Bid to give EU’s islands a helping hand

Date: 29/01/1998

By Rory Watson

PRESSURE is growing for the European Union to offer a new deal to the hundreds of inhabited islands within its jurisdiction.

The lead is being taken by the European Parliament's regional affairs committee, which is examining a series of practical proposals to put flesh on to the political commitment made by EU leaders at last June's Amsterdam summit.

Largely at Greek insistence, Union governments agreed that the existing objective of helping least-favoured regions should be specifically extended to include the EU's 450 islands with their 14 million inhabitants.

Now, as the Union prepares to embark on a wide range of policy reforms with the overhaul of various regional, social and agricultural programmes, MEPs believe the time is ripe to tailor schemes to take account of the particular disadvantages faced by islands.

Italian Christian Democrat MEP Vincenzo Viola, who is preparing the Parliament's report on island regions, argued that an integrated policy for them would be fully consistent with the Union's commitment to helping economic and social development in its poorer areas.

But first Viola, who worked as a parliamentary official in his native Sicily before becoming an MEP, and several concerned colleagues are determined to ensure that the commitment made in Amsterdam is not inadvertently watered down as the new treaty is translated into different languages.

In particular, they fear that the French version of the document might restrict EU help to the most disadvantaged islands, rather than to islands in general. To prevent any misunderstandings, they intend to seek the support of Union governments for their all-embracing interpretation of the provisions.

Following a public hearing earlier this month on the status of islands in the Union, Viola is due to finalise his draft report for colleagues on the regional affairs committee this week and expects it to be discussed by the full Parliament in April.

Starting from the premise that existing EU policies, whether they concern agriculture, fisheries or taxation, have been largely framed to meet the needs of the mainland regions of Europe, Viola is pressing for a specific islands initiative.

He is also seeking support from MEPs to ensure that island regions do not suffer in the current reform of the Union's regional and social funds. Under proposals now being drafted by the European Commission, areas whose per capita gross domestic product is above 75% of the EU average would no longer be eligible for Objective 1 status.

A strict application of this principle would exclude a number of existing beneficiaries, many of them island regions, from future aid. They include Sardinia, Corsica and the UK Highlands and Islands.

To prevent the flow of EU aid from drying up, MEPs are expected to support the suggestion that other criteria, in addition to GDP, should be used to ensure island regions' continued eligibility for regional aid.

Viola is recommending that the Commission establish a special unit in its Directorate-General for regional policy (DGXVI) to monitor and encourage the planning of financial programmes with direct implications for islands. Its brief would include making sure that EU legislation takes the specific characteristics of islands into account.

The Italian MEP is proposing that the Commission draw up a consultative Green Paper setting out the various policy initiatives which could be tailored to islands' physical needs.

Energy is one area where Viola believes the Union could do more to encourage the development of local potential by placing greater emphasis on solar, wind, geothermal and biomass sources so as to reduce dependency on imported energy. More developed local supplies would help islands which are major tourist destinations to cope with extreme variations in demand, which can increase by 600% at peak holiday periods.

Particular attention is likely to focus on EU rules limiting the amount of state aid which governments may allocate to specific projects. Support emerged at this month's hearing for greater flexibility in existing ceilings. Advocates of change would like to see ready approval of national aid for the economy and development of island regions provided it was being used to compensate for the economic disadvantages caused by their geographical situation.