A4-0118/98

Resolution on the problems of island regions in the European Union

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its resolution of 16 May 1997 on an integrated policy adapted to the special situation of island regions in the European Union ((OJ C 167, 2.6.1997, p. 249.)),

- having regard to Article 129b(2) of the EC Treaty,

- having regard to Article 130a of the EC Treaty, as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam (Article 158),

- having regard to the European Court of Justice's ruling of 23 January 1983 in Case 8/82 ('that discrimination consists in treating differently situations which are identical, or treating in the same way situations which are different'),

- having regard to the conclusions of the three conferences of the chambers of commerce of the island regions of the European Union, of Chios (1994) on economic and social cohesion, Palma de Mallorca (1995) on a Community policy of sustainable development in the island regions of the European Union and of Palermo (1996) on a network for European islands - plans and partnership for local development,

- having regard to the conclusions of the Turin European Council of March 1996, particularly the decision to include the problem of island regions on the IGC agenda,

- having regard to the results of the first conference on the sustainable development of island regions, held in Minorca on 26 April 1997,

- having regard to the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) presented in Noordwijk on 9-10 June 1997,

- having regard to the outcome of the Ecofin Council of 1 December 1997,

- having regard to the proposals and representations expressed by the island regional authorities of the EU, which have been voiced in particular through the works of the 'Islands Commission¨ of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe,

- having regard to the working document on the coastal and island regions of the European Union published by Parliament's Directorate-General for Research in April 1996 (PE 166.018),

- having regard to the proceedings of the public hearing on the problems of island regions organized by the Committee on Regional Policy on 20 January 1998,

- having regard to the European Community's Statistical Office (Eurostat) publication 'Portrait des îles',

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Regional Policy and the opinions of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection and the Committee on Fisheries (A4-0118/98),

A. whereas an 'island region' is a segment of a Member State which is entirely surrounded by sea, has no physical links to the mainland and is not the seat of the capital city of any European Union country,

B. whereas Article 130a of the Treaty, as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam, states that 'the Community shall aim at reducing disparities between the levels of development of the various regions and the backwardness of the least favoured regions or islands',

C. whereas Article 130a should be interpreted in the light of the Declaration on island regions (No 30) annexed to the Final Act of the Amsterdam Treaty, which recognizes that 'island regions suffer from structural handicaps linked to their island status, the permanence of which impairs their economic and social development',

D. whereas this Declaration helps define the obligations imposed by the new wording of Article 130a adopted at Amsterdam, and indicates that the article in question relates to the slow development experienced by all the Union's island regions,

E. whereas the handicaps from which island regions suffer, which clearly distinguish them from mainland regions, arise - albeit in varying degrees - from the limited availability of usable land and fisheries resources and of potential water and energy supplies, marine and coastal pollution, a particularly difficult waste and sewage management problem, depopulation, coastal erosion, the shortage of skilled labour, the fact that businesses have no possibility of benefiting from economies of scale, additional transport and communications costs, the doubly disadvantaged status of smaller islands forming part of an archipelago ('dual insularity') and the high cost of infrastructures, to which, in some cases in the North, must be added isolation in winter caused by ice,

F. whereas the Amsterdam Conference recognized that special measures should be adopted to compensate for the handicaps from which the island regions suffer,

G. whereas, on several previous occasions, the European Union has taken account of natural handicaps as factors which may determine the precariousness of a local economy, witness the case of regions with a low population density or the special treatment accorded to the outermost regions,

H. whereas, given the permanent nature of the distinctive features of island status, coordination of initiatives and actions promoting development is required in such regions, and this means that infrastructure and development policies must safeguard as priorities the rights of the resident population to sustainable development, as well as conservation and the non-destructive use of the island¨s resources,

I. whereas island status does not affect the various island regions in the same way; whereas any European policy designed to assist them must therefore be capable of being adapted to the different problems affecting such regions,

J. whereas it is necessary to integrate the island regions into the internal market on equal terms,

K. whereas, finally, it is a paradoxical fact that under the Commission's 'Agenda 2000' proposals very few of the European Union's island regions will after 1999 be considered as regions that are lagging behind in development and thus in need of special structural aid,

Island status and Structural Fund reform

1. Calls on the Commission, in the course of the forthcoming reform of the Structural Funds, not to regard macroeconomic factors as the only criteria to be taken into account in determining whether the island regions of the EU qualify for inclusion under Structural Fund objectives and to take account also of geographical and economic criteria, such as a region's remote position or island status, as permanent physical obstacles to viable regional development;

2. Considers that it is too inflexible to apply the threshold of 75% of per capita GDP adjusted for purchasing power parities in the case of island regions since, by virtue of the Treaty of Amsterdam, they ought to benefit from specific measures geared to their respective levels of development for the purpose of offsetting their natural handicaps;

