1:50, 22 June 2010
Introduction
In the last couple of months various insular Regional administrations repeated their demand for a stronger inclusion of ‘insularity’ in the EU agenda. The claim is more than ever timely due to the ongoing economic crisis that affects sensitive insular areas more than the mainland regions.
EU islands constitute mostly small, remote and scattered communities which have to deal with high costs of transport. The current economic crisis hits tourism which is the main source of income for most of the EU islands. The financial crisis creates high levels of unemployment and consequently, causes the weakening of social cohesion in insular areas. Agriculture is another source of income for insular areas. However, due to the high costs of transport, the exportation of local products (which are none the less high in quality) remains uncompetitive.
It is a fact that, being small entities, the islands constitute the ‘weakest link’ in the EU. Many of them are located on the periphery of the EU, far from metropolitan regions and/or urban centres. EU islands are characterised by sensitive environmental, social and economic structures. They are underepresented in the Brussels-based lobbies. In addition, many EU islands are close to conflict zones and are exposed to clandestine immigration or other kinds of trafficking. They are also vulnerable to accidental or deliberate marine pollution. For all these reasons, islands indeed require special attention by the EU.
Insularity adds further difficulties when it comes to competing with other advantageous regions. The EU has already acknowledged the delicate state of islands through the recognition of the special status of insular territories in its Treaties (see also the EU Lisbon Treaty). What remains to be done though, is the transformation of this recognition to a fully fledged EU policy framework that will address the problems of insularity in various policy areas that are important to insular territories.
Conferences on Insularity
Three recent Conferences on insular related topics emphasised the fact that EU policies should include an element of insularity in their agendas. A basic summary of some of the ideas that were developed in these conferences follows below.
1. The Mallorca Summit on the recognition of insularity in the European Regional Policy (26th April 2010)
The first major event on EU insular politics was the Summit on the recognition of insularity in the European Regional Policy which was organised by the Baleares Regional Government in Palma de Mallorca on 26th April. The government of the Balearic Islands has recently presented a Declaration called ‘Proposals for improving the way island territories are dealt with by European Regional Policy’. The document came in the form of a Final Declaration after the conclusion of the Summit. The Summit was attended by a large number of elected officials and civil servants, mainly from islands of the EU territory.
The Summit Declaration claims that a better assessment of the impact of insularity is necessary and that various insular conditions should be taken into account in the framing of EU policies. It also states that particular attention should be paid to islands when considering policies aimed at reducing the backwardness of the least favoured regions. This demand is in accordance with the Lisbon Treaty which recognises that islands suffer from a severe, and permanent, natural handicap.
According to the Declaration, GDP per region has been one of the main indicators in the shaping of European Cohesion policy. However, new social and environmental indicators must be used in the case of islands, in order to assess the state of insularity. The importation of goods or services, the absence of scale economies and the geographical handicaps that characterise many of the EU islands generally imply higher costs when it comes to policy implementation. Besides the mere acknowledgment of insularity, the EU should recognise that the resulting insularity handicaps have a cost. As the implementation of EU policies is more costly in an insular territory, the EU should therefore bare the extra costs. This recognition should lead to a better use of resources available in proportion to the severity of the particular disadvantages of each island. Nevertheless, implementing an EU insular dimension is not an easy task. Measures and solutions cannot be uniformly applied to all EU islands without taking their diversity into account. One should bare in mind the complex conditions of EU islands (e.g. archipelagos, mountainous islands with low density population, off-shore islands). Particular care should be taken in order to avoid a situation where islands situated geographically close to a mainland are included in a larger statistical unit at Nuts 2 level, thus losing various benefits.
The Declarations suggest that at the EU level, a first step towards such an integrated approach would be the setting up of an “inter-services” group within the European Commission with responsibility for the islands, or more generally for all territories which suffer from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps.
Some issues related to insularity have been already integrated in the field of maritime transport policy. However, a coordinating ‘all inclusive’ approach is necessary to cover other policy fields such as transport, education, research, the environment, agriculture/fisheries, health care, migration and culture. Such a practice would facilitate a better implementation of EU policies and would limit the side effects of damaging economic factors on insular territories. It would also lead to a better synergy and efficiency among different EU policy tools.
Overall, the Summit Declaration is a well-written and self-explanatory document. It provides various sound policy suggestions that should be taken into account by the EU. The Declaration constitutes a positive contribution on how EU Regional Policy can become more effective vis-à-vis insular territories. EU islands possess considerable potential for growth which remains underexplored. The Declaration makes some practical recommendations which, if implemented, will ensure that insularity becomes less of a handicap.
2. ‘How can islands seize new opportunities in the prospect of a sustainable development?’, 20-21st May, Azores (Ponta Delgada)
The CPMR Islands Commission and the Autonomous Region of Azores organised a conference with the title: ‘How can islands seize new opportunities in the prospect of a sustainable development?’ which adopted a ‘self-empowering’ logic. This adds a crucial element to the EU-insular debate: although EU policies have an important role in insular development, islanders should not only rely on the EU but also assume a leading role in the shaping of policies.
In his speech, Alex Mac Donald, President of the CPMR Islands Commission Bureau argued in favour of the study of the applicability of EU legislation for those territories which are beset by insular handicaps. Mac Donald suggested that the European Commission should set-up an Inter-Service group whose duty would be to coordinate the framing and the implementation of EU policies in territories beset by permanent handicaps, as well as to suggest possible modifications or adaptations (a claim also made at the Mallorca Summit). The President of the Islands Commission also claimed that the principle of “positive discrimination” should be applied in the case of EU islands.
