In light of yesterday’s European Parliament vote on sustainable aviation fuels, a legislative proposal which forms part of the Fitfor55 Package, MEP Dr Josianne Cutajar reiterated that the specific challenges related to islands are still not being adequately taken into account. 

Josianne Cutajar who is a member of the Transport and Tourism Committee, and who presented several amendments at the committee level to stress the specific attention that islands require, stated that where regional specificities are not sufficiently taken into account in the European Parliament’s text she could not vote in favour of Parliament’s position, especially when it comes to legislation that directly impacts air and sea transport on which islanders highly depend. 

“This lack of recognition was seen, for example, in the Proposal for a Regulation on sustainable aviation fuels, which was voted upon today. While I am definitely in favour of ensuring swift decarbonisation of the aviation sector, I cannot but stress that we need to have realistic targets and provisions which address the impact on islands and Member States like ours that highly depend on the aviation sector for connectivity, tourism and economic development”, stated the MEP. 

“Moreover, this is a case of ensuring freedom of movement, even more so when considering that citizens and businesses hailing from islands need access to adequate connections and affordable travel”, Dr Cutajar noted.

The Union’s outermost regions enjoy preferential treatment when compared to other islands due to specific treaty provisions. However, the EU also needs to start recognising that other islands, which are not outermost regions, also face specific challenges and need to be assisted so as not to be left behind. This is a message that MEP Cutajar continuously stresses at EU level. As the S&D negotiator of the Report on EU islands, MEP Cutajar once again insisted on the need for territorial-proof proposals. Otherwise, if this is not the case, we will continue to end up with legislative files that barely consider peripheral and insular areas, let alone address their needs, concluded Josianne Cutajar.