EURegionsWeek 2019

The 2019 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC) saw the participation of over 600 political representatives at European, state, regional and local level, gathering a total of over 9,000 participants.

Under this edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities Sardinia Region's EU Liaison Office organized, within the framework of the interregional partnership "Med Insulae" composed by Balearic Islands, Corsica, Gozo and Sardinia an high-level conference titled "Mediterranean Insularity: challenges and future”, which took place in the Committee of the Regions' headquarters, in Brussel on Tuesday 8 October.

The event - moderated by Eleni Marianou, Secretary General of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) - took the form of a political debate focusing on the common challenges and difficulties of insularity.

The highest political figures of the regional governments of Corsica, the Balearic Islands and Gozo have spoken in the event:
- Francesca Lluc Armengol Socías, President of the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands;
- Gilles Simeoni, President of the Corsican Territorial Community;
- Justyne Caruana, Minister for Gozo of the Government of Malta.

In the second part of the event several MEPs – including Josianne Cutajar (Malta), Alex Agius Saliba (Malta), Rosa Estaràs Ferragut (Spagna) and François Alfonsi (Francia) - members of the Committee of the Regions - including Markku Markkula (Finland), First Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions and former CoR President – as well as representatives of the European Commission, took the floor.

During the event it was announced a joint political Declaration - signed by the Presidents of Sardinia, Balearic Islands and Corsica and the Minister for Gozo – which aims to tackle islands specific challenges through the recognition by the European Union of the permanent and structural disadvantages island regions suffer from as compared with continental territories.

Specifically, the joint declaration calls for - among others - a full application of Article 174 TFEU through specific compensatory measures to overcome challenges and constraints of the island status, a greater flexibility in the application of state aid rules in strategic sectors for islands development, the establishment of dedicated units and specific working groups for islands, respectively within the European Commission and the Council of the European Union.

The event has been streamed live by the Committee of the Regions and the conference can be watched through the following link: Web streaming

- Agenda of the Event;