The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) stressed the importance of taking islands more into account in a debate on the Conference on the Future of Europe, in an online event on Tuesday 5 April.
Many island regions are calling for a European strategy for all European islands, and for an initiative that would be extended - beyond the Mediterranean islands - to the islands of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.
The EU’s long-term vision for rural areas, presented last June (see EUROPE 12751/13), could be “an inspiring precedent”, according to Rosario Sánchez Grau, regional minister for finance and external relations of the Balearic Islands. He believes that the European Commission should follow this example for the islands.
Others, such as Christian Solinas, President of the region of Sardinia, noted the absence of a strategy and legal provisions in the treaties for islands, contrary to what exists for the outermost regions (Article 349 TFEU).
“By asking for a specific European legal status, we are not asking for a condition of privilege, but for tools for the economic and demographic survival of our territories”, said Mr Solinas.
The latter has sent a letter to CoR President Apostolos Tzitzikostas, asking him to bring the voice of islanders to the EU institutional triangle. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)