Policy on Standard Geographical Units

32. Considers that early warning and early preventive action with regard to the negative consequences of climate change and natural disasters depend on adequate human resources and methodology with regard to data collection and analysis; notes that the relevant EEAS units which deal with security, and the relevant Commission’s services and geographical desks, should integrate analysis of the impact of natural disasters on international security and political stability ...[+++] in their work; recommends training of EEAS and Commission staff in monitoring the impact of natural disasters on crisis development and political stability and security; calls for the development of common criteria for analysis, risk assessment and the setting-up of a joint alert system;

12. Doubts whether specific operational programmes for functional geographical entities such as groups of authorities including local areas, or sea or river basins will yield additional benefits, in particular in cases where there are no political authorities (including democratically elected authorities) with a sufficiently wide-ranging remit to implement them; calls instead for closer coordination of macroregional, metropolitan regional or environmental-geographic strategies at inter-governmental level and for ...[+++]appropriate consideration to be given to these functional geographical entities within national operational programmes in order to facilitate the use of EU funding for interregional development projects; considers that specific operational programmes should be an option for delivery in regions where sub-regional delivery provides added value vis-à-vis national and regional programmes and where partnerships have been formed by political bodies for implementation purposes; calls for cross-border groupings to be involved in devising the operational programmes for cross-border programmes, on the basis of the EGTC Regulation;

14. Stresses that towns and cities can make a key contribution, as growth centres and growth drivers, to a given region; points, at the same time, to the need for it to be made possible for rural settlements to participate in integrated solutions for a given functional geographical entity by means of the fostering of partnerships and networks; stresses that larger urban centres face specific challenges because of the complexity of their social, economic and environmental tasks; sees, in this context, the endogenous potential of rural and peri-urban areas as offering an opportunity for development, although not only around agglomeratio ...[+++]ns and big cities; notes, furthermore, the opportunity for the economic development of particularly disadvantaged regions through appropriate exploitation of, and support for, the endogenous potential of rural areas, including their environmental and cultural assets; considers also, in the context of structural and cohesion policy, urban-rural partnerships more in terms of providing rural areas with the same conditions for development and quality of life with regard to social and economic factors; calls on the Member States, given the dynamic influence of towns and cities on economic development in the regions and in stimulating the economy in surrounding rural areas, to guarantee the resources needed to implement the urban and sub-urban projects required;

14. Stresses that towns and cities can make a key contribution, as growth centres and growth drivers, to a given region; points, at the same time, to the need for it to be made possible for rural settlements to participate in integrated solutions for a given functional geographical entity by means of the fostering of partnerships and networks; stresses that larger urban centres face specific challenges because of the complexity of their social, economic and environmental tasks; sees, in this context, the endogenous potential of rural areas as offering an opportunity for development, although not only around agglomerations and big citi ...[+++]es; notes, furthermore, the opportunity for the economic development of particularly disadvantaged regions through appropriate exploitation of, and support for, the endogenous potential of rural areas, including their environmental and cultural assets; considers also, in the context of structural and cohesion policy, urban-rural partnerships more in terms of providing rural areas with the same conditions for development and quality of life with regard to social and economic factors; calls on the Member States, given the dynamic influence of towns and cities on economic development in the regions and in stimulating the economy in surrounding rural areas, to guarantee the resources needed to implement the urban and sub-urban projects required;