Shetland Islands counts cost of European regional aid discrimination

THEY may be among the most remote human outposts in Europe, but the Shetland Islands will be excluded from automatic classification as an assisted area under recently adopted European Union regional aid guidelines.

It is as a r e s ul t of Shetland’s level of economic activity or gross domestic product (GDP), which is above the EU average, and it currently enjoys a low level of unemployment. It could mean restricted access to funding likely to be in the region of hundreds of thousands of pounds over the 2014-20 period.

Shetland Islands Council and the islands MSP Tavish Scott say they are very disappointed.

However, it is not so much about losing access to EU funds, it is much more about losing control over how the council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Government spends on business development projects.

Council l e ader Gary Robinson explained how the council, over the past decades, had used its resources under regional aid to support business investment and create jobs in remote areas where there are limited employment opportunities.

He added: “We’ll continue to make the case to the EU for better acknowledgment of the geographic challenges of remote island communities and the need to take account of factors such as distance from mainland markets, all of which add to the high cost of living and operating a business in Shetland.”