On 24th February the Euro Mediterranean Assembly of local and regional authorities (ARLEM) held its annual meeting in Tangers, Morocco. At the meeting members of the CoR and its counterparts coming from the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean took stock of the state of decentralisation in the region where three years after the Arab Spring some constitutional reforms and changes are underway. Moreover, a new project on improving capacity building in local and regional authorities to improve the management of public policies, especially those related to urban development has been presented.
The meeting provided the opportunity to adopt the annual report on the territorial dimension of the Union for the Mediterranean as well as the two reports, which were discussed beforehand in the thematic commissions, notably on the cohesion strategy for the Mediterranean region and on sustainable urban mobility.
Members decided that in 2014 the focus will be on crucial issues such as the management of migration flows and waste management. The just appointed rapporteur Mr Costa and Mr.Boudra will have to present a draft report at the next meeting before the ECOTER and SUDEV commissions respectively.
The EA members Mr Stanislaw Szwabski and Mr Brian Meaney agreed that such questions need to be looked at in more details as migration and waste management are global challenges which require a coordinated approach and actions and the EU needs to be in the frontline in assisting the Mediterranean partners by transferring know-how and experiences.
