Development issues and Objective 1 structural measures in Portugal. Report

Although the rate of implementation in the first two years of the second CSF was lower than that in the corresponding period of the first CSF, the Committee on Regional Policy considered that the 1994-95 CSF for Portugal was part of a comprehensive strategy aimed at consolidating and further improving the achievements of the previous plan. It thus adopted the report by Mr Chichester (PPE, UK). However, with regard to the priorities for assistance set out by the Portuguese Government - which were very ambitious and difficult to implement - the motion for a resolution that was adopted outlined the main difficulties and provided details of how best to achieve the specified objectives. It mentioned, among other things: - the particularly severe gaps in education and training, which would require the allocation of a larger proportion of the Structural Funds; - the problem of water supply: this could be resolved by encouraging the policy being implemented by the government, which was essential to improve living standards even thought it might seem disproportionate with respect to the financial resources it had been allocated; - the high dependency on imported energy supplies, particularly oil products, which called for a fundamental review of the country's energy policy; - finally, the increasing regional imbalances, which encouraged the exodus of people from ultra-peripheral and inland regions: to curb this exodus, local development and employment initiatives should be promoted together with cross-border cooperation between the eastern and northern Portuguese regions and their Spanish counterparts. �