Brussels, 14/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - At the meeting of the political bureau of the inter-Mediterranean commission of the Conference of the Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR)in Bari, Italy, on 4 March, the chairmen, Nichi Vendola (Puglia Region, Italy) and Michel Vauzelle (PACA - Provence/ Alpes/Côte d'Azur - France), called for a new policy for the Mediterranean.
Vauzelle, who also chairs the inter-Mediterranean commission, called on Europe “not to turn its back” on the Mediterranean. He also highlighted that “the Barcelona process has unfortunately not come up to the expectations of the UfM and has led only to some family photographs”.
Vendola announced that the ARLEM (the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly) will meet in Bari in January 2012. He spoke out against “the too timid role of Europe in the democratic process in the South of the Mediterranean”. Politics today, he went on, do not do justice to historic events which demand a strategic vision of the future from Europe. “Who are the symbolic people, such as Altiero Spinelli, to break down nationalist barriers? One of the principles of Europe will also be to heighten people's awareness of the risks of xenophobia and racism which could flare up in the Mediterranean”, he declared.
Silvia Godelli, Regional Minister for the Mediterranean, Culture and Tourism from the Region of Puglia, stressed the role of the regions at governance level and the importance of the macro-regional strategy. “The role of the regions from the north of the Mediterranean becomes a decisive factor and driving force for new European policies, a role that the regions call for as political, institutional and social actors in order to define the new 2014-2020 programming and EU2020 Strategy”, she said.
In its press release, the CPMR mentions among other speakers, Pavlos Damianidis, Vice-President of the Region Anatoliki Makedonia kai Thraki, Greece, and José Luis Villanueva Garcia, Director General of External Relations, Regional Government of Valencia, Spain. For further information, go to: http://www.crpm.org (G.B./transl.rt)