MEP Tonino Picula, Vicepresident of the EP Intergroup in charge of islands, emphasized on behalf of his S&D Group that specificities of islands, "insularity", has to enter European statistics, in the debate on the proposal for European Parliament and Council Regulation amending the Regulation of Territorial typologies.
The use of statistics on the islands would provide a thorough overview of characteristics of these areas, many of which are common regardless of the geographic position, size or level of island development. "Such data should be comparable with other territorial typologies and would greatly facilitate the development of targeted EU legislation for islands in any situation when they need to", Picula said in his speech. Picula strongly emphasized that "the islanders rightly ask the question: how can they create adequate policies for islands if their status is not territorially recognized!"
See the whole speech on the link.
