Catalonia hosts Mediterranean macro-region summit

The Catalan government hosted the Summit for the Mediterranean Macro-region in the administration's headquarters building in Barcelona on Friday.

President Pere Aragonès presided over the meeting which was also coordinated by minister of foreign affairs, Meritxell Serret.

Representatives of 12 governments from six different states in the Mediterranean area attended the summit, as well as figures from various international organizations, entities, and representatives of European institutions.

Aragonès and Serret welcomed the attendees of the meeting at the government headquarters building on Friday afternoon, before the president offered a short introductory speech. 

The Catalan president said that the meeting will provide a platform to "strengthen ties of cooperation" and to "promote welfare and prosperity."

He called the Macro-region initiative a "strategic project for a dual reality" of both Europe and the Mediterranean region itself, an area that Aragonès said has been hit particularly hard by climate change. 

For the Catalan president, it is "essential to share strategies and find joint solutions" for the climate crisis.

Political declaration

Attendees approved a political declaration urging the Council of the European Union to formally start work to launch a Mediterranean macro-regional strategy.

In particular, the stakeholders involved want to use the fact that Spain holds the presidency of the Council of the EU to start the procedures to entrust the European Commission with the creation of the platform.

After the meeting concluded, foreign minister Meritxell Serret expressed her gratitude that so many different members of different governments "came to Barcelona to join efforts in support of this initiative" and to back it "in front of European institutions." 

The minister explained that the Macro-region requires that all agents involved in governance be consulted on different levels to define action plans. 

Today's summit was to push the formal creation of a Mediterranean Macro-region body, an initiative that Catalonia is taking a leading role in. 

The political leaders in attendance approved a "political declaration" that certifies their commitment to creating this macro-region platform that is aimed at "strengthening capacity and resilience" in several key areas such as combatting the climate crisis, and to "create prosperity and reinforce social cohesion and sustainable development," Serret explained.

The minister also expressed her gratitude that the Union for the Mediterranean group gave their support to the creation of the macro-region.

The Mediterranean macro-region 

The Mediterranean macro-region is an initiative led by Catalonia, together with the government of the French region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. 

The purpose of the Mediterranean macro-region is to group governments and other actors from all the shores of the Mediterranean under a European instrument of cooperation that allows them to defend interests of shared challenges, prioritizing especially the fight against climate emergency.

A macro-region is a political framework that allows countries located in the same region to jointly address and find solutions to problems or make better use of their potential working together. 

The initiative has been one of the main issues on the agenda and travels of foreign minister Serret to Brussels, Tunisia, France, Italy, and Croatia.