Special territories of members of the European Economic Area

Territories of EEA members with special status

Special territories of members of the European Economic Area
Location of the European Union and the special territories
Largest settlements	Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Willemstad, Saint-Denis, Funchal, Nouméa
Official language
Special territory	13 Overseas Countries and Territories * Without permanent population
• Total	2,733,792 km2 (1,055,523 sq mi)
• Estimate	6,114,658
Currency	Euro (EUR; €; OMRs, 3 OCTs[a] and 9 special cases[b])
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)

The special territories of members of the European Economic Area (EEA) are the 32 special territories of EU member states and EFTA member states which, for historical, geographical, or political reasons, enjoy special status within or outside the European Union and the European Free Trade Association.

The special territories of EU member states are categorised under three headings: nine Outermost Regions (OMR) that form part of the European Union, though they benefit from derogations from some EU laws due to their geographical remoteness from mainland Europe; thirteen Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) that do not form part of the European Union, though they cooperate with the EU via the Overseas Countries and Territories Association; and ten special cases that form part of the European Union (with the exception of the Faroe Islands), though EU laws make ad hoc provisions. The Outermost Regions were recognised at the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992,^[1] and confirmed by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007.^[2]

The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that both primary and secondary European Union law applies automatically to the outermost regions, with possible derogations due to the particularities of these territories. The Overseas Countries and Territories are recognised by the Article 198 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which allows them to opt into EU provisions on the freedom of movement for workers and freedom of establishment, and invites them to join the Overseas Countries and Territories Association (OCTA) in order to improve cooperation with the European Union.^[3] The status of an uninhabited territory, Clipperton, remains unclear since it is not explicitly mentioned in primary EU law and has a sui generis status at the national level.^[4][d] Collectively, the special territories encompass a population of some 6.1 million people and a land area of about 2,733,792 square kilometres (1,055,500 sq mi). Around 80 percent of this area is represented by Greenland. The largest region by population, the Canary Islands, accounts for more than a third of the total population of the special territories. The smallest by land area is the island of Saba in the Caribbean (13 km² or 5 sq mi). The French Southern and Antarctic Lands is the only special territory without a permanent population.

Outermost Regions[edit]

The Outermost Regions (OMR) are territories forming part of a member state of the European Union but situated a significant distance from mainland Europe. Due to this situation, they have derogation from some EU policies despite being part of the European Union.

According to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, both primary and secondary European Union law applies automatically to these territories, with possible derogations to take account of their “structural social and economic situation (…) which is compounded by their remoteness, insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate, economic dependence on a few products, the permanence and combination of which severely restrain their development”.^[5] All form part of the European Union customs area; however, some fall outside of the Schengen Area and the European Union Value Added Tax Area.

Seven Outermost Regions were recognised at the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.^[1] The Treaty of Lisbon included two additional territories (Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin) in 2007.^[5] Saint Barthélemy changed its status from OMR to OCT with effect from 1 January 2012.^[2] Mayotte, which was an OCT, joined the EU as an OMR with effect from 1 January 2014.^[6]

The 9 Outermost Regions of the European Union are:^[7]

Flag	Coat of arms	Name	Loca­tion	Area	Pop.	Capital	Largest settle­ment	Official language	State
		Azores	North Atlantic	2,333 km2 (901 sq mi)	245,746	Angra do Heroísmo, Horta and Ponta Delgada	Ponta Delgada	Portuguese	Portugal
		Madeira		801 km2 (309 sq mi)	289,000	Funchal	Funchal
		Canary Islands		7,493 km2 (2,893 sq mi)	2,101,924	Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas	Las Palmas	Spanish	Spain
		French Guiana	South America	83,534 km2 (32,253 sq mi)	281,612	Cayenne	Cayenne	French	France
		Guadeloupe	Caribbean	1,628 km2 (629 sq mi)	402,119	Basse-Terre	Les Abymes
		Martinique		1,128 km2 (436 sq mi)	385,551	Fort-de-France	Fort-de-France