Mr. Manuel Baltar, President of Partenalia and of the Diputación de Ourense met with Mr. Jean Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission on October, 8th, minutes before the opening session of the European Week of Regions and Cities, the annual flagship event of the European Committee of the Regions.
Mr. Baltar’s exchange with Mr. Juncker focused on the key role of Local Intermediate Authorities in the implementation of European policies and the need to act locally in order to achieve global results that reach all EU citizens independently of the areas they live in.
Amongst the main priorities of European Local Intermediate Authorities are the struggle against rural depopulation and achieving a degree of direct financing from the European Union, within the next Multiannual Financial Framework, as a way of streamlining the use of EU funds through the proven administrative and fund management capacities of this level of government in previous EU budget.
Mr. Baltar also insisted on the role of tourism as a key sector to foster the competitivity of rural areas and the necessity to bring the EU’s support to projects which boost the touristic resources of these territories and at the heart of which lies a deep attention to sustainability and natural resources.
The President of Partenalia defined the European Week of Regions and Cities as an excellent opportunity for Local Intermediate Authorities to voice their concerns as the administrations which are the vanguard of those institutions striving to bridge the rural-urban divide and call for just and powerful measures of territorial solidarity
Mr. Baltar gave warm thanks to the President of the European Commission for his receptiveness and all his great efforts undertaken in support of provincial territories.
