2024 MedCat Days

Regions call for Mediterranean policies at MedCat Days

The 5th edition of MedCat Days, held in Barcelona from June 25 to 28, was a clamor in favor of Mediterranean policies. The event, which cannot be ignored as it was held just after the European elections that saw a tremendous rise of the extreme right, claimed the validity of what was the Barcelona Process, just one year before the 30th anniversary of that project that envisaged an intense and sustained Euro-Mediterranean cooperation over time.

This was claimed by the host, the Catalan regional minister for Foreign Affairs and the European Union, Meritxell Serret, but also by the president of ORU Fogar and president of the Regional Council of Rabat Salé Kenitra (Morocco), Rachid el Abdi. 

Minister Serret urged the new European institutions to prioritize the Mediterranean perspective. In her speech, she referred to the Mediterranean macro-regional project that Catalonia is promoting in a very particular way: "The macro-region is not, in any case, an easy challenge, but it is essential". For the Minister, the macro-regional project is the initiative that should enable greater cohesion and cooperation, as well as more fluid governance between the territories and actors of the Mediterranean, in order to be able to respond to the growing shared challenges. "We want the Mediterranean to be a living space and to be open," stressed the minister.

President Rachid el Abdi wanted to emphasize the fact that Morocco and Catalonia have been and will continue to be the main advocates of these Mediterranean policies. "We must thank Catalonia for its leadership in this regard. Here we should not explain that this relationship is strategic. What I must say, in any case, is that beyond a friendly national government, on the other side of the Mediterranean, you, today, have regions that are already operational and perfectly capable of pulling forward the most complex projects." The President of the Regional Council of the Moroccan capital also offered to be a bridge to the regions of the rest of Africa.

During the three days, they discussed the demographic and socio-political challenges that exist in the Mediterranean, but above all the climate challenge. The minister and the president El Abdi, like many of the speakers at MedCat Days, also agreed that the field of climate emergency should be a priority in Mediterranean cooperation. Thus, both of them, but also the vice-president of the Council of the Region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, Rafia El Mansouri, expressed to Patrick Simonnet, special envoy for the Mediterranean of the European External Action Service, the need to ensure the presence of the Mediterranean and climate policies in the new agenda of the European Union.

Coinciding with the MedCat Days, a meeting of the Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership (MCAP) was also held from June 26 to 28. The meeting was also attended by President Rachid el Abdi.