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The EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) was officially launched last 18 November in Brussels during the event organized by the EU Commission and the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in cooperation with Region Marche and the AII Permanent Secretariat.
The Conference was open by the address of Commissioner Corina Cretu (Regional Policy) and Commissioner Karmenu Vella (Fisheries and Maritime Affairs) as well as of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni all praising the commitment the efforts made by the eight participating countries that led to this important achievement and motivated them to work even more closely in the coming and most challenging implementation phase.
Subsequently, all Ministers of Foreign Affairs took the floor and approved a Joint Statement on a Governance and Management System for the implementation of the Strategy agreeing on the system devised in the paper "Towards a streamline governance and management architecture for the EUSAIR" approved by the National Coordinators.
The following session of the meeting was dedicated to question and answers with the presence of National Coordinator and the AII Secretary General on how to move 'from words to actions' with particular focus on the governance and on how to fund future EUSAIR projects.
In the European Council Conclusions of Friday 24 October the Head of State and Government of the 28 Member States of the European Union adopted the "EU Strategy for the Adriatic Ionian Region" (EUSAIR) asking to "all relevant actors to implement it without delay, as outlined in the Council conclusions of 29 September 2014".
After more than four years of work and commitment by AII Governments and regional stakeholders, the Adriatic Ionian Macro Region is a reality and the implementation phase is going to begin by the end of this year.
As stressed by the Council Conclusions of 29 September, the new Strategy benefits from:
- The long experience of the intergovernmental Adriatic Ionian Initiative which fostered cooperation at the level of civil society (Chambers of Commerce, Cities, Universities);
- The Maritime Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Seas adopted in November 2012;
- The coincidence with the programming period 2014-2020;
- The lessons learned from the already existing macroregional strategies.
The EUSAIR will address major challenges of the region through its four pillar's architecture focusing on Blue Growth, Connecting the Region, Environmental Quality and Sustainable Tourism.
The European Council invited the Commission to regularly report about the progress made "towards the achievement of target and relevant milestones, and possible development of the Strategy and its Action Plan, by the end of 2016 in the first instance".
The European Council Conclusions of October 24 and the Council Conclusions of September 29 are enclosed.
The Project "PANforAMAR" – Protected Areas network for Adriatic Ionian Macro Region, funded under the AII Regional Cooperation Program, has been successfully concluded. With the aim of raising awareness over the huge historical richness of the Adriatic and Ionian basin, the promoters of the project did develop a cooperative dialogue tool able to raise gather interested stakeholders around bigger cooperation projects having as objective a better management of tourist flows, at improving sustainable tourism and at increasing non seasonal tourism.
The project was led by the Marine Protected Area of Torre del Cerrano in the framework of the AdriaPan network and with the participation of partners coming from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia.
The General Assembly of UniAdrion took place last Thursday 23 October in Ancona.
More than 20 Universities coming from the eight countries of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative attended the event that was also the occasion to kick off the SunBeam project funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus Mundus Programme 2013. The programme is aimed at fostering mobility among students, professors and academic staff of the participating universities and to give scientific support to the future “EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region” through the exchange of expertise and the research on areas of common interest already identified by the four pillars of the Strategy.
The "Launch Conference of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region" that will take place in Brussels on 18 November 2014 (The meeting center "Le Square") is organized by the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in cooperation with the European Commission, and together with the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative and Marche Region (as Presidency of the Adriatic Ionian Interregional Group of the Committee of the Region).
With the objective of providing a framework for its implementation, the Conference features a high-level institutional session followed by a technical session addressed to the key implementers (national and regional authorities responsible for the EUSAIR and the management of EU funds, EU institutions, regional organisations and bodies). This is a timely opportunity to discuss and exchange on the governance and management architecture of the Strategy, through which the participating countries, in partnership with the European Commission, will join forces to move from words to actions.
For more information on the Conference (including a draft programme) visit the EVENT WEBSITE.
Participation is intended for the Strategy's implementers:
• national and regional authorities responsible for the implementation of the Strategy and for the management of EU funds;
• EU institutions (relevant Commission services, Council, European Parliament, Committee of the Region, Economic and social Committee)
• regional organizations and bodies
Registration for the event is open.