The EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions (EPP-CoR) is calling for the new EU Strategy for Islands to deliver tangible improvements in the everyday lives of island communities. Europe must properly assess the cost of insularity, systematically consider the impact of EU legislation on islands and ensure that island authorities have a meaningful role in shaping and implementing the next EU budget. The objective should be clear: geography must not determine whether Europeans can access opportunities, essential services or a good quality of life.
These priorities were set out by Noel Formosa (MT/EPP), Mayor of San Lawrenz, Vice-President of the Gozo Region and European Committee of the Regions rapporteur on the EU Strategy for Islands, as he exchanged views with members of the CoR’s Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER). T
Coming from Gozo, Formosa stressed that insularity has very practical consequences. Connectivity determines access to work, education, trade and services, while transport costs affect the price of goods. Island communities can also face particular challenges in accessing healthcare, education and housing, retaining young people and responding to climate and demographic pressures. “The question before us is no longer: Does Europe recognise the particular situation of islands? It does. The question now must be: What will Europe do about it? For me, therefore, this Opinion should help move the debate from recognition to delivery,” said Noel Formosa.
A central issue for the opinion will be the cost of insularity. Formosa wants the debate to look beyond additional transport costs and competitiveness and consider the wider impact of insularity on healthcare, education, energy, housing and essential public services. Better measurement of these structural costs would allow EU policies and investment to respond more effectively to the realities faced by different island territories.
The rapporteur also raised the need for stronger “island proofing” of EU policies. Transport, cohesion, competition, energy, climate, agriculture, fisheries and Single Market rules can have very different effects when applied on an island. The working document therefore opens the discussion on stronger territorial impact assessments and a possible transversal insularity clause across relevant EU policies.
The next Multiannual Financial Framework and National and Regional Partnership Plans will be another key focus. Formosa called for discussion on giving island authorities a structured role in designing, implementing and monitoring investments, reflecting permanent geographical disadvantages in funding arrangements and ensuring that GDP alone does not determine an island territory’s capacity to access European support.
At the same time, the opinion will seek to move beyond seeing islands simply through the prism of disadvantage. Islands can be laboratories for renewable energy, climate adaptation and innovative public policy, while their geographical position gives them an important role in Europe's security, migration, energy, biodiversity and geopolitical interests. “Ultimately that must be our measure of success. Not how many initiatives we announce. Not how many pages we write. But whether a young person can remain on, or return to, their island and build a future there; whether a business can compete, without geography becoming an unfair disadvantage; whether citizens can access essential services on comparable terms; and whether living on an island means being different—but never being left behind,” Formosa said.
The working document and exchange of views marks an important milestone of the CoR's work on the opinion. Formosa stressed that the drafting process will be based on consultation with island communities and territories across Europe under the principle “listen first, write together”, with the aim of producing what he described as a “people-based Opinion” in which Europe's diverse island communities can recognise themselves.
