A Step Forward for the Union for the Mediterranean: CoR to inaugurate the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM)

On Tuesday 1 December, the President of the Committee of the Regions, Mr Luc Van den Brande, announced that the first official meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) is to be held in Barcelona on 21 January 2010.  The announcement was made at a working meeting in Brussels attended by representatives of the Union for the Mediterranean, the European institutions and local and regional authorities from the three shores of the Mediterranean.
 
"The European Union needs the support of all its partners, including that of the local and regional authorities, if it is to achieve its aim of relaunching the Barcelona Process," stated Mr Van den Brande, before adding that, "This forum will enhance the public profile and monitoring at grass-roots level of projects undertaken by the European Union and its partner countries in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean."  ARLEM will lend added impetus to Euro-Mediterranean dialogue, both as an instrument for fostering local democracy in the region and as a tool for contributing to the exchange of best practice.

The Catalan Regional Government will host the inaugural meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) in conjunction with the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.

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New UfM Assembly brings Euro-Med local authorities together for inaugural meeting