Newsletter – n°39 – January 2016

Initiative worth following

For two days on 18 and 19 January, Nicosia in Cyprus was the center of euro-Mediterranean local and regional dialogue.

Indeed, the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), the territorial dimension of the Union for the Mediterranean, gathered over a hundred officials from local and regional governments from both shores of the Mediterranean to discuss common challenges.

The response to the migration crisis was high on the agenda. Representatives from UNHCR and UN Habitat presented concrete projects in support of local governments affected by the refugee influx in the Middle East, while ARLEM members took advantage of the opportunity to discuss and share practices and ideas in this area.

Moreover, participants called for greater involvement of local and regional authorities in the new European Neighbourhood Policy, which was recently the object of a review process to increase its flexibility and partners’ sense of ownership.

However, the main takeaway of this year’s plenary session was the discussion with the mayors of Tripoli and Zintan in Libya about the difficult situation faced by local governments in their country. Their European and Mediterranean counterparts committed to explore ways of delivering assistance in areas such as medical equipment, vocational training and early education, which the Libyan mayors cited as some of their most urgent needs. PLATFORMA’s secretariat is in contact with the Committee of the Regions to coordinate on this important initiative.

For more information regarding the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly, please contact Jon Martin-Cullell, policy officer at PLATFORMA.