Towards a Strategy to develop cohesion in the Mediterranean

Towards a Strategy to develop cohesion in the Mediterranean

Key points:

 

The EESC believes that the Mediterranean Region needs a Macro-Regional Strategy (EU MMRS) to help the regions face challenges that cannot be satisfactorily resolved by single regions or countries through the usual means. Such a strategy would help the regions concerned to address the causes of uncertainty that dominate the Mediterranean region by increasing the value-added of the positive achievements of the initiatives already launched and the Europe 2020 goals.

The EESC notes that the governance structure of the EU MMRS should be based on a multilevel approach involving regional, national and European institutions and should not be seen as an additional activity or effort of the said institutions.

The Committee believes that the fundamental principle of the implementation of the EU MMRS is the integrated approach. This approach would be strengthened by the establishment of a Euro-Mediterranean Macro Regional Forum to promote the full involvement of all institutional actors and civil society stakeholders and to combine existing policies with functional objectives in order to shape a common and shared policy.

The EESC also believes that it is strategically appropriate for the EESC and the CoR to host and provide leadership of the Mediterranean Macro-Regional Forum.