MEP Alfred Sant succeeded in amending a European Parliament resolution on the insularity of EU regions in an effort to address concerns of islands attached to island States, such as Gozo.

Sant stressed that such islands suffered double insularity. He told the EP: “Even now, with economic growth running at over four per cent per annum in the Maltese islands, young people in Gozo tell you they have no future in their island.”

He deleted a paragraph of the resolution to emphasise that handicaps are more difficult to cope with for islands within the EU. He said depopulation will become irreversible unless exceptional measures were allowed that did not necessarily comply with wider EU rules and policies. These would involve a deeper economic intervention of the public sector in partnership with private business to create new enterprises and new jobs, especially for young people. He said “digital ventures, financial services, artisanal and farming enterprises and health services could all be targeted to reverse depopulation, both when the national economy is performing healthily and when it is weak”.

The approved resolution stresses that digital capacity is a vital means of counterbalancing islands’ connectivity handicaps and calls for better connectivity for EU islands through maritime routes, improved access to ports and better air transport services. It also asks the European Commission to launch an in-depth study/analysis on the extra costs such islands incur, in terms of the transport system for people and goods, energy supply and access to markets, in particular for SMEs.