Pohjois-Pohjanmaan maakuntapäivät/The Oulu Regional Summit

Oulu November the 5th

Ms. Tytti Tuppurainen, MPVice-chair of the Board of the Council of Oulu Region

Member of the Politicians Group of the NSPA

The Potential of the northernmost part of Europe

• About Cohesion Policy• About NSPA• How can the NSPA contribute to the

European growth• What do we expect from the EU Cohesion

Policy• Some current remarks about the Oulu

Region

Contents

• Reduces regional disparities in terms of income, wealth and opportunities in the EU

• Improves the economic well-being of regions in the EU

• Restructures declining industrial areas and diversify rural areas

• Shall contribute to the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth throughout the EU

• More than one third of the EU’s budget

Cohesion Policy

• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

• European Social Fund (ESF)• Cohesion Fund (CF)Goals:• Investment for growth and jobs in Member

States and regions• European territorial cooperation

Cohesion Policy tools

Northern Sparsely Populated Areas

Bringing added value for Europe

Our region

• the four northernmost counties of Sweden (Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland & Västernorrland)

• the seven northernmost and eastern regions of Finland (Lapland, Oulu Region, Central Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, North Karelia, Etelä-Savo & Pohjois-Savo)

• the three northernmost counties of Norway (Troms, Nordland & Finnmark)

Special characteristics

Regions with special geographical characteristics have a legal base in Protocol 6 of the Accession Treaty for Sweden, Finland and

Austria and in article 174 of the Lisbon Treaty.

• The geographical position of the future: The new route between Europe and East Asia is opened because of the warming climate and melting ice cap in the north.

• NSPA’s advantageous position includes its proximity to northwest Russia which is very much an underused opportunity.

The NSPA - Strong, specific and promising

• The natural resources of the Northern Europe and the vast Barents Area

• In addition to the energy reserves there are other mineral resources ranging from the rare earths to more conventional minerals

• Moreover there are the renewable resources in forests and other bio-mass.

• However, the most valuable asset of the northernmost Europe is the well educated people and there are centres of excellent R & D and world class universities.

The NSPA - Strong, specific and promising

• In the budget proposal the extra allocation to NSPA is set to a level of 20 € per capita, a major decline from the 35 € of the current period.

• The minimum requirement is maintaining the current level of the extra allocation.

• Peripheral maritime regions should continue to be funded separately.

• Low level of funding risks the unleashing of the regional innovative potential of the NSPA.

Specific Additional Allocation for the NSPA

• Northern and eastern Finland must be seen by the Commission as a single Program Area

• The level of expertise in this area must be elevated to fully exploit the R&D funds of the Horizon 2020.

• The European Territorial Co-operation tools are to be used more intensively in the co-operation, especially with Russia.

Other Finnish Aspects

• Recently mainly bad news: major lay-offs in many sectors

Yet:• supply of highly skilled labour• demographic advantage: young population• continuous R&D investment

Turn obstacles to possibilities!

Oulu Region today

For more information please visit:

www.pohjois-pohjanmaa.fiwww.nspa-network.eu

www.tytti.info

Thank you!Kiitos!