Commission recognises island challenges, MBB now calls for tangible solutions

The Malta Business Bureau (MBB) acknowledges the Commission’s publication of the
EU Strategy for Islands as an important step. Nevertheless, MBB now calls for more tangible European solutions.

For the first time, an official EU communication recognises the challenges faced by EU islands, including island states. The strategy structured around four pillars covering economic development and connectivity, energy and green transition, communities and quality of life, and security and crisis preparedness, proposes a range of “actions to better tailor the main EU policies to the islands’ specificities”. Key commitments include the launch of an in-depth analysis of the cost of insularity and best-practice measures to mitigate it.

MBB’s CEO Mario Xuereb said: “MBB strongly pushed to secure this recognition of the challenges faced by EU islands. We now call upon other stakeholders, MEPs and the national government to step up efforts to ensure that, in the spirit of the island strategy published today, any new legislative proposals by the European Commission take account of the strategy, and that these are applied equally to island states and islands.”

The MBB, marking its 30th anniversary this year, has consistently advocated for the EU to integrate the structural realities of island Member States into concrete policy work, rather than treating them as an afterthought.

The strategy makes special reference to examples of EU legislation that hinder the connectivity of islands, such as the Emissions Trading System (ETS). However, it stops short of offering tangible solutions. MBB has proposed amendments to the ETS such as a 50% derogation for maritime ETS and a 50% free allocation for island airports.

MBB’s Brussels-based Nigel Caruana, said “With this text, Maltese, and other island stakeholders will have a concrete tool in their arsenal for lobbying legislative changes where they really matter, such as in the upcoming ETS review, the next Multiannual Financial Framework, and state aid rules. That is where we will be testing the strategy’s political commitments.”