Brussels, 14/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Malaga has not been selected by the European Commission for its Trans-European Core Network programme and the regional press (Diariosur of 11 October), which cites Eurostat, reports on the protest made by Andalusian authorities that see a contradiction between the decision taken in Brussels and the ambition to have a Union for the Mediterranean.
Malaga is the largest town close to the southern shore, with an airport used by 12 million passengers, and it is an important link in the major FERRMED axis that links Saint Petersbourg in Russia to Casablanca in Morocco, especially looking ahead to a “fixed” Gibraltar Strait link (an old project which regularly resurfaces). Its port installations are, according to the argument put forward by the authorities of Andalusia, of global interest and Malaga and the Mediterranean shore of Andalusia hold a central strategic place in the world for intercontinental traffic through the Mediterranean (some 20 million EVP in 2008). (FB/transl.jl)