ARLEM - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

ARLEM is a permanent, joint assembly, bringing together local and regional authorities from the three shores of the Mediterranean. This assembly is designed to provide an institutional framework to bring together CoR members and representatives of European associations involved in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation with their counterparts from the Mediterranean partners in a permanent joint body.

At the inaugural session held in January 2010, mayors of major cities and representatives of regions from the European Union and the Mediterranean partner countries underlined the need to go beyond existing traditional diplomatic relations by launching concrete cooperation programmes on issues such as de-pollution of the Mediterranean; maritime and land highways; civil protection; alternative energies ; higher education and research, Euro-Mediterranean university; the Mediterranean business development initiative.

History

In the immediate aftermath of the establishment of the Union for the Mediterranean

Union for the Mediterranean

The Union for the Mediterranean is a multilateral partnership that encompasses 43 countries from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 member states of the European Union and 16 Mediterranean partner countries from North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans...

at the July 2008 Paris Summit, the Committee of the Regions

Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions is European Union's assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities with a direct voice within the EU's institutional framework....

submitted a proposal to the Heads of State and Government for the creation, in the form of a Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly, of a territorial dimension to the partnership. This proposal was promoted and supported by partner countries.

Several associations, among which the UCLG, the Mediterranean Interregional Committee of UCLG, fostered the creation of ARLEM in January 2010 in order to facilitate the establishment of contacts, good practice sharing between cities and regions and the promotion of inter-municipal and inter-regional cooperation.

Members of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly met for the second ARLEM plenary session in Agadir

Agadir

Agadir is a major city in southwest Morocco, capital of the Agadir province and the Sous-Massa-Draa economic region .-Etymology:...

(Morocco) on 29 January 2011 where the local and regional leaders of the Mediterranean adopted three major reports on local management on water, urban development and the territorial dimension of the Union for the Mediterranean. These reports were presented to the General Secretariat of the UfM the EU institutions and other players active in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. ARLEM also agreed to issue reports on the four following issues: renewable energy, desertification and climate change

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

, small and medium enterprises and cultural heritage

Cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

Objectives

The objective of ARLEM is to give local and regional representatives of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership an opportunity to establish direct dialogue with the European institutions and the Union for the Mediterranean. According to the Committee of the Regions, increased involvement of local and regional authorities in this process is of vital importance, since they are closest to the people, and thus best placed to produce tangible solutions to their everyday problems.

This forum provides structured visibility and follow-up for the on-the-ground realities of relations between the EU and its Southern and Eastern Mediterranean partners in the areas of trade, economic cooperation agreements, and the promotion of job creation and cultural interface.

ARLEM is a response to the request to put the role of regional and local authorities in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership on an institutional footing. It therefore gives the partnership a territorial dimension and seeks to involve local and regional authorities more closely in the specific projects of the Union for the Mediterranean.

Organisation

The structure of ARLEM is twofold, along the lines of what was done at the national parliamentary level with the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly

Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly

The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly , established in Naples on 3 December 2003 by decision of the Ministerial Conference of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, is the most recent institution of the Barcelona Process. The EMPA opened its proceedings in Vouliagmeni on 22 and 23 March 2004...

. It is composed of 84 members:

The EU delegation is composed of members of the Committee of the Regions (32) and representatives of European and international associations engaged in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation (10), including the Council of European Municipalities and Regions

Council of European Municipalities and Regions

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions is the largest organisation of local and regional governments in Europe. Its members are national associations of towns, municipalities and regions from 39 countries...

(CEMR).

The delegation of the Mediterranean partners is composed of 42 representatives of local and regional authorities appointed by the national governments.

The Assembly is chaired by two co-presidents: Ms Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions, and Mohamed Boudra, President of the region of Taza-Al Hoceima

Al Hoceima

Al Hoceima is a city and port in the north of Morocco and in the center of the Rif Mountains. The Al Hoceima city region has a population of 395.644 and is the capital of the Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate region...

-Taounate (Morocco). The Bureau is composed of the 2 co-Presidents, the Wali (governor) of Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

, Mohamed Kebir Addou; Khalid Al-Hnaifat, Mayor of Greater Tafilah (Jordan); Ivan Jakovcic

Ivan Jakovčić

Ivan Jakovčić is a Croatian politician and current head of the Istria County in Croatia.-Political career:...

, governor of the region of Istria

Istria

Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...

(Croatia); Ramon Luis Valcarcel Siso, President of the region of Murcia (Spain) and first Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions; Luc Van den Brande, President of the CIVEX Commission of the Committee of the Regions (Belgium); and Michel Vauzelle

Michel Vauzelle

Michel Vauzelle is the president of the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur since 1998. He is a member of the Socialist Party and was Minister of Justice in the Pierre Bérégovoy government in 1992–1993....

, president of the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.It is made up of:* the former French province of Provence* the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin...

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