The European Commission has unveiled this Wednesday two new strategies aimed at the coastal communities and islands of the European Union, with the objective of improving their adaptation to climate change, boosting sea-related economic activities, and responding to specific challenges such as connectivity, access to essential services, or pressure on the housing market in certain territories.
For the islands, Brussels proposes a specific roadmap that seeks to address the disadvantages associated with island status in areas such as transport, digital connection, availability of basic services, and the transition to clean energy.
According to the Commission, more than 17 million citizens reside in the more than 4,000 inhabited islands of the EU, which suffer from structural problems linked to their geographical isolation, the limited size of their markets, higher transport costs, strong dependence on tourism, and greater exposure to extreme weather events.
"Island status is not just a geographical issue, it has an economic cost. For example, in island municipalities, the cost of housing, of public services, is much higher compared to those on the mainland. That is the cost of island status, and it represents millions of euros that citizens and businesses in the Union have to pay every day simply because they live and work on an island," stressed the Community Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, Raffaele Fitto.
Among the actions contemplated, the Community Executive proposes to improve these territories' access to European funding, strengthen maritime, air, and digital connections with the continent, support the deployment of renewable energies, and increase resilience against risks such as water scarcity, natural disasters, or energy supply disruptions.
The strategy also includes strengthening cooperation between European institutions, Member States, and regional and local administrations, as well as promoting specific measures for islands in future national and regional plans funded by EU funds.
"We want to work with communities. Many islands have to face population loss, population aging and brain drain, as well as very strong pressure in the housing sector. We want to make housing more affordable and help the mobility of young people on the islands. We will invest in their cultural heritage," Fitto added.
CLIMATE ADAPTATION AND NEW BLUE ECONOMY IN COASTAL AREAS
At the same time, Brussels has presented a specific strategy for coastal areas, which affects the 95 million people living on the European Union's coastline and focuses on strengthening resilience to climate change, diversifying the blue economy and raising the quality of life in these territories.
Among the planned initiatives, the Commission will collaborate with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to select and finance coastal adaptation projects, launch a new blue bioeconomy innovation initiative to boost activities such as the production of fertilizers from algae or the use of fishing and aquaculture waste, and design a certification system for carbon credits associated with marine ecosystems such as salt marshes and seagrass beds.
The Community Executive stresses that coastal communities face problems such as rising sea levels, coastal erosion, floods, loss of biodiversity, pressure from tourism and difficulties in accessing housing in some regions.
According to Commission data, the annual damage caused by coastal floods could increase from the current 1.25 billion euros to a range of between 93 billion and 961 billion euros by the end of the century if climate change adaptation policies are not implemented.
In this context, the Commission plans to launch three pilot climate adaptation projects in particularly vulnerable coastal areas before the end of 2026, with about 30 million euros of European funding, to test solutions against risks such as floods, erosion or rising sea levels, in addition to offering technical assistance to local authorities in preparing resilience projects that can apply for community funds.
The strategy also aims to diversify the so-called blue economy by promoting new maritime-related activities, such as fishing tourism, marine bioeconomy, and marine renewable energies, with the goal of creating new economic and employment opportunities in coastal regions.
In the area of housing, the Commission points out that the future European Affordable Housing Law should serve to identify areas with the greatest residential tensions and facilitate measures to increase the supply of housing at affordable prices in territories particularly affected by tourism pressure.
"Housing is the biggest problem for coastal communities. The next pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing, which has been launched together with the EIB, will precisely aim to obtain housing or financing for affordable and sustainable housing," added the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis.
The initiative also seeks to involve local communities in decisions on climate adaptation, the coexistence of different economic activities at sea, and the sustainable management of marine resources.