The business community and many politicians are preoccupied with the opportunities and the pitfalls presented by the European Community.

I believe if a community is to work in an economic sense, then it must also have a reality in a social sense.

This essential part of our social environment can be experienced at local, regional, national and global levels.

Most members of the European Community have recognised the importance of the region, not just the nation, in creating social identity and the means whereby people can more fully participate in decisions.

In the North-East, we are aware of our distinctiveness within Britain. We realise that, in many respects, we have at least as much in common with other European regions as we have with other parts of our nation.

Our origins are European, our culture is European and, I suggest, our future is European.

One of the things which impresses me about the help which the region has gained from European grants is that communities have been able to support themselves by programmes of locally-based initiatives.

You cannot go to Easington, east Durham, today without admiring the work which has been done to restore the beautiful stretch of coastline.

But the former mining communities of the region have a long way to go to find reasons for their existence. The boarded-up shops and a large number of For sale notices indicates a lingering sense of hopelessness.

I believe the business community needs to encourage European social policies in order to further the recovery and transformation of the North-East. We have experienced a number of new industries coming to the region, but not being sustained.

This has added to the uncertainty and caused further social upheaval. What is needed is long-term economic planning which can tap the resourcefulness of the people.

Alongside that we need social policies which involve people in planning destinies.

The Right Reverend Michael Turnbul