The European Commissioner for regional policy, Michel Barnier, presented a study of the Executive relating to the mountain areas of Europe in Brussels last week. It appears only a few weeks after the publication of the third Report on cohesion policy for the enlarged EU, as part of which provision is made for the adoption of structural measures to the advantage of so called “natural handicapped” regions. The document analyses the socio-economic situation of the mountain areas in 29 countries (25 in the EU plus Bulgaria, Romania, Norway and Switzerland). The main issues tackled in the document concern the definition of mountain areas and massifs, demographic trends, socio-economic indicators, infrastructures and services. On presenting the study to the press, Barnier said that for the first time the Commission “recognises the negative effects of geographic handicaps on the prospects for development of the areas concerned, and hence the need for future programmes of regional development to take into consideration the specific conditions of mountain areas”.
