 joint projects presented so far and select the financed ones already in 2009. But it is not just a matter of allocating the funds coming from Brussels, as sources of the Galician council explained. The Euroregion, in fact, has among its targets the alleviation of the consequences of the end of the allocation of the European structural funds in a bilateral logic, so that when the EU funds finish, the two countries will be able to channel investments through the new administrative tool. In presiding over the meeting for the setting up of the new entity, the European Commission representative Eusebio Murillo wished that Galicia and northern Portugal “become ambitious” in the planning of their projects and “do not limit themselves to the initiatives financed by the EU”. Perez Tourino assured that Galicia “will be a pioneer in the European construction with this second-generation cooperation model”. In tune with this position was the state secretary for regional development of Portugal, Rui Balairas, who pointed out that “the cooperation must go beyond EU funds”. The birth of the new European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation was attended also by the Spanish Public Administration Minister Elena Espinosa, who expressed “the enthusiastic support of the Spanish government for the initiative”, which will be “a future reference point for other communities with similar characteristics”. (ANSAmed).
Madrid aplaude, Bruselas paga. Buena suerte.
Dejar una contestacion