3. Considers that it is necessary for one of the three Community initiatives expected to emerge from the reform of the Structural Funds (Interreg) to include a new programme entirely devoted to island regions;

4. Calls on the Commission to take account of those island regions that are classified as NUTS III but are lumped together with larger mainland regions classified as NUTS II, and calls for the nomenclature of territorial statistical units to be reviewed in the light of this problem;

5. Calls on the Commission to take into account the particularities of island regions in drawing up and implementing Community directives and regulations and in development policy or strategy texts in general;

6. Calls, in connection with the reform of the Structural Funds, for higher cofinancing rates to be considered for those island regions which are affected by a considerable lag in their development, in line with the principle of additionality which will be laid down by the new Regulations;

7. Hopes that the Commission will set up an 'Interservice Group' within its secretariat to coordinate the various directorates-general concerned with a view to implementing an integrated policy for all the Union's island regions, together with the other European institutions and the national and local authorities; wishes this policy to integrate the implementation of regional policy legal and financial instruments, so as to offset the structural handicaps connected with island status, and ensure that Community policies likely to adversely affect these regions' economic and social development are modulated, with the aim of remedying the major problems specifically affecting each region or group of island regions in as practical a manner as possible;

8. Considers that representatives of local and regional authorities and the islands' chambers of commerce, universities and organizations for the protection of the environmental and cultural heritage and the promotion of equal opportunities should take part in planning and implementing any national or Community policies in favour of the island regions of the European Union;

9. Hopes that, in the new financial programming period for the cohesion policy, the policy of inter-island cooperation will be further assisted by Community programmes focusing on the development of networks between island regions along the lines of EURISLES, IMEDOC or ISLENET and other networks such as those formed by the chambers of commerce of the island regions of the European Union;

10. Wishes to cooperate in future, through its Committee on Regional Policy, with regional and local authorities and international organizations and NGOs working to promote the sustainable development of the island regions;

State aid

11. Considers that where the GDP per capita at purchasing-power parity of island regions is over the threshold of 75% of the Community average, this should not automatically disqualify them from eligibility for aid under Article 92(3)(a);

12. Calls on the Commission to permit the Member States to grant operational assistance, including transport, to all their own island regions and to regard it as compatible with the single market provided that it is awarded to offset the additional costs generated by their natural disadvantages;

13. Requests that, to offset the economic and social disadvantages arising from natural handicaps, future guidelines concerning state aid for the regions should be modulated to allow island status to be taken into account, and calls for island regions concerned by Objective 1 to qualify, in any event, for a maximum net grant equivalent rate of 50% and for other island regions to be accorded at least the same treatment as regions with a low population density covered by the current Objective 6 (i.e. a maximum net grant equivalent of 30%);

Transport, environment, telecommunications, energy, tourism and social affairs

14. Calls on the Commission to conduct a study on the additional costs arising from island status in the transport sector;

15. Calls for compensatory measures to offset the additional costs of transporting persons, goods and energy from and to island regions and for the reinforcement of the self-sufficiency of those regions in energy and supplies of necessities;

16. Calls for compliance with Article 129b (new Article 154), in which the need to link island regions with the central regions of the Community is made plain;

17. Calls for the European Environment Agency to conduct a study of the adverse consequences for the environment of increased output of solid and liquid waste and its treatment, energy dependency and the impact of tourism during the high season; calls for the results of these studies to be reflected in future policy on island regions; calls for the Agency also to make a specific study of the island regions of the European Union, focusing in particular on the environmental and energy dimension, the management of coastal areas and erosion and desertification;

18. Calls on the Commission to examine systematically the cross-border consequences for the environment of island regions of activities undertaken either in the Member States or elsewhere, and not to fund projects in Community or non-Community countries which are found to have adverse environmental consequences for an island region of a Community country;

19. Calls for the development of the information society to be assisted and consequently for telephone and telematics networks to be improved in all island regions, and for these regions to be included as appropriate in the trans-European networks;

20. Calls, in the context of an integrated Community policy, for actions and pilot projects to be implemented so that the island regions can be used as laboratories for the alternative energy and energy-saving sector, and consequently for the widespread dissemination of new technologies, the funding of research laboratories and the award of study grants to be encouraged; stresses the importance of selecting island regions where it is possible to undertake significant experiments in producing electricity with renewable energy sources, as suggested in the DG XVII White Paper on 'energy for the future: renewable energy sources', with a view to reducing the dependency of islands on fossil fuels;

21. Calls on the Commission to accord a high priority to ensuring that the islands - in particular arid islands - are self-sufficient in water and hopes that the Commission will give priority co-funding to projects in this area;

22. Considers that island economies that depend exclusively on tourism should be diversified with a view to reducing seasonal variations in tourist flows and promoting new and integrated sources of internally generated development;

