EURegionsWeek 2024

Photograph: Solanas Bowl, © Stefano Marrocu


For the seventh consecutive year Sardinia Region, through its EU Liaison Office - in the role of lead partner of the Peripheral European islands’ Regional partnership - has been selected by the European Committee of the Regions and the European Commission as the organiser of the high-level political forum dedicated to the island status under the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities, the European Union's main institutional communication event.

Due to their condition of territorial discontinuity and peripheral position from the mainland, island regions suffer from a wide range of structural and permanent disadvantages that deeply affect their development, representing a competitive disadvantage.
In this respect, EU policies are a key development factor for island territories. Although regulatory provisions concerning islands’ specific handicaps are laid down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, there are no dedicated EU policy measures to address their distinctive challenges, neither at the legislative level nor at the political level - through a specific strategy - as underlined by the European Parliament in two different resolutions, adopted in 2016 and 2022.
In this context, the high-level political conference aims to address the issues of island regions in a dialogue with the European institutions to urge them to take insular dimension into account all along the EU policy-design process.

The event, entitled “The island regions and the upcoming EU legislative cycle”, takes place on Wednesday 9 October 2024, 9h30 – 11h00 at the premises of the Committee of the Regions- Rue Belliard 99/101 (Room JDE 52), Brussels.

The panel discussion will include high-level political representatives of Balearic Islands, Corsica, Crete, Gotland, Gozo, Ionian Islands, Åland and Sardinia, which belong to the regional partnership.

Following the regional partnership’s panel, the floor will be given to the audience, including MEPs, members of the Committee of the Regions, members of the Economic and Social Committee, representatives of the European Commission, political and technical representatives of island local and regional authorities, representatives of civil society organisations, business community and academics.

Simultaneous interpreting will be provided in English, French, Italian and Spanish.

To attend the conference, it is necessary to register to the event by 30 September 2024 via the dedicated webpage;.

Registrations will be accepted up to the limits of room capacity on a first come first served basis.