The Outermost Regions: Challenges and prospects

Abstract

Which realities and which stakes characterize the ORs in comparison to the continental European States? In response to that, which are the policies and the measures envisaged by the European Union to come to the aid of these areas?

We will see how the EU helps the Outermost Regions in order to develop themselves and which the initiatives of the latter are so as to encourage their integration in the EU and, at the same time, promote and defend their common particular situation, especially in terms of employment and sustainable development. We will also approach the particular legal statute of the nine ORs compared with the other ultramarine territories attached to the Member States of the EU but which are not considered as stakeholders of the European Community – twenty communities that are indeed overseas countries and territories (OCTs). Finally, we will have an overview of the various Community policies with respect to the ORs and we will highlight, under the shape of index cards, a few data that characterize them.