Mr Paul-Emile Mottard, president of CEPLI and president of the Association of Walloon Provinces (Belgium), opened the debate by underlining the fact that peri-urban and rural areas benefit from clear potential for growth but they are insufficiently valorised in the current context. The measures that provinces, regardless of their name in Europe (Kreise in Germany, Départements in France, Powiat in Poland or Judeţ in Romania) could take, as legitimate authorities of proximity, have the ability and the means to ensure real sustainable development in full compliance with the objectives of European Union Cohesion Policy. He also pointed out the problems related to unemployment, social exclusion, or the limited...