NEWS

The Islands Commission will hold a quick meeting on 29th September in conjunction with the CPMR General Assembly in Aberdeen.

DG Regio opened a procedure of contract notice : "Study on the relevance and the effectiveness of ERDF and Cohesion Fund support to regions with specific geographical features - islands, mountainous and sparsely populated areas".
Time limit for receipt of tenders: 14th September 2010

The Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament held a seminar on islands in Brussels on the 1st July.

The 30th General Assembly of the CPMR Islands Commission was held in Ponta Delgada (Azores) the 20 and 21 May 2010.

The Balearic Islands Governement organized a conference on insularity the 26th April 2010 in Palma (ES).

The parliamentary intergroup "Mountains, Islands, Sparsely Populated Regions" held its first meeting last 24th February at the European Parliament.

ESPON published a report, on "The Development of the Islands – European Islands and Cohesion Policy (EUROISLANDS)", presenting the interim results of a Targeted Analysis conducted within the framework of the ESPON 2013 Programme.

The Islands Commission organized a workshop on maritime transport that took place on the 18 and 19 February 2010 in Bornholm.

The Parliamentary Intergroup “Mountainous, Islands, Sparsely Populated Regions” was set-up and validated on 8 December 2009.
Mr Alyn Smith (MEP), a Scottish MEP who attended our annual conference in the Outer Hebrides had undertaken, together with colleagues from or representatives of these various territories, to take the initiative of setting up such an Intergroup so that the interests and specific characteristics of these territories are taken into account and protected.
Another Intergroup supported by the CPMR, the “Seas and Coastal Affairs Intergroup”, has also been approved.

The DG for Regional Policy has just published the following document “Territories with specific geographical features“ (on regional research and indicators ) that provides an analysis of the economic and social situation of these territories, and their evolution in recent years.

Revised version of the response of the CPMR Islands Commission to the EC Consultation on the Green Paper on "Territorial Cohesion: Turning territorial diversity into strength".

EU island regions express solidarity with small island states on the issue of climate change.

The Islands Commission met on 30th September in Göteborg during the General Assembly of the CPMR.

Insulae Conference. Great Minor European islands is an event organized by the Tuscan Region and by the Tuscan ‘Anci’ [Association of Italian Municipalities] together with Ancim [Association of Italian Minor Islands], which has chosen a double perspective for its second edition of the “European Conference on Minor Islands”.

The 9th ESIN General Assembly (8th and 9th of September) in Elba, Italy.

Comments of the CPMR Islands Commission on the consultation of the 5th Maritime Cabotage Report

Islands, mountains and sparsely-populated areas to set up special interest Group in EU Parliament.

An Islands’ Call for Proposals for “a preparatory action in view to defining specific strategies, tailored to European Islands potential, to implement the EU energy policy, as far as sustainable energy is concerned” has been announced by DG TREN.

The regional authority of the Western Isles of Scotland, Comhairle nan Eilean, has informed us that they are involved in a LEADER programme on the theme of “Revitalising Communities”. They would be interested to liaise with other regional authorities involved in LEADER, in view of setting-up some trans-national working on the above theme.
The specific fields of cooperation which would be of interest to the Western Isles region are geographical handicap, remoteness and peripherality, economic fragility and job creation, creating initiatives to reverse the population decline and the out-migration of the identified target groups of young people, women and the elderly, supporting the Gaelic language and culture, a sustainable environment and social inclusion.

If you are interested, please contact :
Kathlene Macdonald (Outer Hebrides LEADER Co-ordinator)
Tel: +44 (0)1851 709418 - Email: kathlene.macdonald@cne-siar.gov.uk

« On the initiative of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance of the Hellenic Republic, a study dedicated to the " Development of Islands " is to be initiated by ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) www.espon.eu as part of its working programme. Entitled "EUROISLANDS", this proposal is supported by 11 partners (6 regional authorities and 5 national authorities) from 9 member states of the EU, and also by diverse organisations representing island interests (CPMR Islands Commission, INSULEUR, ESIF, etc.) »

More information :
www.espa.gr

Article 158 was thus finally amended as follows:

(a) in the first paragraph, the words "economic and social cohesion" shall be replaced by "economic, social and territorial cohesion";

(b) in the second paragraph, the words "or islands, including rural areas" shall be deleted;

(c) the following new paragraph shall be added: "Among the regions concerned, particular attention shall be paid to rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition, and regions which suffer from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps such as the northernmost regions with very low population density and island, cross-border and mountain regions."

Mr Musotto's report on "The islands and natural and economic constraints in the context of the regional policy" has just been approved by the European Parliament Committee on Regional Development and will be examined at the plenary in March.

You will notice a number of proposals from the lslands Commission.

Text of the report in all languages:
www.europarl.europa.eu

The European Parliament adopted on 4 July, the report presented by Ms Caroline LUCAS on Reducing the climate change impact of aviation.
The Parliament also adopted in its Plenary session, by a very large majority, an amendment asking that a special attention be paid to the situation of most isolated territories and especially to insular or outermost regions.

Amendment adopted by the EP :
www.islandscommission.org />
Or
www.islandscommission.org