At the 16th plenary session of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), held in Palermo on Friday 7 November, European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica said that the Pact for the Mediterranean was a “living document that can be amended and added to”.
She pointed out that the resulting action plan – covering projects already in preparation as well as numerous new projects – “will be presented during the first quarter of next year” (see EUROPE 13732/2).
“We want to eliminate fossil fuels and keep our Mediterranean Sea clean and unpolluted”, she said, stressing the importance of investing in renewable energies – sun, wind and green hydrogen.
The commissioner also mentioned the Mediterranean University project, designed to connect students from north to south and east to west in the Mediterranean basin, “through joint courses, joint degrees and mobility opportunities”. It will be a network of existing universities.
On the subject of migration, Dubravka Šuica stressed the need to “combat illegal migration to pave the way for legal migration”. “We will work together to prevent illegal departures, combat smugglers and, of course, strengthen effective cooperation on readmission”, the commissioner stressed.
On 28 November, Ms Šuica will present the Pact for the Mediterranean to the governments of the EU’s southern neighbourhood countries at a meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).
ARLEM brings together members of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) as well as associations and local and regional representatives from the Union for the Mediterranean’s 16 partner countries. The assembly adopted a report (https://aeur.eu/f/jco ) on the Euro-Mediterranean strategic agenda, drafted by Arianna Censi (Italian/PES), deputy mayor for mobility of Milan, and Rama Mohammed El Ezzi (Amman, Jordan). This opinion is part of ARLEM’s five-year action plan, which includes cooperation in areas such as civil protection, the blue economy, youth entrepreneurship and cultural exchanges.
Finally, the Gardens of Babylon vertical farm in Algeria won the ARLEM prize for young local entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean. Founded by 31-year-old Mokhtar Bouazza, the company stands out for its use of intelligent technologies – sensors, artificial intelligence and computer vision – to optimise yields while reducing environmental impact. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)