Fișa informativă a avizului 

The Arctic is an area of growing strategic importance for the EU. Challenges with regard to appropriately addressing the territorial, economic and social characteristics of the Artic have generated a growing demand for action at EU level. Collaboration, synergies and complementarity between existing programmes and other funding sources have to be strengthened by an integrated approach. Therefore, LRAs should be involved in the coordination of relevant programmes and projects as regards territorial cooperation (incl. stakeholder fora), transport links and sustainable economic development. Laying out the views of the CoR should therefore contribute to the success of future EU actions in this field.

THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

- stresses that the challenges facing the Arctic region require concerted efforts at local, regional and international level;

- notes that the Arctic region's strategic importance to the EU is increasing all the time, as is the need for the EU to take steps to overcome the challenges posed by the Arctic region's natural environment and specific socio-economic conditions;

- points out that the definition of the Arctic region used in the communication refers very narrowly to the region north of the Arctic Circle. The impact of the EU's integrated policy will extend far beyond this region. The Committee of the Regions proposes that the geographical definition of the Arctic region given in the communication be broadened;

- would like to place greater emphasis on the role played by Arctic towns and cities in development work;

- stresses that implementation of the future cohesion policy should also make a variety of financial instruments available for development efforts in the Arctic region;

- welcomes the strong emphasis on the importance of cooperation in implementing an integrated policy for the Arctic;

- proposes that, as part of the cooperation forum's work, the Commission put together a guide on the funding opportunities available in the Arctic region (as was the case for the EU's Baltic Sea Strategy) and that it provide information on the subject through various events and networking meetings.