The Vice-President of the region, Ana Ollo, made this request at the plenary session of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), held in Saint Malo (France) and “in view of the risk of the Atlantic areas losing influence in Europe, where four macro-regions have already been set up”. “Its constitution would make it possible to generate opportunities for issues of special interest to Navarre, such as the development of renewable wind energy or the promotion of green hydrogen, which are included in our Sustainable Strategy for Smart Specialisation (S4)”, he added.
Ollo also pointed out that, together with the aforementioned sectors, the macro-region could also promote areas such as sustainable mobility, railway connections or the promotion of tourism. “Different entities of the socio-economic fabric of Navarre (clusters, chambers of commerce…) have told us that they share the importance of strengthening the Atlantic Arc, which also has its own funding instruments through the European Interreg Atlantic Area programme”, he recalled.
The Atlantic Arc is one of the six geographical commissions included in the network of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions. From this point, the aim of this petition is to take a step forward in its institutionalisation process, something that has already happened in other cases such as the Scandinavian, Balkan or Mediterranean areas.
On this basis, the request made by the Vice-President of Navarre is addressed to the institutions of the European Union. It is, in that sense, a pronouncement consistent with previous positions of the Foral Community – which joined the commission in 2015 – and of 27 regions from six states (Spain, France, Portugal, Ireland, United Kingdom and Canada) that make up the Atlantic Arc Commission.
Source: Navarra.es