An Action Plan based on ambitions and requirements
In a scenario characterised by legal and financial uncertainties, the Outermost Regions
envisage a future in which they can ensure growth and develop stable jobs in today's highly
challenged socio-economic environment.
This exercise provides continuity to their respective reflections which resulted in the adoption
of Memorandums in 2009 and 2010, as well as in different contributions to the European
Commission's public consultations (territorial cohesion, Europe 2020 Strategy, transport, State
assistance, research and innovation, internal market, maritime policy, etc.)
The joint Memorandum of May 2010 adopted an innovative approach and invited the
European Commission to find a triple balance with regard to outermost regions, based on the
strategy that the Commission developed in 2004 in order to reduce deficits in terms of
accessibility, improved competitiveness and regional integration:
• A balance between potential and structural constraints;
• A balance between the internal and external aspects of European policies so as to
avoid inconsistencies when they are implemented;
• A balance between adapting European common law policies and their translation into
specific sectoral instruments.
The Memorandum urges that all EU policies applicable to ORs include a logic of territorial
coherence going beyond the new objective of ‘territorial cohesion’ as established by the Lisbon
Treaty. In this manner, the ORs can constitute truly pertinent spaces for experimentation to
ensure coherent and integrated implementation of EU policies at a territorial level, based on
multiple levels of governance (European, national and regional).
The principles of equal opportunities, coherence, attributing value to potential and
partnerships enshrined in the ‘Cayenne Principles’ have, since 1999, served as the foundation