Opportunities in the field of Renewable energy, transport, communications and tourism were discussed in detail during the conference. The Azores Government also presented various plans on the Green development of the Azores with a special focus on geothermal projects.
The conference also covered the issue of forming ‘insular statistics’ (another claim that was also made at the Mallorca Summit) with officials from Eurostat and the Azores Statistical office presenting their ideas on the issue.
Adding a positive spin to insularity was another idea that was developed by Professor Spilanis (University of the Aegean) who mentioned the idea of insular ‘attractiveness’. According to Professor Spilanis there are various island advantages waiting to be developed. Some of these are: the authentic, high quality and safe food production, the small-scale societies and rhythms of life in a low human print environment as well as the use of cultural and natural heritage as resource of artistic, scientific and technological creation with high added value.
It is also my personal view that islanders should indeed invest in the attractiveness of insularity as they have a lot to be proud of. Islands constitute important cultural spaces that have inspired many artists in the past and continue to do so today. Due to their historic trajectories, many of them constitute idyllic examples of multi-culturalism and multi-ethic co-existence. In addition, due to their remoteness and natural conditions, islands constitute important spaces of bio-diversity.
Not all is gloom and doom. Tourism is quite developed in many insular territories. Nevertheless, there is an urge for a re-orientation of tourism towards a greener eco-friendly model. Furthermore, the use of new technologies and the internet can help to diminish the distance between the islands and the rest of mainland Europe.
3. The Forum for Outermost Europe 2010
The third conference on issues related to insular regions was the “Forum for Outermost Europe 2010,” which took place on 27th and 28th of May. The conference was hosted by the European Commission and featured representatives of territories belonging to France, Spain and Portugal. Outermost territories include the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy, along with Reunion island in the Indian Ocean and French Guyana. Spain’s Canary islands and Portugal’s Azores and Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean are also included in this the group.
One of the main claims of the Speakers was that certain EU policies on free trade, agriculture and fisheries do not take into account the interests of the Outermost Regions. For instance, the EU’s free-trade agreements with other countries which are close to the Outermost islands often jeopardise small producers, who remain dependent on the cultivation of few concrete crops. Furthermore, it was argued that due to their extreme remote conditions, the handicaps of insularity have exacerbated the fragile economies of these islands.
Under a special provision in the Lisbon Treaty, Outermost Regions can apply for special exemptions from some policy areas that may impact their economy. In addition, according to the Lisbon Treaty, Denmark, the Netherlands and France have reserved their right to recognise other territories as “Outermost Regions”. This may help to promote the cause of the Outermost Regions as only three EU countries out of 27 have such territories. Nevertheless, the Outermost Regions of the EU can become more influential if they unite their voices with those of the other EU islands.
It is worth noticing that the Council of the European Union adopted the Council Conclusions on the Outermost Regions (14th June 2010) after taking notice of the results of the conference. In its Conclusions, the Council highlighted the important role of the natural and cultural heritage in the Outermost Regions, in terms of economic development and creation of employment. The Council also called for the need to promote initiatives that have a clear added value for the Outermost Regions, for example in the field of Research and innovation, renewable energies, biodiversity, agriculture, fishing, health, information and communication technologies, cultural industries, maritime affairs and territorial cooperation. The Council also stressed that the EU 2020 Strategy should be fully applied in the Outermost Regions by taking into account the special characteristics and constraints of these regions. Finally, the Council invited the Commission to present a renewed strategy for the Outermost Regions and to evaluate the effects of EU policies on the Outermost Regions, in particular when carrying out impact assessment studies.
Conclusions
Many challenges lie ahead for the islands of the EU. The three conferences that took place in the last couple of months underlined the problems of insularity and presented various solutions to insular-related problems. In short, some of the most interesting policy proposals that were made are the following:
1. The development of new statistic data packages for the islands that would take into account the peculiarities of insularity when it comes to the shaping of major policy areas.
2. No mere reliance on GDP growth when it comes to shaping the EU Regional Policy for insular territories. An extension of EU data parameters is necessary in order to include social, cultural, educational, environmental standards in the regional development of insular territories.
3. Adopting an ‘all inclusive’ policy approach is necessary in order to address issues of insularity. EU initiatives must cover policy fields such as transport, education, research, the environment, agriculture/fisheries, health care, migration and culture.
4. The implementation of EU policies is more costly in an insular territory. The EU should therefore bare the extra costs of transport of the imported materials and social services aimed to fulfil the potential of the EU-run scheme/policy in order to balance the gap between insular and mainland territories.
5. The development of green, eco-sustainable insular communities through the development of innovative technologies is an imperative task.
6. The promotion of an ‘attractive’ dimension of insularity by an emphasis of the advantageous aspects of island life may contribute to positive economic, social and environmental developments.
7. The establishment of an EU Observatory on EU islands and insular policies will help to tackle some the failures of EU policies in insular territories and will lead to a better understanding of insular problems in EU institutions.
It is now up to the EU to adopt some of the ideas which were developed in the three conferences so that the insular dimension can be fully incorporated in EU policies. A development of this kind will be a proof that the EU is listening to the demands of its citizens. Adopting an EU insular approach will help to improve the public image of the EU as it will bring positive publicity to the European Union.
Vasilis Margaras
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Key words: insularity, EU Regional Policy, EU Cohesion Policy, EU islands,
