Vol. 410 No. 1
37 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline the action which has been taken by the EC pursuant to the decision of the EC Summit of December 1988 in Rhodes, that the Commission examine the special problems of island regions within the EC; if this study will include Ireland or parts thereof; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I am informed by the EC Commission that the following actions have been undertaken on foot of the decision of the EC Summit of December 1988 in Rhodes. A Community initiative has been established to provide Community assistance in the form of loans and grants to the most remote regions of the Community to finance operational programmes. The initiative referred to as REGIS covers Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Reunion, Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira and has the following objectives: to promote economic diversification; to consolidate the links between these regions and the rest of the Community; to stimulate co-operation between neighbouring remote regions and between them and nearby non-member countries, particularly those enjoying preferential arrangements with the Community and, where appropriate, to increase their capacity to cope with natural disorders.
The Commission has published a preliminary overview of a major document in preparation called Europe 2000. The document aims to highlight the trends and pressures that are likely to shape land-use and physical planning within the Community at the beginning of the next century. The study which is expected to be published later this year will include consideration of coastal areas and islands particularly those heavily dependent on fisheries. The Commission has made a small amount of aid available to the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions of the Community to help to develop projects of economic benefit especially those involving joint actions between islands. Some inhabited islands off the Irish coast are members of the Island Commission. The Commission has also developed proposals for Council decisions setting up programmes of options specific to the remote and insular nature of the Canary Islands (Poseican) and Madeira and the Azores (Poseima).
In addition the Commission has recently confirmed that it is in the process of considering, in line with the conclusion of the Rhodes European Council, 1988, the special socio-economic problems affecting certain island regions of the Community with a view to submitting at the proper time appropriate proposals.
