​On 24 April, Gilles Simeoni, President of the Executive Council of Corsica and Nanette Maupertuis, member of the Executive Council, took part in a meeting organised by the European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas with support of the CPMR islands commission, on the insular dimension of cohesion policy post-2020.

Ahead of the publication of the future Multiannual Financial Framework and the legislative proposal on the future cohesion policy, the conference, which was also attended by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Crețu and several members of the European Parliament, served as an opportunity for the island regions and territories to express their views on the way in which the future cohesion policy could meet their specific needs.

Addressing the Commissioner for Regional policy Corina Cretu, Mr Simeoni said that "consistent and particular attention to insularity, as enshrined in Article 174 of the Lisbon Treaty, is currently missing from the Cohesion Policy. The post-2020 Cohesion Policy must deliver legislative and financial conditions that will unlock the potential of island regions, for the benefit of the EU as a whole".

Mrs Maupertuis, who was also rapporteur on the CoR opinion "Entrepreneurship and territorial cohesion on islands", reiterated that citizens and businesses across the EU should have access to the same opportunities regardless of where they live and that islands' residents must be fully integrated in the European single market.

The meeting comes after the adoption of the Council conclusions in which the Commission is invited to work on specific measures for islands and regions which suffer from severe and permanent natural constraints.

At its meeting in Aiacciu held in April 2017, the EA Group adopted a Declaration and a set of recommendations to advance territorial cohesion on islands and raise awareness of their specific needs.