BRUSSELS – “We ask what programs of specific technical assistance for the islands promote better access to EU funding “and” we insist on recognizing the key role of state aid in addressing the challenges that many island regions face “. This is the message launched by the president of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, in his speech at the conference on the cost of insularity organized in the Chamber by the Sicilian Region, with the patronage of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, of Sardinia and of the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (Cprm).
Tzitzikostas recalled that, after Brexit, Italy now has the largest island population in the EU, making a request to national and EU institutions to have “an eye” for the islands. The vice president of the Sicilian Region, Gaetano Armao, who leads the insularity intergroup of the Committee of the Regions in the EU and who during the conference recalled the data of a recent study carried out by his services. The annual cost deriving from insularity for Sicily is confirmed at over 6 billion euros and corresponds to a sort of hidden tax equal to approximately 1,200 euros for each Sicilian. These costs are equivalent to the loss of GDP determined in 2020 by Covid-19, as if Sicily suffered the economic effects of a pandemic every year.
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Source From: Ansa
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