welcoming the fact that the European Commission has accepted the challenge posed by the Committee of the Regions and the Outermost Regions, supported by their Member States, of reviewing the former EU Strategy in order to adapt it to the post-pandemic situation, as this recognises the particular vulnerability of these territories to external shocks and the need for aspecific response from the European Union;
requesting the European Commission to take into consideration the negative impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the Outermost Regions, such as the inflation, the increase of the energyprices and food security, among others;
asking the European Commission to extend beyond 2030 the exclusion of the Outermost Regions from the Emissions Trade System (ETS) and to consider the possibility to enlarge the exclusion to the flights within the archipelagos and between them and other Member States issuing tourists;
underlining that sustainable blue economy is one of the major sectors to foster OR´s economic growth and encourage the job creation and entrepreneurship, as well as the need to support the renewal of the ORs artisanal fishing fleet;
recalling that it is not enough to include "safeguard clauses" to ensure fair competition on social,environmental and health issues, it is needed to insert "mirror clauses" to guarantee the same EU standards to the imported products. This reciprocity should also apply to services;
asking the European Commission to involve as observer the European Committee of the Regions in the regular meetings of monitoring the implementation of the renewed Strategy;
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- welcomes the Commission Communication "Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU's outermost regions" and stresses the need for coordinated action by supranational, national, regional and local authorities and for swift implementation of the proposed measures;
- welcomes the Commission communication's observation that the ORs do not resemble, either in fact or in law, other European regions with specific geographical characteristics, such as islands, mountain areas or regions with low population density;
- draws attention to the urgent need to address the significant social and economic inequalities of the ORs compared to mainland Europe and calls on the European Commission to support these regions in the process of convergence with the rest of the European Union;
- calls for account to be taken of the major impact of the Fit for 55 legislative package on the competitiveness and connections of the ORs;
- points out that the ORs are isolated energy systems which cannot be connected to the mainland, and calls on the European institutions to promote the energy autonomy of these regions;
- highlights the ORs total dependence on reliable and affordable air and sea transport for the mobility of their inhabitants and for the supply of essential goods, and calls on the Commission to assess the need to provide support for the transport sector as an additional instrument to offset the disadvantages and losses arising from the costs of passenger and freight transport;
- calls for pragmatic and tailored solutions to be adopted as a matter of urgency, systematically applying Article 349 of the TFEU, in order to avoid the objective of economic, social and sustainable recovery being undermined.