Outermost regions, Fitto: “EU rules must reflect realities on the ground. The Council will decide on Ceuta and Melilla”

Brussels – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, Saint-Martin (France), the Azores, Madeira (Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Spain). These are the nine outermost regions, which are, admittedly, geographically distant from mainland Europe, but “are at the heart of our European project.” This is how Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, describes the new European strategy for the nine outermost regions of France, Portugal and Spain. 

“Today’s package is about overcoming the challenges created by distance, but above all about seizing the opportunities created by geography,” Fitto said. The strategy aims to adapt, where necessary, EU rules to the specific circumstances of these territories, through the first European legislative package dedicated to the outermost regions, with measures in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, migration and taxation.

 The plan is structured around four objectives: strengthening the geostrategic role and regional integration, increasing competitiveness and access to the single market, improving resilience and preparedness, and promoting social equity. Other priorities include connectivity, renewable energy, the protection of strategic infrastructure, climate adaptation, and access to housing, healthcare and education. “By turning their strategic potential into opportunities, growth and better living conditions, we strengthen not only the outermost regions and their 5 million people, but Europe as a whole,” Fitto concluded.

 “Ceuta and Melilla are different from the other outermost regions”. This was Fitto’s response to a question regarding the proposal, put forward by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, to include the two Spanish autonomous cities amongst the EU’s outermost regions. “It will be a decision for the Council as it does not fall within the remit of the European Commission,” he said, explaining that Madrid would need to submit a proposal to the Member States. Fitto also referred to the 114.7 million euros the Commission allocated yesterday (9 September) for Ceuta and Melilla, describing them as “an important signal.”