By Martha Moss - 22nd January 2010
Committee of the Regions' president Luc Van den Brande has hailed the inaugural meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (Arlem) as "the start of a new era".
Speaking as the assembly met for its first session in Barcelona on Thursday, Van den Brande spoke of the need for "dialogue and partnership" to enhance cooperation between the EU and the Mediterranean.
Arlem is made up of 84 members, bringing together local and regional authorities from the three shores of the Mediterranean, 30 members of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and 10 representatives from organisations engaged in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.
Co-chaired by the CoR president in office (currently Van den Brande) and Mohamed Boudra, mayor of the Moroccan city of Al Hoceima, the club aims to give local and regional representatives greater access to the European institutions.
Its work programme will focus on infrastructure development, cultural cooperation and addressing issues such as immigration or climate change.
Mayors of major EU cities and from Mediterranean partner countries ranging from Israel to Egypt, Morocco to Malta, were in the Catalonian city for the meeting at the grand Pedralbes palace, where the Arlem secretariat will be based.
Barcelona mayor Jordi Boher said the future of the Mediterranean region "will only be feasible if all of us are protagonists". "Arlem must play a key role in the development of Euro-Mediterranean process," he added.
Arlem comes as part of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership launched by the French presidency in 2008.
And Van den Brande said that "one of the failures of the Barcelona process in 1995 was that there was no place given to local and regional authorities".
"I think the most important point today is that it was possible to make a cooperation at territorial level over the three shores of the Mediterranean," he added.
"It is the start of a new era for the Mediterranean. We have to focus and show that there is a real added value for Arlem - it's not just an administrative procedure."
Co-president Boudra said Arlem was very important in terms of regional democracy, and called for wide ranging dialogue with citizenship.
"[Arlem] is responsible for increasing quality of life in Euro-Mediterranean countries," he said.
While he acknowledged disparities between EU countries and those in the Mediterranean - for example gender equality and religion, he described the launch as a "fantastic day".
"Arlem will be an important interlocutor for EU and for Maghreb countries," he added. "Working north to south I believe we'll be able to obtain our objectives."
EU regional policy commissioner Pawel Samecki said the involvement of local and regional levels in Arlem "will constitute an enrichment and will be a decisive ingredient for success". It will also "facilitate a link with citizens which is not always visible enough", he said.
Representing the EU presidency, Spain's foreign affairs secretary Ángel Lossada Torres-Quevedo said the final beneficiaries of the partnership will be citizens on both sides of the Mediterranean.
"The destiny of Europe and the south and eastern Mediterranean are tied together," he said. "Together we can make a positive contribution at a global level."
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