The Catalan government’s Minister for External Action and the EU, Meritxell Serret, took part in a panel discussion on climate change, droughts and water shortages at the Committee of the Regions (CoR) in Brussels on Thursday 25 May.
Catalonia wants to promote different actions over the next five years and advocates “multi-level governance and a European approach” to address the challenges of water shortages and the impact of climate change (drought, flooding) on agriculture and industry.
“We need a stronger approach”, she said in an interview with EUROPE on Wednesday 24 May. She wants to take advantage of the forthcoming Spanish Presidency of the EU Council to give new impetus to the request of many regions and organisations (and of the European Parliament and the CoR) to create a macro-regional strategy for the Mediterranean.
A platform of ‘friends’ of this macro-region has been launched and the main subject of this strategy should be, according to Ms Serret, better cooperation, particularly technological, between regions to meet the challenges of climate change (water management, energy, the fight against plastics at sea and waste). “This is a very ambitious but necessary project. There is no time to lose”, concluded Ms Serret. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)