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President Ilves: the options offered by the Baltic Sea Strategy should be utilised more

13.10.2010

“The Baltic Sea Strategy is not a project that merely focuses on environmental protection; above all, this is an opportunity to enhance the competitiveness of our region and diminish the amount of bureaucracy in the lives of the people who live here,” said the President, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, at the opening panel of the “Qualifying the Region for the Future - Implementing the EU Baltic Sea Strategy” conference.

“I see this official macro-regional strategy of the European Union as an opportunity. By this I mean, above all, good initiatives that will not require significant capital. The misconception that all aspects related to EU projects consume huge amounts of taxpayers’ money has become quite common,” said President Ilves, one of the initiators of the Baltic Sea Strategy.

“Let us take, for example, the issue of the free movement of people. We all know that we’re within the Schengen visa area and can travel to certain countries without limitations; however, the real free movement is still an issue of future, if we take into consideration the current bureaucratic obstacles that people often encounter,” stated President Ilves. “In this sphere, more active co-operation will definitely be required, as the whole region, and not just one country, should be the focus when solving the problems of the free movement of people, labour, capital, and services.”

“In the past, I have repeatedly emphasised that the Baltic Sea Strategy is the first initiative of the European Union that has been launched by people who have been directly elected and it is under democratic rules of the citizens of the European Union. Therefore, it can be said that this is the most democratic strategy in the European Union,” said the Estonian Head of State.

The European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Mr. Johannes Hahn, the President of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union, Ms Mercedes Bresso, and Vice President of the European Investment Bank, Ms Eva Srejber, took part in the conference, which took place today in Tallinn, with the President, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

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