MEPs want more ambitious EU support for outermost regions 

With 589 votes against 22 and 16 abstentions, MEPs adopted their position on Commission´s strategy for outermost regions.

Individual action plans and resources

Parliamentarians want EU policy to focus more on competitiveness and provide for a tailor-made approach reflecting the needs of each outermost region as current policies do not consider their specificities sufficiently. They believe it requires better coordination between local, regional, national and EU levels.

MEPs want the Commission to come up with a series of tailored-made action plans to implement this strategy and support it with adequate financial resources. In the current crisis and inflation-ridden context, MEPs want to adjust state aid rules for outermost regions and increase aid thresholds to reflect additional operating costs faced by enterprises in these areas. They also want the Commission to examine special treatment of outermost regions when it comes to state aid for airport, port and road infrastructure to enhance regional mobility.

Investing in people

Outermost regions face geographical challenges such as remoteness, small size or harsh climate, which are coupled with negative social and economic consequences. These include high levels of unemployed young people and early school leavers, more people at risk of poverty and lower GDP per inhabitant. Investments in people should address these issues. MEPs urge the Commission and the member states to ensure access to essential services in the outermost regions and call on them to use funds available under Multiannual Financial Framework (MMF) 2021-2027 and Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to fight youth unemployment and brain drain. Commission should also come up with training and skills development activities, motivating young people to work in traditional sectors such as agriculture and fisheries. MEPs also want to maintain compensatory POSEI scheme in agriculture, helping these regions to overcome their challenges, while extending it to fisheries, transport, energy and other sectors.

Sustainable tourism and space activities

Besides blue and circular economy, MEPs also support sustainable tourism in the outermost regions, balancing tourism development with biodiversity protection. They call on the Commission to set up a European Tourism Agency with offices in each of the outermost regions’ geographical areas, while supporting pilot projects for outermost destinations in the tourism sector. Given the outermost regions´ vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters, MEPs suggests to consider creation of an EU Climate Change Adaptation Fund to help prepare their infrastructure and improve their resilience to climate shocks.

The text of the report also states that outermost regions have both location and infrastructure to ensure EU’s access to space. MEPs call on the Commission to support national plans to relaunch space activities and coordinate between EU funds for space policy and regional development. This should provide support to ecosystems developing around the infrastructures in French Guiana and the Azores while boosting research and innovation in the outermost regions.

Quote

Following the plenary vote, lead MEP Álvaro Amaro (EPP, PT) noted: "The Renewed Strategy for Outermost Regions (OR) is a solid pledge. The European Parliament broadened the initial proposal, emphasizing OR's role in ocean governance and its potential in renewable energy and space exploration. The OR's inherent constraints require a specific response in strict compliance with Article 349 of the TFEU. We support the creation of a 'POSEI transport scheme', inspired by the POSEI Agriculture model, to enhance OR's transport and connectivity. We see our proposals as a roadmap for policymakers, urging the Commission and the Member States to promptly translate them into action for the sake of their populations."

Background

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (article 349) provides for specific supportive measures for EU outermost regions such as tailored application of EU law and access to EU programmes. There are nine EU territories with this special status located in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, in the Caribbean basin and in South America, including Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Spain).