Joseph Borg (President), Michael Galea (Vice President), and Daniel Borg (Member of the Technical Committee) attended the INSULEUR General Assembly and Workshop on the 23rd May, which was held at the premises of the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. The workshop was organised by the Network of the Insular Chambers of Commerce
and Industry of the EU (INSULEUR) in partnership with the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and with the cooperation of the CPMR Islands Commission and the European Small Islands Federation (ESIN)
The first part of the meeting was dedicated to the INSULEUR General Assembly. The assembly was chaired by Joseph Borg who provided an overview of the activities of the Presidency for the last semester. George Assonitis, Irene Mikelis and Marina Maniati delivered a presentation on the EU projects in which INSULEUR is currently participating. The Chamber of Commerce of Chalkidiki (Greece) and the Gran Canarias (Spain) were accepted as new members. The current mandate of the Board of Directors (including the Presidency which is presently occupied by the Gozo Business Chamber) was extended to June 2023, due to the fact that the present Board of Directors could not properly fulfill its functions because of the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A repesentative from the Gran Canaria also delivered a presentation on the next INSULEUR Forum which will be taking place in November of this year.
The 2nd part of the meeting was a workshop on ‘Cohesion Policy as a Tool to Boost and Support Entrepreneurship in Islands’ which was organised in partnership with the European Economic and Social Committee and in cooperation with the CPMR Islands Commission, and the European Small Islands Federation. The workshop was moderated by George Assonitis (INSULEUR) and Lina Konstantinopoulou (Policy Director, Eurochambres). Stefano Mallia (President EESC Employers Group), Eleftherios Kechagioglou, President, Greek Small Islands Network , and Joseph Borg (President INSULEUR) made the introductory remarks. The event was also addressed by Josianne Cutajar (Member of the European Parliament – ITRE, REGI, and Tran Committees), and Claudia Guzzon (Executive Secretary of the CPMR – Islands Commission). Other speakers included Vicent Leiner (Team Leader, DG Regio G1 European Commission), President Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis (Corsica Assembly – CoR member), Vice President Ioannis Vardakastanis (EESC, ECO Section). All the parties agreed that islands merit special attention in Cohesion Policy. Presently this does not offer a comprehensive approach towards the issues faced by islands. The critical role of National Governments and EU institutions to address the issues faced by these territories, within the remit of Cohesion Policy, also emerged during the discussions.
You may access the documents related to both meetings here:
