“I am honored to be present at an event of this magnitude, which celebrates European integration and charges us with a strong responsibility. The hope is that from today we can lay the foundations for a solid European policy for the islands, which will help to overcome the disadvantages deriving from territorial discontinuity ”. This was stated this morning by the vice president of the Sardinian Region , Alessandra Zedda , who spoke in Brussels together with the institutional representatives of Corsica, Malta, the Balearic Islands, the Ionian Islands and Crete at the Political Conference " 20 Years of EU policies in the island regions: at what point are we? ", on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the European Week of Regions and Cities.

“The island question is still largely unknown in Europe. Yet we are talking about over 20 million European citizens - said Vice President Zedda -, equal to just under 5% of the EU population, belonging to 13 Member States, from the Mediterranean, to the Baltic Sea and to the North Sea. Talking about over 20 million citizens - he explained - is like talking about a state. The recent report on Cohesion, published by the European Commission, did not mention the island territories. The same can be said of the final report of the Conference on the Future of Europe, convened to outline the future reform structures of the European Union. This fact strongly contrasts with the provisions of the Treaty which instead considers these territorial realities. After a long battle, Sardinia has obtained the recognition of the principle of insularity in the Constitution by the Italian state, and we Sardinians are proud of it. This is a victory for the Sardinian people, now the new Parliament will have to proceed with the implementation laws to transform insularity into an opportunity ”.

"On the sidelines of today's meeting - said Alessandra Zedda - we will sign a political declaration to ask the European institutions to adopt a specific focus on island realities, which can sprout European policies calibrated on the critical issues of the islands, which, not being common to other territories require specific provisions that guarantee their economic and demographic survival ”.

The Sardinia Region , through the Brussels Office, is the promoter of the event as well as the leader, for the fifth consecutive year, of the Partnership of the peripheral island regions of the Mediterranean, which also includes the Balearic Regions, Corsica, Crete, Gozo and the Ionian Islands. . Today's event was selected among the 16 high-level workshops of the event, out of over 300 events, and took place at the headquarters of the Committee of the Regions.

(Unioneonline / EC)

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