2025 - 05 - Islands Forum document approved in Nantes - EFA General Assembly
European Islands’ special status
1.
EFA, recognizing and appreciating the insights conducted in the Islands Forum,
remains concerned about the inhabitants of islands, who suffer from an inequality of
conditions and opportunities due to geographical remoteness and economic difficulties
that cannot be resolved by the market, as has been recognized since the Treaty of Lisbon
(today in force with Article 174 TFEU).
2.
Overtourism, housing, transport fees, agriculture, access to health care, schooling,
opportunities for young people and new families, waste management, drinking water,
transportation (with extreme differences in the on/off touristic seasons), extreme weather
events, and so on, all have knock-on effects on islands, and all of these problems are
closely intertwined. Furthermore, all these economic and social problems make it even
more difficult for the island communities to protect their cultural identity and
environmental integrity.
3.
The situation may be made even more difficult by the lack of self-government and
therefore of genuine local democracy, which would allow the emergence of competent
and responsible local leadership.
4.
Some islands - such as Sicily, Sardinia, and Greenland, to name just a few - are still
marginalized by old state centralism. They suffer neocolonial-style impositions: military
bases; installations that serve the states and not the islands themselves; extraction of
natural resources, without adequate consideration for the local community; and further
political, cultural, economic impositions.
5.
Therefore, considering that one size fits nobody, EFA calls on the European
Commission President and in particular Commissioner Fitto:
- to at least stick to what they promised (see Von der Leyen's commitments and Fitto's
mission letter);
- to include the needs of islands in the cohesion policy package to be presented later this
year;
- to take a comprehensive approach when dealing with the problems of the islands;
- to work with islands’ local and regional authorities to work on a special status for
European islands, and allocate the necessary funds;
- to prevent gentrification and to promote advantageous regulations for permanent
residents, regardless of their income or family assets;
- to commit to an independent and dignified life for all the islanders, as required by the EU
Treaties.
Created in Florence, 7 April 2025
Adopted unanimously by EFA General Assembly in Nantes, 9 May 2025
Motion number 28
Introduced by Silvia Lidia Fancello, Emilia Maggio, Emma Navarro
(in the picture from left to right: Navarro, Fancello, Maggio)
Presented by: Islands Forum, Siciliani Liberi, Patto per l’Autonomia – FVG, Ora Toscana, Rumâgna Unida, Més per Menorca, Femu a Corsica, UDB, SSW