Brussels, 03/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) has welcomed the 23-24 March European Spring Council's emphasis on the need to integrate isolated regions into the European energy market. In a press release, Xavier Gizard, CPMR Secretary General said, “The fact that the Heads of State and Government have recognised that the EU periphery is facing specific difficulties is to be welcomed. On no less than three occasions has the word 'isolated' appeared in the conclusions of the recent Council summit on Energy.” The European Council conclusions explain that the new Community energy strategy should, “work towards completing the opening up of the internal gas and electricity market”. The Council says that this policy should “accept the special circumstances of some small and isolated Member States…accelerate the development of regional energy cooperation within the EU, and facilitate the integration of regional markets and further developing the EU internal market…ought to pay particular attention to the countries and regions largely isolated from the EU energy market”. The conclusions also called for the definition of a medium-term strategy for reducing the Union's dependency on imports by taking into account of the problems of the islands and very remote areas.
On the day after the summit, the ISLENET network of European islands, created on the initiative of the CPMR, organised a conference in Brussels to highlight the benefits of using sustainable energy systems in island communities. The conference was supported by the Commission's “Intelligent Energy for Europe” programme and looked at the question of cooperation between islands for accelerating the penetration of sustainable energies in these territories.