MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development call on the European Commission to come up with an island agenda and a specific EU policy for islands, to be backed up by an island strategy, in a report by Younous Omarjee (The Left, France) adopted (39 to 1 with no abstentions) on Thursday 21 April.
“With this report we propose a qualitative leap in the application of Article 174 of the Treaty and the integration of the specificities of islands in European policies and regulations”, the rapporteur and chairman of the committee explained to EUROPE.
“It is as much a question of making better use of the islands’ assets as of compensating for the disadvantages that affect them. This has been expected for years and years. This report, which I believe to be seminal, sets in motion a new dynamic. This is why it calls for a real islands pact. The vote in REGI heralds broad support in the plenary”, he welcomed.
MEPs therefore call on the European Commission to undertake an evaluation of Article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. The Article provides that the EU ensures harmonious territorial development with particular attention to the least favoured regions, notably the island regions.
Parliamentarians expect the institution to develop a ‘European Island Agenda’ and a European strategy for islands. To this end, they expect the European Commission to take concrete actions adapted to each specific situation of the island territories in relation to their maritime basin. They also call for an ‘Islands Pact’, which would be developed with all the actors concerned, as was done for the ‘Urban Pact’ and the ‘Rural Pact’.
The report will be put to the vote at the June plenary session.
To consult the compromise amendments (all adopted): https://aeur.eu/f/1bj (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)