EESC Member and Vice-President of the Employers’ Group Stefano Mallia told Commissioner Corina Cretu who is responsible for Cohesion Policy that when it came to islands in the EU, adopting the one-size-fits-all approach was not delivering the required results.
Stefano Mallia was addressing the Commissioner during a debate which was discussing the EESC report on the future of islands in the EU for which Mallia was rapporteur.
When addressing the Commissioner, Mallia said "there is no doubt that EU islands and island Member States face very particular circumstances and the European Union must recognise this. This is not only about money but also about policy flexibility”.
In his opening remarks Mallia said that “we can all agree that islands and island Member States in the EU face permanent difficulties when it comes to issues such as accessibility, small internal market, and energy generation. I think that equally we can all agree that permanent difficulties require permanent solutions and it is these solutions which the EU should be providing the 21 million people that live on islands in Europe”.
In her reply, Commissioner Cretu said that she is very aware of the unique challenges being faced by islands and that she is committed to providing the right tools for them to continue to flourish. She expressed her personal wish to engage more with islands to ensure that all the challenges they have can be addressed in the right manner.
Commissioner Cretu also stressed her continued commitment for Cohesion Policy to "remain the main investment force of the EU in all regions, without exception. Islands indeed face substantial handicaps, just like all regions with specific geographic features", she said. "But islands have the potential in energy generation, as a testing ground for modern technologies in renewable energy, in development of drugs from local plants, aqua farming, sea technology, etc.Our duty is to support them in this endeavour”.
The report by Mallia, which was voted upon and approved with a very strong majority, calls on the Commission to revisit the current definition of an Island Region and set new criteria “to allow for higher levels of state aid to be applied by islands".
The report also says that that key policy areas such as the Single Market, Competition Policy, Transport, Rural Development and Fisheries must include insularity clauses that allow for a greater degree of flexibility in their application to islands, so as to better address the economic needs of these territories.
The Mallia report also supports the call by the European Parliament to launch an in-depth study on the extra costs incurred by European islands.