The EPP group held its external meeting with the lead of EPP-CoR President Michael Schneider in Dubrovnik on October 28 by the invitation of Mr. Nikola Dobroslavić, President of the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion and President of the Dubrovnik-Neretva region in Croatia and an EPP-CoR Member.

Nearly 80 EPP-CoR Members attended the debate discussing about  the challenges and opportunities for the Adriatic-Ionian region.

The event has the key note speeches of important speakers such as: CoR President Markku Markkula, EPP-CoR President Michael Schneider, Mr. Dobroslavić and Andrea Mairate, Head of Unit Macro-regions and European Territorial Cooperation, DG for Regional policy, European Commission.

The agenda has 2 sessions: “Challenges and opportunities for the Adriatic-Ionian region” and “Strengthening regional cooperation and security in the Adriatic-Ionian region”.

In the first session, the discussion was on identifying the obstacles faced by the region and seeking to find answers to them through enhanced cooperation and exchange of best practices from all levels of governance. The second session aimed at strengthening regional cooperation on security, especially tdubrov_1he possibilities offered by the macro-regional approach in promoting cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation to help address the common security and migratory challenges.

President Dobroslavić commented that “the strategy offers four EU Member States and four EU candidate and potential candidate countries the chance to work alongside their neighbours on areas of common interest. In this respect, I consider the cross-border cooperation on as a key element in the development of border areas.”

More information about the event can be found on EPP Group website.

As a conclusion of the meeting the CoR EPP Group has adopted the declaration “The role of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) in increasing prosperity and security in Europe”.

Adopted Declaration: en, it, hr, el