Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Crețu said at a conference organised by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) in the European Parliament in Brussels that she does not want to introduce a single definition of the concept of “islands” or a separate fund for the islands as part of post-2020 cohesion policy.
Her reasons were the great diversity of islands and heavier administrative burden that would result.
“We are all aware of the wide spectrum of differences between EU regions in general, and between island regions and ‘mainland’ regions. But there are also important differences between island regions themselves”, she stated.
To illustrate her point, the commissioner compared the economic performance of the Medio Campidano province of Sardinia, which is 50% of the EU average, with the 150% of the Åland Islands, in Finland. She also highlighted the great differences that exist in terms of size, population and legal status.
“So, in this context, I fear that the creation of a separate fund for the islands would undermine the possibilities for specific geographical areas to address their key structural issues in a comprehensive way”, she went on to say. She argued that, “in our common pursuit to make EU policies simpler and more accessible, I think we should avoid multiplying the number of instruments, the number of budget lines”.
General insularity clause. Her comments poured cold water on the hopes of the CPMR and particularly of Gilles Simeoni, President of the Executive Council of Corsica, France. Just before the commissioner’s speech he had argued precisely for recognition of the specific situation and character of islands.
He said that islands have much more in common with one another than differences, and this would justify a specific island dimension in the next cohesion policy.
He called for tighter application of Article 174 TFEU which seeks to reduce the economic differences between regions and to give greater support to those regions which face handicaps, including geographical handicaps, as is the case for island regions. Against this background, he made the case for the concept of a “general insularity clause”, which would be spelt out in all public policies.
Simeoni also expressed his wish for an EU-level financial envelope specifically for the islands, which they would jointly manage.
The Commission is due to present its proposals for the next multiannual financial framework on Wednesday 2 May and for cohesion policy towards the end of May, or perhaps even in June, Commissioner Crețu said in her speech.
Cohesion policy could see its budget cut by 6%, according to what Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger has said (see EUROPE 12006). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)