On the occasion of yesterday's meeting in Copenhagen of the executive Committee of the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO), during the of which the revision of the regulatory framework is addressed ETS, the Emissions Trading System of the EU, the Association of Italian Ports (Assoporti) has supported the need to recognize the islands as well a discipline capable of taking into account their specificity, avoiding that the application of the ETS leads to distorting effects on continuity and competitiveness of island maritime connections.

Communicating the results of the meeting, at which the President of the Port System Authority of the Sicilian Sea Annalisa Tardino, participated in representation and support for Assoporti's positions, the association announced that a significant achievement was the birth, within ESPO, the new network "Outermost Regions and Islands" dedicated to the outermost regions and islands. The goal is to create a permanent headquarters in which the ports can address common challenges and develop shared positions on European policies that present particular repercussions on these territories. Assoporti specified that the same documentation of the ESPO executive committee expressly identifies among the topics of interest of the new network both the EU ETS, the Onshore Power Supply obligations, the technology that allows ships in ports to connect directly to the terrestrial electricity grid, and connectivity with the hinterland as part of the trans-European transport network TEN-T, highlighting the need to develop positions to be subsequently represented to the institutions and European regions. The Association of Italian Ports has highlighted whereas the establishment of this new body therefore represents an important step and confirms the need, supported by with continuity by Assoporti, to ensure the realities a specific and recognisable voice in the decision-making process European.

"The Copenhagen confrontation - noted Annalisa Tardino - marks an important step because it finally leads to the European debate, in a more structured way, the islands and their ports. The issue of the ETS is not abstract: it concerns the continuity of connections, the competitiveness of enterprises and, more generally, the right of an island territory not to be penalized by the geographical condition. Bringing this specificity within ESPO means moving the issue away from the national to the European one, which is the place in which they must solutions to be identified. The birth of the dedicated network to the islands and the outermost regions - Petri observed - is, In this sense, a concrete result: for the first time these reality will have a stable space in which to systematize common needs and transform them into proposals to be submitted to the institutions. The work we are carrying out with Assoporti goes in this direction: do not question the objectives of the environmental transition, but to ensure that they are pursued without creating new penalties for the territories islands'.

"The result achieved in Copenhagen - underlined the president of Assoporti, Roberto Petri - confirms how much It is important to be present and work continuously in the European tables. The issue of the islands, but not only, cannot be be addressed by applying indiscriminately rules designed to profoundly different territorial realities. The work carried out by Assoporti, together with the president Annalisa Tardino and in the comparison with ESPO, aims precisely to make this specificity and to translate it into concrete proposals in the European Unions. The establishment of a space specifically dedicated to outermost regions and islands also represents an important opportunity: it will allow us to build common positions and to give greater strength to the demands of the ports in dialogue with the institutions of the Union'.