{"id":456297,"date":"2026-06-10T16:49:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/10\/la-commissione-ue-lancia-le-prime-due-strategie-per-isole-e-comunita-costiere\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T18:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:39:06","slug":"the-european-commission-launches-the-first-two-strategies-for-islands-and-coastal-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/10\/the-european-commission-launches-the-first-two-strategies-for-islands-and-coastal-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"The European Commission launches the first two strategies for islands and coastal communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 \u201c\u200b\u200bFor the first time, the European Union has adopted
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

specific strategic frameworks for its island and coastal regions<\/strong><\/b>.\u201d <\/span>This was announced<\/b><\/a> today (10 June) by the Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, Raffaele Fitto<\/b>, on the occasion of the adoption of the EU\u2019s first strategies for islands<\/b><\/a> and coastal communities<\/b><\/a>. Fitto explained that the two plans have been introduced because the European Union comprises three coastal Member States (Cyprus, Ireland and Malta) and 4,000 islands, where, according to Commission estimates, 17 million people live. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe islands face challenges similar to those of other European territories, yet the impact is often exacerbated by a specific condition: insularity<\/strong><\/span>,\u201d the Vice-President pointed out, emphasising that the issue is not merely \u201ca geographical fact,\u201d but a real economic cost. \u201cThe cost of insularity,\u201d explained Fitto, is a figure \u201cthat millions of EU citizens and businesses pay every day simply because of where they live and operate, with a consequent long-term structural negative effect on their income and competitiveness.\u201d According to <\/span>the data presented by the Commission<\/span><\/a>, compared to the mainland, transport costs on islands can be 300 per cent higher, public spending 30\u201350 per cent higher, and house prices 75\u2013130 per cent higher. Most European islands have a GDP of 70 per cent of the EU average. <\/span><\/span>In Italy, it is estimated that insularity can reduce GDP<\/b><\/a> in Sicily by 7 per cent and in Sardinia by up to 36 per cent. As for employment rates, the average for the islands is 59 per cent of the EU average. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The strategy for the islands is therefore structured around four key pillars: <\/span>economic development<\/b>, <\/b>connectivity, competitiveness, and innovation; <\/span>energy security<\/b>, environmental protection, and climate resilience; <\/span>community <\/b>and demography; <\/span>security and crisis preparedness. <\/b>On this point, Fitto reiterated that \u201cthe scope of this strategy has not been defined in Brussels\u201d and that the strategies are \u201cthe result of an in-depth and ongoing dialogue with local areas and communities\u201d after the executive had, in recent months, \u201corganised meetings, missions, and discussions across Europe and in Brussels and issued a formal call for contributions, in which 358 stakeholders from 18 Member States took part.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

In presenting the strategy for island communities, the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis<\/strong>, noted<\/a> that \u201cEurope\u2019s coasts are home to around 95 million people and stretch for 70,000 kilometres across 22 coastal states,\u201d generating \u201caround \u20ac265 billion<\/a> in gross value added annually and supporting millions of jobs.\u201d The strategy will be structured around three strategic objectives: prosperity, resilience, and liveability, and will be supported by 13 key actions. It also recognises “the high diversity of coastal territories, ranging from small fishing villages to large port cities” because, as Kadis himself emphasised, “it requires tailored and specific solutions for each territory, rather than a standardised approach.” <\/span><\/p>\n

The two strategies align with the European Pact for the Oceans, launched in 2025, and complement the EU\u2019s broader policies on climate action, cohesion, and sustainable development. The EU\u2019s outermost regions, however, are not covered by these proposals, as they are the subject of a separate specific strategy to be presented by the end of the year.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fitto: \u201cIslands face the same challenges as other European regions, yet the impact is often exacerbated by a specific factor: their insularity\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":456239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[25871,26181,34403,34404,33394],"class_list":["post-456297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-ditto-en","tag-isole","tag-kadis","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456298,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456297\/revisions\/456298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}