9. Calls on the Commission to study the possibility of permitting state aid to be granted to islands regions where fuel and energy costs clearly adversely affect the competitiveness of the communities living on them; notes, in particular, that significant fluctuations in the cost of fuel can make transportation between island regions and mainland Europe significantly more burdensome; believes that, in its next regional state aid guidelines, a regime allowing operating aids should be extended to all island regions which are not island states or inland islands;

9. Calls on the Commission to study the possibility of permitting state aid to be granted to island regions where fuel and energy costs clearly adversely affect the competitiveness of the communities living on them; notes, in particular, that significant fluctuations in the cost of fuel can make transportation between island regions and mainland Europe significantly more burdensome; believes that, in its next regional state aid guidelines, a regime allowing operating aids should be extended to all island regions which are not island states or inland islands; ...[+++]

24. Encourages island communities to make use of the JASPERS (Joint Assistance in Supporting Projects in European Regions) and JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) financial and management facilities, in order to exploit the available regional development resources and to foster the growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises encouraging diversification of island economies and promoting core growth through sustainable development; further encourages the implementation, at local, regional, national and European levels, of the "better legislation" initiative with a view to, inter alia, simplifying adm ...[+++]inistrative requirements, notably as far as the submission and the evaluation of applications for financial aid are concerned;

The ERDF therefore contributes to reducing the gap between the levels of development of the various regions and the extent to which the least favoured regions, including rural and urban areas, declining industrial regions, areas with a geographical or natural handicap, such as islands, mountainous areas, sparsely populated areas and border regions, are lagging behind.

With regard to the report drawn up at the initiative of the Commission, which contains an analysis of the island and outermost regions of the European Union, the document, which states that the 286 island regions are spread over 11 Member States of the European Union, also notes that over 75% of the islands identified are concentrated within the territory of five Member States and that, with some exceptions, their economic and social situation is, in general, worse than that of the country to which they belong and, in any case, differ ...[+++]s substantially from island to island.

95% of this population is to be found in the Mediterranean, with five island regions (Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearics, Crete and Corsica) accounting for 85% of the total island population.