The Diplomat
The European Parliament passed a resolution this week for “special treatment and more support for the outermost regions,” including support for the Canary Islands to “manage the massive and sustained arrivals of migrants.”
The Treaty on European Union provides for specific support measures for the EU’s outermost regions, including an adapted application of EU law and tailored access to EU programs. In addition to the Canary Islands, the other regions with this special status – located in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, in the Caribbean Basin and in South America – are: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and St. Martin (in France), the Azores and Madeira (in Portugal).
With 589 votes in favor, 22 against and 16 abstentions, the European Parliament adopted its position on the Commission’s strategy for the outermost regions last Tuesday. According to MEPs, the outermost regions need tailored policies and adequate resources to overcome the challenges they face and ensure their development, including measures to expand youth employment opportunities and stem the brain drain, and to boost sustainable tourism and space-related activities.
According to Parliament, these policies need to take into account “the specific needs of each region”. They also demand adequate financial resources and propose, in the current context of crisis and inflation, that the rules on state aid for the outermost regions be adjusted and that aid ceilings be raised to reflect the additional operating costs faced by companies in these areas. The European Commission should also consider special treatment in the area of state aid for transport infrastructure – airports, ports and roads – to facilitate mobility.
Among the specificities of these regions, MEPs recall that “most of the outermost regions are volcanic and that volcanic activity can have a devastating impact on the environment and the economy, as happened after the eruption of La Palma in the Canary Islands in 2021”.
In addition, MEPs stress the importance of having a well-coordinated, humanitarian, effective and safe EU migration policy that takes into account the specific realities of the outermost regions, “in particular those facing the significant consequences of massive and sustained arrivals of migrants”, as is the case of the Canary Islands.
For this reason, MEPs “draw particular attention to the needs of the outermost regions, which deal with migration, including people in vulnerable situations, such as unaccompanied minors, as is the case of the Canary Islands, which have specific needs to support their social inclusion”.
In addition, the text underlines “the importance of cooperation for the development of renewable energies and welcomes the cooperation agreement on innovation, development and renewable energies between the Azores and the Canary Islands”.