23. Considers that an integrated policy for the island regions should take account of the risks posed to the sustainable development of some of these regions by excessive tourist facilities; calls on the Commission to take account of the impact on the natural environment of the growth in further heavily marketed facilities on the coast (such as the establishment of marinas) and tourist development of the countryside;

24. Advocates the creation of a working party on the common trade problems of the island regions, in the context of the third multiannual programme for SMUs;

25. Calls on the Commission to consider the particularly unfavourable situation, in terms of both health and educational facilities, of the smaller islands forming part of an archipelago as a result of their 'dual insularity';

26. Hopes that the Commission will, as a priority, provide cofinancing for the purchase of means of transport for medical emergencies in the archipelagoes and in the small island regions to ensure, when necessary, regular and fast links with either the main islands or the mainland; hopes that the Commission will also cofinance the purchase of airborne and land-based fire-fighting equipment, so as effectively to protect the natural resources of the islands;

27. Considers that ferry services should satisfy not only the requirements of the shipping companies but also the needs of the islanders, particularly during the winter months;

28. Calls on the Commission to promote a series of measures to preserve the cultural identity of island regions, chiefly by action at institutional level and special schemes to exploit historical and archaeological sites, to restore traditional settlements, to upgrade housing and promote international cultural cooperation;

29. Calls on the Commission to ensure that in the new framework of the Cohesion Fund its beneficiaries give priority to infrastructure for transport, the environment and telecommunications in the island regions;

30. Takes the view that steps must be taken to ensure that each development scheme in island regions of the European Union is economically viable, socially acceptable, technically feasible, environmentally-friendly and compatible with sustainable development;

31. Considers that an indispensable element in any development strategy for the islands should be safeguarding the historical, artistic, cultural and linguistic heritage of these regions;

32. Considers that a European Year for the Islands should be designated, comprising a number of events, such as a forum on the islands to be organized in Brussels, bringing together all island bodies and representatives from all the island regions of the European Union to discuss the particular problems facing islands and to find generally acceptable solutions;

33. Calls for the involvement of the Social Fund to tackle unemployment, which has a marked seasonal element, by promoting programmes of a traditional nature (woodwork, marblework, metalwork), the products of which can readily find an outlet on the tourist market; considers it particularly important that educational establishments spread to island regions that can maintain them as this will sustain social, cultural and economic life, especially during the seasons outside the summer when there is a perceptible decline and ageing in the population of the islands;

Tax and financial incentives

34. Calls on the Commission to envisage Europe being divided into three zones: the mainland, the outermost zone and the intermediate island zone, for which tax harmonization measures that take the distinctive features of these regions into account might be considered;

35. Hopes that, in the context of measures to achieve tax coordination, and in line with the statement issued by the December 1997 Ecofin Council, action will be taken to protect Europe's island regions as a whole in order to support their economic development;

36. Calls on the Commission to examine the possibility of tax and financial incentives to promote the endogenous development of island regions, following in the line of those proposed in this resolution;

37. Calls on the Commission to accord high priority to management schemes for the protection of environmentally-sensitive island areas and hopes that it will cofinance the drawing up of these schemes as a priority;

38. Calls on the Commission to adopt pilot experiments for island regions on reducing VAT in labour-intensive sectors (such as the hotel industry) with a view to boosting employment, in accordance with the conclusions approved at the Luxembourg employment summit;

Agriculture and fisheries

39. Calls for the CAP to incorporate the principle of corrective factors for aid on the basis of the size of a holding, the area in which it is situated and its productivity, and suggests that the Commission take into account the precarious situation of island regions, both in economic and environmental terms, by implementing specific actions to assist the sustainable, small-scale agri-foodstuffs sector with particular emphasis on organic farming;

40. Calls for aid from the Commission to introduce 'island quality labels¨ as part of the integrated policy, to support typical local produce;

41. Underlines the importance of fisheries for the economy of many islands, the need to offset the competitive disadvantage of island communities in relation to other coastal communities due to natural conditions or very different levels of technical development, and the scarcity of alternative sources of employment; calls on the Commission, therefore, to consider the possibility of according special treatment to the smallest islands which are dependent on fisheries by taking appropriate measures to ensure that the fishing activities of the islands, including fishing of non-CFP species, are maintained;

42. Recognizes that, independently of the special treatment received by the most remote regions of the EU under the Community Treaties, Declaration 26 attached to the Final Act of the EU Treaty and the new Article 299(2) of the EC Treaty incorporated by the Treaty of Amsterdam, the islands suffer in general from a competitive disadvantage, as a result of their isolation from the continental market;

43. Recommends that consumers should be guaranteed the same prices as those paid on the mainland, at least for basic products;

44. Hopes that Estonia's two island regions may, from the pre-accession stage, participate in the integrated policy for islands;

45. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee.