Crisis-hit regions get organised

Publication date: 24 April 2009

The ‘automotive crisis intergroup’, created within the Committee of the Regions (CoR) to contribute to the strategy to be adopted vis-à-vis the crisis in the sector, held its first meeting on 22 April in Brussels. It adopted a political resolution calling on the CoR to “take initiative to develop a European response to the automotive crisis, in particular by expressing recommendations on medium and long-term challenges”.

The group brings together 53 representatives from territories that intend to voice the opinions of European regions affected by the unprecedented extent of the economic crisis in the automotive sector. It is upon the initiative of Jean-Yves Le Drian, president of the Regional Council of Brittany and CoR member, that the group was created. Alberts Bore (UK) and Uno Silberg (Estonia) are the vice-presidents.

For Jean-Yves Le Drian, this above all concerns “exchanging our experiences and regional tools, providing information on existing measures, ensuring followup and European measures, becoming the representative spokesperson for the local authorities affected by the crisis and undertaking a lobbying role among the institutional authorities”. He underlines the importance of territorial cohesion in implementing a policy on the matter.

The resolution adopted proposes a wider use of European instruments (Social Fund and Globalisation Adjustment Fund) and EU support for a ‘greener’ automobile industry. It also advocates a more relaxed implementation of existing European intervention tools, which is better adapted to the specific problems of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Source: Europolitics