Committee of the Regions: UfM summit postponement will not prevent advancement of regional dialogue

The President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) has expressed her regret at the postponement of the Union for the Mediterranean Summit, but insisted this “will not prevent us from advancing dialogue at local and regional levels," adding the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly ARLEM would meet as scheduled on 29 January 2011.

A press release said CoR President Mercedes Bresso had stressed her disappointment at the postponement of the Summit of Heads of State of the Union for the Mediterranean, which should have taken place on Sunday 21 November. "I am confident in the willingness of all parties to continue negotiations, and I have no doubt that the summit would take place soon,"she said. "The dialogue continues at local and regional level as well as at the level of parliaments and civil society of the three sides of the Mediterranean," she added. As President of the Committee of Regions, Mercedes Bresso is co-president of ARLEM. Within this joint assembly, she supports dialogue and sharing of expertise between local and regional authorities on both sides of the Mediterranean, around specific issues such as local management of water resources and urban development. ARLEM will hold a plenary session on 29 January 2011 in Agadir, Morocco, which will mainly discuss the adoption of three reports, prepared throughout 2010: the first on local management of water resources, the second on urban development and the third on the territorial dimension in the Union for the Mediterranean, which will be addressed to the UfM and its general secretariat. 

ARLEM is a consultative assembly, which aims at bringing a regional and local dimension to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. It gathers 84 members from the EU and its 16 Mediterranean partners who are representatives of regions and local bodies holding a regional or local authority mandate. The inaugural ARLEM meeting took place on 21 January 2010 in Barcelona.