Executive Committee of Northern Norway and Regional Council for Western Norway1; proposal for the EU-Commission pertaining to “The Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion”

• The inclusion of territorial cohesion as a “third pillar” in European cooperation will strengthen the opportunities for further sustainable development and growth in Europe. • Territorial cohesion policy must include all types of regions, especially focusing on regions with special challenges. Sparsely populated areas, mountain regions and island communities all make up areas facing special challenges associated with regional development. These areas must be taken into special account with regard to their unique geographical and demographic conditions. In addition to sparsely populated areas, we would also like to point to Norwegian fjord communities. These communities are faced with many of the same challenges as mountain areas, including difficult communications and small work markets. The coast of Norway is also faced with special challenges involving smaller island communities lacking road connections to the mainland. • The coast of Norway includes areas with large natural resources. A big potential to offer a greater contribution to sustainable economic growth and increased welfare does exist. In order to extract this potential there is a need for further development of the infrastructure and also an increased effort in the fields of education, research and development in the north and along the coast of Norway. In order to promote the various regions’ contributions to sustainable development in Europe, the framework conditions for development must be differentiated and adapted to suit the region’s inherent characteristics. • Territorial cohesion must run across the normal sectors of society and influence all areas of politics important for regional development. In addition, territorial cohesion has to build on local and regional development work. This requires close cooperation, not only between the various local, regional, national and international levels, but also between the public, private and voluntary sectors. A strong regional organizational level is a prerequisite for regional policy based on the development of regional competitive advantages, and in order to attain the politics of interdependence. The EU’s cohesion policy needs to keep this as a central point for starting off, and the regional level must be given increased decision-making power and framework conditions enabling the effectuation of a coherent policy - in line with The Green Paper’s proposals. • In addition to arranging for the regions to strengthen their competitive power, the territorial policy must also strengthen the balance between the regions, and make sure that all inhabitants receive equal access to service. We support views

1 Executive Committee for Northern Norway and Regional Council for Western Norway represent 8 of the 9 Counties along the northern and western coast of Norway, from Finnmark to Rogaland. put forward in The Green Paper regarding the avoidance of too strong a concentration of growth, rather working towards even and sustainable development in the whole area. We also agree that smaller sized towns do play an important role in stimulating economic development in outlying areas. • Further work needs to be done to develop good indicators of territorial cohesion - taking into account both geographic and demographic conditions. As opposed to large parts of the rest of Europe, the mountain regions in Norway often stretch right out to the coast, and mountain policy must also take into account the coastal area challenges. • The EU-Commission should be encouraged to develop a White Paper covering territorial cohesion. • We refer to the positive experience we have with Norwegian participation in the programme supporting regional co-operation in Europe. We want Norway to continue its participation in these programmes. The programmes should however be simplified and made less bureaucratic.

Executive Committee for Regional Council for Northern Norway Western Norway Sjøgt. 3 Sogn- og Fjordane fylkeskommune N-8022 Bodø N-6863 Leikanger Norway Norway