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Green Paper on territorial cohesion of the European Commission

From website www.vialibre.org

The Green Paper on territorial cohesion was adopted by the Commission l Europe on 6 October 2008, and marks the beginning of a major consultation with regional and local authorities, associations, NGOs, civil society and other organizations for the purpose of achieving a common understanding of territorial cohesion and implications for the future of regional policy of the European Union.

The Commission published a Green Paper in response to a request from Member States and the European Parliament to consider territorial cohesion a priority, to make territorial diversity into a strength through a flexible and differentiated to produce results long term.

The debate on territorial cohesion began in the early Nineties and led to the adoption in 1999 of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) by the Member States. The Commission developed the ESDP by reinforcing cooperation through the Interreg Programme and establishing the Observatory Network of European Spatial Planning (Esposito). The debate culminated in the adoption in 2007 of the Territorial Agenda and its Action Plan by Member States (IP/07/1756).

Europe's territory has its own distinct settlement pattern, compared with the rest of the world. Only 7 percent of the overall EU population lives in cities of more than five million inhabitants, compared to 25 percent in the United States. For now, Europe has managed to maintain a relative balance between urban and rural conservation.

The Green Paper highlights three key concepts to be translated into policy actions: overcoming differences in density, overcoming distance, access to public services, efficient transportation, reliable energy networks and connections broadband Internet remain unevenly distributed across the Union, "and to overcome administrative boundaries.

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