The Malta Business Bureau (MBB) has put forward a comprehensive 10-point plan calling for the development of an ambitious EU Islands Strategy: an initiative aimed at addressing the structural realities faced by island states within the EU.

As the European Commission prepares its upcoming Communication on islands, MBB’s proposal sets out a clear and solutions-oriented framework to ensure that island economies are not disproportionately disadvantaged by uniform EU legislation. The plan highlights the need for a more proportionate, geography-sensitive policy approach which reflects the unique challenges of insularity, including connectivity constraints, limited economies of scale, and heightened exposure to regulatory costs linked to climate, energy, and transport policies.

Island Member States such as Malta operate under fundamentally different economic conditions compared to continental regions. Heavy reliance on air and maritime transport, high import dependency, and constrained domestic markets create structural imbalances within the Single Market. MBB argues that applying identical rules across unequal contexts risks undermining both competitiveness and cohesion—ultimately contradicting the EU’s own Treaty principles.

Central to the proposal is the call for a structured and enforceable framework that embeds flexibility, targeted safeguards, and tailored support measures across key policy areas. These include State Aid rules, emissions frameworks, transport legislation, and energy taxation—areas where current policies can unintentionally penalise island economies.

MBB has actively and extensively communicated this 10-point plan with key European and national policymakers, including European Commissioners such as Vice-President Raffaele Fitto, Valdis Dombrovskis, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Wopke Hoekstra, and Glenn Micallef. The MBB has also engaged with the President of the European Parliament Dr. Roberta Metsola, MEPs, and various Government entities to ensure that the concerns and proposals of island businesses are clearly understood at the highest levels of decision-making.

The 10-point plan ultimately serves as both a policy roadmap and a call to action—urging EU institutions to recognise that true cohesion requires not just equal treatment, but equitable solutions tailored to Europe’s diverse territorial realities.