VITALIEN, Christian <br/><br/>
Les regions ultra-peripheriques entre assimilation et differenciation 

 -  Ecole Nationale d`Administration,  jan-mars. 2002 
<br/><br/> The idea of a region beyond the periphery denotes a group of territories with different constitutional statuses but which have in common the fact that they are a long way from their national metropolis and from the European Community. The notion, which was evoked in Declaration no. 26, adopted on 7 February 1992 in the context of the Final Act of the Intergovernmental Conference held in Maastricht, has been incorporated into Article 299-2 of the Treaty on European Union. Legal developments reveal, and this is shown by the example of overseas departments, the tension which exists between the need to manage the constraints which surround the integration of ‘non-European’spaces, which implies an approach consistent with general objectives and, thus, harmonisation, together with attention to the particularities which characterise the geographical, economic and social situations of regional entities whose levels of developments require a differentiated approach.