A Step Forward for the Union for the Mediterranean: CoR to inaugurate the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) on 21 January 2010
On Tuesday 1 December, the President of the Committee
of the Regions, Mr Luc Van den Brande, announced that the first official meeting
of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) is to be held in
Barcelona on 21 January 2010. The announcement was made at a working meeting in
Brussels attended by representatives of the Union for the Mediterranean, the
European institutions and local and regional authorities from the three shores
of the Mediterranean.
"The European Union needs the support of all its
partners, including that of the local and regional authorities, if it is to
achieve its aim of relaunching the Barcelona Process," stated Mr Van den Brande,
before adding that, "This forum will enhance the public profile and monitoring
at grass-roots level of projects undertaken by the European Union and its
partner countries in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean." ARLEM will lend
added impetus to Euro-Mediterranean dialogue, both as an instrument for
fostering local democracy in the region and as a tool for contributing to the
exchange of best practice.
The Catalan
Regional Government will host the inaugural
meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM)
in conjunction with the Spanish
Presidency of the European Union.
Background
In the immediate aftermath of
the establishment of the Union for the Mediterranean at the July 2008 Paris
Summit, the CoR submitted a proposal to the Heads of State and Government for
the creation, in the form of a Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly,
of a territorial dimension to the partnership. This proposal was promoted and
supported by partner countries.
The Assembly is to consist of equal numbers of local
and regional representatives from the EU Member States and countries of
the Mediterranean rim as specified in the CoR Opinion entitled: "
Barcelona
Process: Union for the Mediterranean - implications for regional and local
authorities". Click
here for Luc Van den Brande's interview
on the subject or consult the press
release relating to this Opinion.
Contact information |
Athénaïs Cazalis de Fondouce
(email: Athenais.CazalisdeFondouce@cor.europa.eu ) Phone: + 32 (0)2 282 2447 ; Fax: +32 (0)2 282 20 85 |
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News type | Inbrief |
File link |
http://www.cor.europa.eu/pages/PressTemplate.aspx?view=detail&id=8633bd22-343a-4283-baef-d52fa7c347d9 |
Source of information | CoR's website |
Keyword(s) | Mediterranean-Union, UpM |
Subject(s) | POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT |
Relation | http://www.semide.net/initiatives/mediterranean-union |
Geographical coverage | Spain, Euromed |
News date | 09/12/2009 |
Working language(s) | ENGLISH |