European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, visited on Friday the city of Patras in the context of the CRPM – Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe organised by the region of western Greece at the Congress Centre Achaia Clauss.
A closed meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPMR was held on Friday with the participation of the European Commissioner, while the seminar of the CPMR on “Tackling the climate crisis (vulnerability) in coastal areas by strengthening innovative solutions for adaptation and increasing resilience” was held on Thursday.
In statements, Ferreira noted that “initially, we should tackle the basic problems concerning the infrastructure and afterwards we will see how these structural cohesion policies can be used in a way to deliver further results, such as creating new jobs and better living conditions for people in the regions. There is no need, for example, for them to leave for Athens to find a job. This entire framework of conditions needs to be set up in order for the regions themselves to ultimately contribute in the best possible way to the national development effort”.
Referring to Greece, Ferreira underlined that “it’s really doing everything in its power to absorb as much of those resources as possible.” “And this is a very good sign, because the issue is not just about the money arriving from Brussels. The point is to see more specifically what we can do, what specific goals we can achieve with this money” she noted.
Concluding, Ferreira said that “”We should see Europe as a kind of chain made up of various links. If some of these links are weak, in this case some regions, then this European chain cannot be considered really strong. So all regions, throughout the European Union, should do everything in their power to absorb as much of these funds as possible.”