EU-leiders bijeen voor hernieuwing aandacht regionaal beleid en Europese eilandgroepen (en)

The call to evaluate how European Union initiatives affect the islands was one of the major conclusions of the event "Towards the recognition of insularity in the European regional policy", held on Monday at the Es Baluard Museum in Palma de Mallorca.

The President of the regional government of the Balearic Islands, Francesc Antich, presented the conclusions of this summit, being held as one of the events during the Spanish Presidency of the EU. The conclusions included recommendations falling within six different areas, which will be submitted to all the European institutions "so they can be effectively applied within European regional policy".

The first recommendation was for impact evaluations to be carried out on EU decisions before they are adopted, taking into account their effect on the islands, in order to avoid any contradiction between various policies and to enable islands to receive fairer treatment.

The participants at the summit also criticised the fact that GDP was the only indicator taken into account when classifying the regions for the 2007-2013 period, a parameter that they believe "makes it impossible to reflect the true complexity of the notion of cohesion" and called for new indicators with statistical data "to give a clear picture of the geographical disadvantages suffered by the islands".

Focus on the diversity of the islands

Thirdly, the President of the Balearic Islands also asked for sufficient focus to be placed on the diversity of the islands, and for them not to be viewed as a single entity, pointing out the differences between mountainous islands, sparsely populated islands and archipelagos containing two or more islands, all of which must be taken into account since, in the two latter cases, "the costs related to the disadvantages of insularity are much higher".

Antich also called for an integrated political-legal-financial framework to increase flexibility, for the principle of proportionality to be applied when "implementing public policies on the islands", and for a fresh look at the regulations on transborder cooperation.

The six recommendations should make up "an integrated framework of EU policies" in the areas of transport, education, employment, research, technological development, innovation, competition and industrial policy, the environment, agriculture and fisheries in order to "overcome the limitations stemming from insularity and provide a coherent response to all the problems that the islands face", Antich concluded.

According to Antich, the conclusions reached on Monday must become the backbone for "a single roadmap designed to improve the way in which island regions are dealt with". The objective is to improve cohesion, based on the principle of regional continuity, enabling the inhabitants of islands to enjoy full EU citizenship without suffering any discrimination.