State Secretary Florian Hassler, together with his colleagues State Secretary Dr. Patrick Rapp, Minister Meritxell Serret i Aleu from Catalonia (Foreign Affairs and European Union), State Secretary Raffaele Cattaneo from Lombardy (International and European Relations) and from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Manuelle Dupuy (Deputy Director General for Environment, Europe and International Affairs), pointed out the impact of the far-reaching industrial transformation process on the four regions.
They stressed the importance of strong economic and innovative regions such as the Four Motors for Europe within the EU pointing out that they have the potential to act as key drivers of the EU´s green and digital transition, but also need appropriate and more effective support by the EU to do so. Considering that the Four Motors for Europe are responsible for 10% of the EU's GDP, it becomes clear that there is a need to strengthen strengths and strong regions for the future viability of Europe as a whole.
The European Commission representatives – Director Kristin Schreiber (DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs), Director Peter Dröll (DG Research and Innovation) and Director Peter Berkowitz (DG for Regional and Urban Policy) – welcomed the joint paper of the Four Motors for Europe and thanked for the initiative to discuss the specific concerns and needs of these regions. They agreed that the EU needs strong innovative regions while at the same time reducing disparities in Europe. The European framework needs to take this into account, e. g. with view to the Multiannual Financial Framework and the EU programs and instruments. Therefore, they emphasized that the feedback of the four regions with concrete proposals would be very helpful.
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