43. Welcomes in this context the Commission's analysis of the errors reported by the Court of Auditors for the financial years 2006-2009, which highlights for the first time the fact that, for ERDF and Cohesion Fund, three Member States (Spain, Italy and the UK) have contributed 59 % to the cumulative quantifiable errors identified during this period and that for the ESF four Member States (Spain, Portugal, the UK and Germany) have contributed 68 % to the cumulative quantifiable errors identified during this period in the area of Cohesion policy; notes that, for ERDF and Cohesion Fund, most errors found in Italy came from the regions Calabria, Campania ...[+++]and Puglia and that in Spain a small number of operational programmes in the regions Andalucía, Valencia and Castilla-La Mancha contributed 75 % to the errors detected in Spain; understands, furthermore, that Spain and Italy have also contributed significantly to the error rate for the financial year 2010;

44. Welcomes in this context the Commission's analysis of the errors reported by the Court of Auditors for the financial years 2006-2009, which highlights for the first time the fact that, for ERDF and Cohesion Fund, three Member States (Spain, Italy and the UK) have contributed 59 % to the cumulative quantifiable errors identified during this period and that for the ESF four Member States (Spain, Portugal, the UK and Germany) have contributed 68 % to the cumulative quantifiable errors identified during this period in the area of Cohesion policy ; notes that, for ERDF and Cohesion Fund, most errors found in Italy came from the regions Calabria, Campania ...[+++]and Puglia and that in Spain a small number of operational programmes in the regions Andalucía, Valencia and Castilla-La Mancha contributed 75 % to the errors detected in Spain ; understands, furthermore, that Spain and Italy have also contributed significantly to the error rate for the financial year 2010;

The most prominent examples are the following: gas interconnections on the Africa–Spain–France corridor; electricity interconnections between Portugal and Spain which contribute to the development of the Iberian electricity market; electricity interconnection between the United Kingdom (Deeside) and the Republic of Ireland (Meath) for the establishment of a regional market between the UK and Ireland; and the electricity interconnections in the Baltic region and their integration into the Nordpool Market.

C. whereas meteorological phenomena, especially storm Xynthia, have also isolated different regions in Spain, particularly the Canary Islands and Andalusia, and have caused serious damage, the full extent of which is yet to be determined,

Unfortunately, within Spain, the Basque country is still split between the three major Basque provinces that form one region together, along with the region of Navarre, of which only the western half has a Basque majority.

K. welcoming the regional initiatives to promote short sea shipping and create short sea shipping links, such as the initiative for the Mediterranean region involving Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and Greece, and the initiatives taken by Member States to promote and implement the concept of Motorways of the Sea in the four areas defined by Decision No 884/2004/EC , in particular the initiatives in the Baltic Sea region, the initiatives taken by the countries of the Mediterranean Arc including France, Spain, Greece and Italy and the Atlantic Arc Commission,