The fundamental relationship between territorial cohesion and the principle of insularity in the European Union law.

This paper aims to examine the essential relationship between the EU policy of territorial cohesion and the principle of insularity before and after the Lisbon Treaty. In this context, the European Union provides a series of corrective measures – like services of general economic interest, social State aids and public service obligations – that involve a certain number of exceptions to the principle of free competition for disadvantaged or peripheral areas, in order to avoid their progressive marginalization. In fact, they meet the need to find a balance between a general liberalization and a policy that tends to ensure compatibility with the European treaties of the aids which are granted to ensure the conduct of services of collective interest. Starting from a reconstruction of the principles which inspired the European policy in the field of economic, social and territorial cohesion, this paper, taking the example of the transport sector, highlights that even today the principles – although not always consistently applied – provided by the Treaties in this matter, are not fully sufficient in order to ensure the insular regions the territorial continuity they deserve.