Community initiative concerning the most remote regions, 1990-1993

The REGIS initiative applies to seven Community regions which each have special features clearly distinguishing them from the rest of the Community (great distance from continental Europe, island nature and/or isolation, small local markets, mainly tropical agriculture production, under-developed economies). The regions concern Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Reunion, Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira.

The measures covered by the initiative aim to promote the economic diversification of the seven regions, to consolidate the links between them and the rest of the Community, to stimulate cooperation between neighbouring remote regions, and between them and the nearby non-member countries, especially those party to preferential arrangements with the Community (e.g. the ACP states) and, where appropriate, to increase their capacity to cope with natural disasters.

On 15 June 1994, the Commission adopted a Decision establishing a second phase of the REGIS programme covering the period 1994-1999. Whilst the thrust of the measures covered remains largely unchanged, certain adjustments and additions were made, in particular:

- Incorporation of measures previously financed by ENVIREG;
- Greater emphasis on measures designed to encourage the exchange and transfer of know-how with other Community regions;
- Extension of measures concerning energy, by making it possible to finance energy-saving investment projects.
To undertake development measures complementary to those agreed under the Community Support Frameworks (CSFs) to speed up the adaptation of the economies of the most isolated regions so that they may be better integrated into the European Community's internal market.
Eligible measures:

- Measures to encourage economic diversification:
. Agriculture: assistance for the diversification of agricultural production in order to increase self-sufficiency and develop exports;
. Tourism: assistance for investment related to the development of adventure holidays outside the main tourist centres which takes account of the local context and does not endanger environmentally sensitive zones;
. Industry and services: assistance for equipping craft and industry parks, workshops and short-stay factories; assistance for advisory, innovation and other services to be used jointly by firms;
. Energy: assistance for investments in small-scale energy production and links with existing distribution networks with particular emphasis on renewable energies, including geothermal energy;

- Measures to consolidate the links between these regions and the rest of the Community:
. Investment in transport and telecommunications infrastructures and services, both over long distances and between neighbouring regions;
. Trade missions, seminars and product promotion campaigns to secure outlets throughout the Community market;

- Measures in the context of cooperation between the most remote regions and with neighbouring countries, particularly countries party to the fourth ACP-EEC Convention (LOME 4):
. Assistance for organizing seminars, meetings, missions and studies and for setting up agencies to find potential partners and to define and implement joint cooperation measures;
. Assistance for setting up services and purchasing equipment for other joint initiatives, particularly in the fields of tourism and trade;
. Assistance for the purchase of equipment and the construction of buildings needed for the development and improvement of services at the disposal of a geographical area extending beyond the Community regions and assistance with the costs of setting up bodies to develop services for the export of local know-how;
. Assistance for small inter-regional transport infrastructures;

- Assistance to cover the additional costs of business investments resulting from the need to take account of natural hazards, for example, assistance for improving security and protecting the energy distribution network in areas with tropical weather conditions;

- Measures concerning vocational training and employment, linked with the foregoing measures, including:
. Aid for the establishment of self-employed businesses and for recruitment to newly created stable jobs;
. Vocational training in management and marketing, new technologies, renewable energy and energy control, tourism, environmental management and language training;
. Vocational training in reducing the risks resulting from hurricanes, particularly for the agricultural sector;
. Assistance to social policies which help young people and the long-term unemployed to find employment and help the under-employed to be more fully employed.
Community assistance in the form of loans and grants may be provided under REGIS to the regions of Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Reunion, Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira, to finance operational programmes submitted by the Member States and approved by the Commission. Member States with eligible regions should have submitted detailed proposals for operational programmes or global grants by 2 February 1991.

In drawing up their operational programmes, the Member States concerned were required to accord priority to economic diversification by developing products and services for the local markets, for markets of neighbouring countries and for the Community market.

REGIS 1 is jointly financed by the Member States and the Community. The total contribution from the Structural Funds for the period 1990-1993 was ECU 200 million. Loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) were also made available. In assessing the level of the Community's contribution to selected operational programmes, account was taken of the quality of the programmes and the remoteness of the regions, their population, their level of economic development and their specific handicaps.