The Department of Foreign Affairs and European Union of the Government of Catalonia, together with the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), and with the collaboration of the Mediterranean Cooperation Alliance (MedCoopAlliance), promoted a new edition of the MedCat Days 2023 initiative, took place in Barcelona on June 12 and 13, 2023.

With the slogan “Let’s transform the Mediterranean”, the MedCat Days 2023 included days of reflection, debates, meetings of actors, Euro-Mediterranean initiatives and projects, and institutional meetings, with the following objectives:

• Analyze the main current dynamics in the Euro-Mediterranean region and the major challenges that confront us.
• Contribute to the deployment of an authentic transformative Mediterranean agenda, which takes into account the capacity of multilevel governance to influence Euro-Mediterranean collaboration.
• Promote an integrated, macro-regional and multi-level vision within the framework of European policies in the Mediterranean.
• Foster alliances between Catalan and Mediterranean agents to deepen collaborative governance and the new opportunities that open up for projects in the field of governance.

MedCities participated in two debates. The first one based on Governance and projects: impact and capitalization and partnerships in which MedCities presented the Interreg euro Med programme projects in which is involved and tried to give an answer of what are the open opportunities at a thematic level and how are new projects proposed in the framework of the specific governance objective. Laia Vinyes, Project Officer, explained Community 4 Living Areas and the Mission 4 Nature Interreg euro Med projects in which MedCities is involved and for which it has the role to put cities and citizens at the center of the actions developed during the lifetime of the projects. Also, Ms.Vinyes explained what it means to capitalize in the framework of the governance projects and presented the Med4Waste, an ENI CBC MED project that serves to capitalize on results from environmental and climate change experiences in the southern Mediterranean countries.

MedCities Director, Mr.Oriol Barba, intervened at the session “Collaborative governance: promoting alliances” and explained that MedCities itself is always looking for a multilevel collaboration between actors and regions for good governance and a real capitalization of results. “Our way of working takes governance into account and naturally looks for synergies in the initiatives and projects in which we are involved. That’s why you need to know the local authorities and the reality of cities“, he said.

Secretary General from MedCities, Mr. Josep Canals, intervened to talk about the reality that is experienced in the Mediterranean basin: “We have states that act by excess or by default and this is what makes local diplomacy more important than ever. We must count on local authorities“. Also, Mr. Canals explained MedCities role in the Mediterranean Cooperation Alliance as a way to underline “the need for local authorities to be heard and be taken into account when States and European actors take decisions that have to be implemented by cities and metropolitan areas“.

MedCities is an active partner of the Mediterranean Cooperation Alliance (MedCoopAlliance) and organisation that was also presented by the Minister of Foreign Action and European Union, Ms. Meritxell Serret. The Catalan Government is also a partner of the MedCoopAlliace and now, the President. Its action focuses on the support of the creation of a Mediterranean macro-regional strategy.

The program also included the following activities:

• MedCat Dialogues (June 12). Seminar “Jointly relaunching the transformative Mediterranean agenda“. This seminar promoted a broad debate to rethink and transform Euro-Mediterranean relations in the current context of the conflict in Ukraine, to contribute to implementing the new Agenda for the Mediterranean of the European Union, taking into account the challenges of sustainable development that challenge us and is in line with the objectives of sustainable development. These challenges require a renewed effort to establish innovative multilevel and collaborative governance mechanisms that involve all actors as agents of transformation. In this context, the Catalan presidency of the Mediterranean Pyrenees Euroregion promotes a workshop on “The commitment of the Mediterranean Pyrenees Euroregion in the fight against drought”.
• MedCat Partners Forum (June 13), “Governance and Euromediterranean Territorial Cooperation“. Open meeting space focused on the specific objective of governance as a priority of the Euro-Mediterranean territorial cooperation programs. The dimension of the collaborative and transformative governance of the Euro-Mediterranean programs will be analyzed, the new perspectives and opportunities it raises, the impact and the new alliances and synergies that can be generated. Representatives of relevant programs and networks will take part, as well as regional actors from the Mediterranean basin and participants in projects.