You might never have heard of the European Neighbourhood Policy, but it is at the root of a resolution currently being considered by the European Parliament to achieve a “special relationship” status for Cape Verde within the European Union on the basis of the islands´ proximity to one of the sunniest outposts of continental Europe – the Canary Islands. The particular wording refers to “the island States of the Atlantic, neighbours of the EU´s ultra-peripheral regions adjacent to the European continent”.
Also within these “ultra-peripheral regions”, of course, lie Madeira and the Azores, but the Cape Verde archipelago is the only independent state among this paradise-like group of islands – known since antiquity as Macaronnesia, or “the blessed isles”.
The issue was brought before the European Parliament by Portuguese commissioners Ana Gomes and José Ribeiro e Castro, who argued that “Cape Verde has shown exemplary performance in terms of democracy, good governance and respect for human rights, and has profound historical, social, political, cultural and geographic affinities with the European Union … (which makes the islands) a privileged and exceptional platform for the development and strengthening of Euro-African relations and a factor of stability and security along one of the flanks of European space.”
Cape Verde is thus a step nearer to being truly Europeanized, and the United Kingdom is at the forefront of communications with the islands themselves, with discussions taking place between the Cape Verde government and the British Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, on strengthening political and co-operative ties. Further afield, Luxembourg will shortly be hosting a forum, sponsored by the European Commission itself, entitled “European Union / Cape Verde: the challenges of the future”. Challenges there may be, but opportunities definitely abound in this paradise on the limits of Europe´s horizons. For our own investors, of course, there is no limit to their Horizon with the Atlantic Region´s leading estate agency!