The Catalan Government organised on 24/11/2023 a Summit for the Mediterranean Macroregion at the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona which approved a political declaration urging the member states to start the procedures for the European Commission to activate the proposal for the creation of the macro-region and the definition of the action plan.
Two members of the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion, the Albanian Regional Council of Tirana and Shkodër supported and signed the declaration among other sixty participants, including representatives of 12 governments from 6 states (Albania, Spain, France, Greece, Italy and Morocco), as well as international organizations and European institutions such as the Parliament European, the Committee of the Regions or the European Economic and Social Committee.
The Adriatic Ionian Euroregion was represented by Aldrin Dalipi, Vice president of the Association.
The participants agreed that the main objective of a macro-region will be to share strategies and find joint solutions to face the fight against climate change, since the Mediterranean is one of the most affected regions of the world by global warming and climate change.
The Mediterranean macro-region should be a political framework for the cooperation of Mediterranean where actors and governments face together shared challenges, such as demographic, technological, economic and social, prioritizing the climate emergency.
Why the interest of the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion for the Mediterranean macro-region? The purpose of the macro-region will be to group governments and other actors from the two shores of the Mediterranean under a territorial cooperation instrument recognized by European institutions that allows them to join forces and jointly defend interests to respond to shared challenges, giving particular priority to the fight against climate crisis with obvious consequences in the region.
Here is the list of participants of the summit: Government of Catalonia, Government of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (France), Government of Corsica (France), Government of Calabria (Italy), Government of Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Government of Eastern Greece (Greece), Regional Council of Shkodër (Albania), Regional Council of Tirana (Albania), Government of Crete (Greece), Government of L’Oriental (Morocco), Government of Tangier-Tetouan-Al-Hoceima (Morocco), Government of Andalusia (Spain), Government of Occitania (France), Parliament of Lebanon, City Council of Montpellier (France), City Council of Tangier (Morocco), Barcelona City Council, Council of the European Union, European Commission, European Parliament, Committee of the Regions, European Economic and Social Committee, Union for the Mediterranean, European Mediterranean Institute, Conference of the Peripheral Maritime Regions, Adriatic Ionian Euroregion, MedCities, PRIMA Foundation, Interreg Euro-MED programme.
More info here: GenCat website
