Tunis hosts the 15th MedCities General Assembly (2019)

In November, 28^th MedCities association celebrated its 15th General Assembly in Tunis City Hall where more than 25 member cities attended.

After presenting the agenda, the Mayor of Tunis, Ms. Souad Abderrahim, welcomed the audience while the MedCities President, Mr. Mohamed Idaomar – Mayor of Tétouan, – the new former Secretary General, Mr. Josep Canals, and the Secretary, Ms. Elisenda Alamany from Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona, started presenting and evaluating the activities and projects carried our during 2019.

The approval of the accounts and the new budget for the 2020 projects were among the main points of the meeting. As well as the approval of 4 new members of the association: Valencia, Montpellier, Gaziantep, and Mersin and a new observer member, Anima Invest Network. With these incorporations, MedCities has reached 61 members.

The General Assembly was also the launching point for the elaboration of the new Strategic Plan of the association. This will take place in 2020 and will cover the period 2021-2023. The new strategic plan will be a participatory and collaborative process to work commonly with all members and will set the priorities for the organisation for the coming years.

International Seminar

MedCities celebrates its annual conference 2019 and the general assembly in Tunis to bring the cooperation between cities of the Mediterranean closer

“To bring the municipalities of the Mediterranean closer to the citizens: decentralization and inter-municipal cooperation for the provision of services“, was the premise under which several representatives of city members discussed in three round tables.

• In the framework of the cooperation actions of the 56 Mediterranean member cities, the conference has been a point of union to work on a common roadmap for the 3 next years.
• The mayor of Tunis, Ms. Souad Ben Abderrahim, received the delegation of MedCities and all the participants and opened the conference hoping for a close and long collaboration between the member cities of MedCities.
• The entrance of four new cities has been approved in the General Assembly: Valencia, Montpellier, Gaziantep and Mersin. With these, the network is already 61.

“To bring the municipalities of the Mediterranean closer to the citizens: decentralization and inter-municipal cooperation for the provision of services”, was the premise under which several representatives of city members discussed in three round tables.

The key issue of this edition has been the need for the decentralization of competencies to cover the needs of the citizens and the cities themselves. Participating cities have agreed that a good decentralization helps to be efficient and take advantage of synergies from other cities.

Likewise, the strategies followed by cities and their councils to coordinate efforts with other ones in the same metropolitan area have also been one of the main points in the debate. Mobility, waste management, energy efficiency or the water cycle are the most demanding topics in terms of cooperation between nearby municipalities. The MedCities members have thrown out a unanimous message: we all have to work for easier and more adaptable cities in order to accomplish the need of their inhabitants.

To close the annual conference, the cities highlighted some experiences of metropolitan governance, for instance, the example of the Metropolitan Area of ​​Barcelona have been exposed as an example of how the Mediterranean arc cities are dealing with the challenges that they have for the next years.

The new Secretary General, Mr. Josep Canals Molina, underlined the importance of reinforcing the network with a fluid way of communication between the cities members: “We want to be a Mediterranean voice, which means to be a reference in the world as well as a useful voice for the member cities. We hope that more municipalities join us so we could be able to explain the world our Mediterranean way of doing and living the social and cultural wealth, in a transversal way. We have several challenges and threats in front of us, such as climate emergence and forced migration in our basin.”

This conference has been the prelude to the celebration of the General Assembly of the member cities.