Submarine cable resilience for outermost island regions

Priority question for written answer P-001244/2024
to the Commission
Rule 138
Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D)

The development of the EU's outermost regions is increasingly reliant on the functioning of digital infrastructure and on connectivity. In its recent Recommendation C(2024) 1181 on Secure and Resilient Submarine Cable Infrastructures, the Commission recognised the significance of the submarine cable infrastructure in the broader internet ecosystem, especially in the EU's outermost regions and overseas countries and territories, which are almost entirely dependent on such infrastructure for intra-Union communications. Given that regions such as the Canary Islands urgently need this critical infrastructure to be improved with a view to avoiding disruptions and helping to overcome the constraints imposed by the regions' remoteness:

• 1.How will the Commission ensure the resilience of submarine cable connectivity in outermost regions, such as the Canary Islands?
• 2.Does the Commission consider that Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union serves as a legal basis to guarantee the connectivity, through submarine cable infrastructure, of outermost regions, especially those affected by remoteness and insularity?

Submitted:24.4.2024