The Chamber of Commerce of Mallorca today hosted the fourth session of the conference organized by the Government on the Mediterranean Islands and the European Union dedicated to the future of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean island context, in particular also on the opinion of the Economic and Social Council (CES) of the Balearic Islands on the economic, social and environmental prospects of the Balearic societies in the Horizon 2030 and on the needs of the islands with a view to their incorporation into a specific strategy for the island territories within the framework of the European Union.

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This conference is part of the series of meetings organized by the Government, through the Directorate General of External Relations, to promote participation in the Conference on the future of Europe and address the challenges of the Mediterranean islands, and has had the participation of the Minister of Finance and External Relations, Rosario Sanchez; the deputy and president of the Committee on Regional Development of the European Parliament, Younous Omarjee; and the president of the CES, Rafel Ballester, among others.

The Councilor Rosario Sanchez has highlighted at the opening of the day the work initiated to achieve a specific EU strategy for the islands, as discussed this Thursday in Palma in the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe, in its first plenary meeting under the presidency of the Balearic Islands, which was attended by the chairman of the Committee on Regional Development of the European Parliament and MEP, Younous Omarjee.

The advance towards this specific strategy for the islands within the EU framework and its incorporation in community policies is also one of the priorities expressed by the president of the Regional Development Committee of the European Parliament. Omarjee is working on a report on cohesion and EU islands that will highlight the challenges faced by island territories and the need for EU policies and, in particular, cohesion policy, to be adapted to these specificities.

During her speech, the Minister of Finance and External Relations also highlighted other challenges, such as the deployment of the Balearic Islands Investment Strategy 2030, a roadmap agreed within the Pact for Economic and Social Reactivation and Transformation, which aims to take advantage of the new European Next Generation funds to act as a transforming lever to improve a more diverse, fair and sustainable production model.

Likewise, Rosario Sánchez pointed out that the Mediterranean island regions are home to more than 90% of the island population of the EU, and that they are territories with fragile natural resources (reduced territory, energy dependence, overexploitation of water resources, threatened natural habitats, etc.) and therefore has ensured that it is necessary to develop specific environmental protection measures.

The president of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development, the MEP Younous Omarjee, stressed the need to make a common front with all the Mediterranean islands, and that the committee he chairs is working to ensure that the island question is not an exotic issue. Omarjee stated that the geographic reality of the islands is fractured, and that it has to be taken into account in order to face the answers. He also pointed out the energy challenge and the objective of not having an external dependence, and the importance of new investments in renewable energies.

Finally, the president of the CES, Rafel Ballester, intervened to provide a more insular view, focused on the Horizon 2030 opinion of the Balearic Islands, which has as one of the objectives to make the archipelago a reference region for its tourist quality, its ability to attract talent and promote the emergence of new competitive activities at the international level. The opinion is also committed to environmental sustainability, social inclusion, quality of work and territorial balance.

The day continued with a colloquium on Mediterranean networks and the EU and another on the contributions of the islands to the European project, which have counted with the general director of the Euroregion Pyrenees Mediterranean, Xavier Bernard; the executive secretary of the Islands Commission of the CPMR, Claudia Guzzon; the director of External Relations of the Government, Antoni Vicens; the president of PIMEB, Jordi Mora; and other members of the CES and representatives of the trade unions UGT and CCOO, among others.