Business associations and chambers of commerce in León, Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria constitute the Platform for the Impulse of Logistics in the Northwest, and have shown their deep concern for the isolation of the Northwest area.

The entrepreneurs of Galicia, Asturias, León and Cantabria are "very concerned" about the disconnection of the ports of these regions from the great railway corridors. This concern has led business associations and chambers of commerce to form the Platform for the Promotion of Logistics in the Northwest, which has been presented at the headquarters of the Leonese Federation of Entrepreneurs (FELE). In the opinion of the members of this platform, maritime communications from the regions of the North and North-West of Spain with the rest of Europe and the world are essential for their economic growth and for the generation of jobs.

In order for maritime communications in the Atlantic to be effective, the ports of these spaces need to be efficiently connected to the large rail transport corridors defined in the Trans-European Transport Network Guidelines (TEN-T), co-financed as a priority by the Connecting Europe Mechanism (MCE). The autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the province of Leon- denounces the silver - have not been included in the Atlantic Corridor of the Basic Network, even though Spain had requested it in the proposal it sent in 2011. This exclusion is even more serious when it is observed that Portugal's ports of similar or lower capacity have been included. The platform therefore requires that the competent public administrations request the European Commission to include the railway sections Palencia-Leon-Gijón / Avilés, Palencia-Leon-A Coruña / Vigo and Palencia-Santander in the railway corridor no. 4, for which they have already requested a meeting with the Minister of Development, Iñigo de la Serna.

According to Javier Cepedano, president of FELE and spokesperson of the platform, "This initiative is born with a view to expanding with the incorporation of other neighbouring regions, academic institutions, technological bodies and other civil society-based organizations, in order to prevent the Spanish Northwest from being thwarted from the major areas of communication and losing to the train of progress."

MANIFIESTO: THE EMPRESARIAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE SINGLE NOLICITAN TRADE CHARES COMPLETED BY THE NEED INFRASTRUCTURES FOR ENTERPRISE TRADE AND LOGISTIC SERVICES IN THE TRANSATLANTIC AREA

The European Union has since supported the development of transnational transport and communication infrastructure with the aim of achieving homogeneous territorial development and promoting economic and social integration. In order to promote all the investments already made and to complete the trans-European transport networks, the European Commission has launched an ambitious project in the field of European communications and transport: the Connecting Europe Mechanism. It aims, based on existing infrastructure, to develop a priority investment plan aimed at interconnecting transnational corridors.

The completion of such a plan will have a significant impact on the overall efficiency of the European economy and will have a decisive impact on the future territorial distribution of economic activity within each country and throughout the continent. In addition, environmental challenges, and in particular the fight against climate change, place maritime and rail transport as the most sustainable ways to cope with the steady growth of international trade.

For its part, the regions of the Northwest of Spain, including Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla and León and other adjacent regions, are aware of the importance of the Atlantic as a maritime area of access to the large markets of central Europe and America, and even the Pacific for the implementation of new routes. We have ports with an important potential to channel traffic with the most dynamic regions of Europe and the world; there are also good road transport infrastructures; new railway access lines to both Galicia and Asturias are in advanced state of construction and those of Cantabria are planned; and in some cases, the development of the AVE opens up new prospects for freight traffic. But for these infrastructures to be efficient, they need to be completed, put into service and coordinated by developing multimodal logistics systems. Far from this, these regions have been marginalized by the European Union's main funding instrument, such as the Connecting Europe Mechanism, which excludes the ports of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria from the Atlantic Corridor from the Basic Network (see attached map). This absence has recently been highlighted in a number of reports, signed both by the European Coordinator of this Corridor and by the Coordinator of the motorways of the Sea, or even in the joint progress report of the Coordinators.

The business organizations and the Chambers of Commerce in this area of Spain believe that it is as legitimate as it is necessary to give the same priority to the infrastructure of connection of the seaports with the Atlantic Corridor of the Basic Network that to the pre-identified sections of the Atlantic Corridor, so that this Corridor regains its true maritime dimension. And to encourage the development of logistics systems land-sea through the motorways of the Sea. This request is consistent with the principles that should govern the efficiency of public expenditure, as it gives value to the important investments made with the support of Spain and the European structural funds, allows the rapid implementation of the Atlantic Multimodal Basic Network Corridor (which presents a serious handicap of blockade due to the problem of railway interoperability with France) and also allows to integrate these regions with the rest of Europe, by invoking the great principles of economic, social and territorial cohesion that govern it.

With the above-mentioned background and arguments, the business organizations and Chambers of Commerce of the autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria, as well as those of the provinces of León, La Coruña, Lugo, Orense and Pontevedra, constitute the PLATAFORM FOR THE IMPACT OF THE LOGISTICS IN THE NOROESTE. A business platform that opens up to civil society, inviting cooperation with other entities in the same area and offering its cooperation to the public authorities in the search for solutions that promote the social and economic growth of the regions concerned, their borders and, ultimately, a more balanced development of the whole of Spain. Without prejudice to their return, it is proposed in the short term:

(a) The competent public administrations should request the European Commission as soon as the procedures require, and on the basis of Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 913 / 2010, the inclusion of the railway sections Palencia-Leon- Gijón / Avilés, Palencia-Leon- A Coruña / Vigo and Palencia-Santander in the railway corridor no. 4.

(b) That the public authorities, with the agreement of the Ministry of Development, request in the 2016 call for Connecting Europe, which is open until 7 February 2017, and in the calls from 2017 to 2020, all possible projects that contribute to the development of the objectives proposed by the Platform.

(c) The Platform should participate, as an association that brings together the business and trade interests of the regions concerned, in the public consultations carried out by the European Commission with a view to defining the guidelines of the TEN-T, its priorities and the financing mechanisms, both for the current period 2016- 2020 and for the next period 2021- 2027. To this end, the Platform will participate in the public consultation which will be open until 27 February 2017 on the "Medium-term Assessment of Connecting Europe '.