EURegionsWeek 2022

Photograph: Above the Mine, © Stefano Marrocu


Sardinia Region's EU Liaison Office - as lead partner of the Peripheral European islands’ Regional partnership composed of Sardinia, Corsica, Balearic Islands, Gozo, Crete and Ionian islands - organised a high-level political conference under the framework of the 2022’s edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities.

The event, entitled “20 years of EU policies in island regions: where are we?”, took place on Wednesday, 12 October 2022, 9h30 – 11h00 (CET) at the premises of the Committee of the Regions - Rue Belliard 101 (Room JDE 62), Brussels and was held in hybrid format.

The conference - which has been labelled as EURegionsWeek’s 20th anniversary event - took stock of EU policies in islands in the last two decades and addressed islands’ challenges to move towards a real territorial cohesion.

The panel of the conference consists of high-level political figures of the regional Peripheral European islands’ Regional partnership:
- Ms Alessandra ZEDDA, Vice President and Regional Minister for Labour, vocational training, cooperation and social security of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy);
- Mr Clint CAMILLERI, Minister for Gozo in the Government of Malta (Malta);
- Ms Marie-Antoinette MAUPERTUIS, President of the Corsican Assembly, CoR Member (France);
- Ms Rodi KRATSA, Governor of the Ionian Islands Region, CoR Member (Greece);
- Ms Rosario SÁNCHEZ GRAU, Regional Minister of Finance and External Relations of the Balearic Islands Government (Spain);
- George ALEXAKIS, Regional Councillor for European & International Affairs of the Region of Crete (Greece).

Several high-ranking representatives of the European institutions actively contributed to the debate remarking challenges and difficulties of island regions on the grounds of their territorial discontinuity and peripheral position from the mainland, also recalling the European Parliament resolution of 7 June 2022 on EU islands and cohesion policy: current situation and future challenges (2021/2079(INI)), including:

- Younous OMARJEE, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Regional Development (REGI) (France);
- Josianne CUTAJAR, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of the Intergroup for seas, rivers islands and coastal areas (SEArica) (Malta);
- Alicia HOMS GINEL, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of the Intergroup for seas, rivers islands and coastal areas (SEArica) (Spain);
- Stelios KYMPOUROPOULOS, Member of the European Parliament, Member of the Intergroup for seas, rivers islands and coastal areas (SEArica) (Greece);
- Willibrordus SLUIJTERS, Head of Unit “Italy and Malta”, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO), European Commission.

The event was characterised by high attendance with more than 200 participants, including members of the European Parliament, members of the Committee of the Regions, high-level representatives of the European Commission, political and technical representatives of island local and regional authorities, civil society representatives.

For more information concerning the conference, please visit the webpage dedicated to the event in the online platform of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2022:
Event's webpage;

The complete recording of the event can be found at the following link:
Replay;