There are four macro-regional strategies in the EU, fostering cooperation in approx 75% of all EU member states. In addition, there are three EU sea basin strategies, which are cooperation structures for protecting the sea basins. These strategies come from different origins but share similar goals and the view that some challenges cannot be solved on the national level alone.

From 12-14 June 2024, all seven EU territorial strategies came together for the first time, to exchange information, thoughts and ideas on regional cooperation in Europe under the slogan ‘Strategies4Cooperation.’

Five parallel interactive workshops were organised to discuss the following themes: Enlargement, Climate Change, Clusters and Innovation, Embedding and Civil Societies engagement.

Amongst the many events, a panel discussion was organised by the EU Sea Basin Assistance Mechanism titled ‘Synergies amongst the strategies; taking stock and looking ahead’ .

This panel was moderated by Matteo Bocci (EU Assistance Mechanism) and consisted of Ms Andra Kuzmina (Latvian Presidency for the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region), Ms Mathilde Konstantopoulou (Greek Presidency for the EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region), Mr Markku Markkula (Vice Presidente of the Committee of the Regions) and Ms Isabelle Perret (French Presidency of the EU Sea Basin Strategy for the Atlantic)

Some key conclusions from this session:

• There are as many shared commonalities as well as specificities amongst the strategies as relevant enablers of cooperation (e.g. same targeted stakeholders, different governance models and levels) 
• There are clear ways to foster more synergies between the strategies (e.g. observer roles in each other’s governance structures) 
• Shared actions should be explored across key topics/sectors (e.g. skills, pollution, decarbonisation & Marine Renewable Energies, smaller islands) 
• Stakeholder cooperation could be promoted more across mutual events 
• Information could be shared and duplication avoided through a better exchange beween the strategies (e.g. build on best practices and good examples) 
• Good to maximise use of (limited) financial resources – e.g. by making them more impact-oriented
  

You can find a complete summary of all 29 conclusions in this pdf

The 5th Macro-Regional and Sea Basin Strategies Days 2024, was co-organised by DG REGIO and DG MARE.

For more information on the Macro-regional & Sea Basin Strategies Days 2024 including speeches and outcomes, visit the the event page.

Photo-exhibition
During this event, a photo-exhibition was organised showcasing the two most relevant projects per strategy.

For the WestMED Initiative, photos were displayed from award winners Starfish 4.0/ NEMO (winner 2021) and ‘We are Blue Schools‘ (winner 2023)

We Are Blue Schools | Ocean literacy | Group of children displaying their ocean related artwork on the Balearic Islands | Photo (c) We are blue schools

StarFish 2.0  |  Small Scale Fisheries | The Nemo tracking and monitoring device by CLS being tested by local fishermen | Photo (c) George Galanos

Overview of the photo-exhibition with examples of projects from the seven EU cooperation strategies

This workshop that took place on May 30, 2024 during the European Maritime Day in Svendborg Denmark, was  aimed at exploring how the EU Sea Basins Assistance Mechanism can further enhance  effective cooperation with strategic blue economy initiatives promoted by the EU in the ‘cross-cutting’ areas of research and innovation, ocean literacy and green energy transition.

Moderation was done by Matteo Bocci, from the Sea Basins Assistance Mechanism and contributions were made by:

• Margherita Zorgno, Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership
• Olga Mashkina, EU4Ocean Coalition
• Ana Peralta, EU Energy Transition Partnership
• Gaetan Coatanroch, Mission Oceans and Waters Implementation Platform

The workshop allowed the different initiatives to share the main activities and results achieved so far in their areas of intervention, and then look ahead to identify concrete actions for further cooperation– also by building upon the results of the High-Level Panel 1 held on the same day.

Key Highlights and Outcomes of the workshop:

As concrete outcomes of this workshop, the different initiatives involved agreed to establish concrete roadmaps for cooperation in the year ahead, particularly in the area of Ocean literacy and blue skills, which emerged as a cross-cutting topic of interest to all the initiatives involved.

• The Sea Basins Assistance Mechanism (with a concrete Pillar on the Atlantic sea basin focused on this topic) is exploring the possibility of creating a cross-sea basin working group on blue skills and ocean literacy. In this sense, it is encouraging other “blue” initiatives to feed it with practices and relevant experiences.
• From the R&I point of view, SBEP incorporates blue skills as a cross-cutting theme within its scope of work, and has supported projects focused on, e.g., “upskilling” in the tourism sector. Moreover, the foreseen Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on marine/water is expected to have a focus on education and skills.
• From the angle of energy transition and decarbonisation in different maritime sectors, as highlighted by the Energy Transition Partnership, the development of a new set of “blue skills” is crucial. The blue economy is challenged by an ageing workforce (this is particularly true for the fisheries sector), and a lack of workers for many related economic activities, including in more “emerging” sectors (i.e. blue biotechnologies, marine renewable energies, etc.) In this sense, the initiative ‘Fishers of the Future’ was launched as a EU-wide participatory project to examine the future role of fishers in society up to 2050.
• The issue of ocean literacy is the main axis of activity for the EU4OCEAN coalition, and particularly when it comes to involving the younger generations and “training the trainers”. As such, this initiative is supporting integrated outreach actions with the aim to attract and engage such groups to the vast opportunities of the Blue Economy job market. In this sense, the project “Blue Generation” has the goal to inspire and engage young people between 15 and 29 years to pursue a sustainable career in a Blue Economy sector.

In conclusion, the workshop highlighted the vital role of collaborative efforts in advancing the EU’s blue economy initiatives, particularly through focused areas such as ocean literacy and blue skills development. As a key result, the different initiatives committed to continue working together to further operationalise future joint actions.

The last time stakeholders had the possibility to get together as exhibitors was in 2023.

The European Commission, the City of Svendborg and the Danish Maritime Authority are happy to be able to offer this possibility once again and to give stakeholders the chance to showcase their projects and initiatives in an exhibition.

All  corresponding information can be found through the EMD website, or by direct link EMD 2024 call for exhibition.

The deadline to apply is the 22 March 2024 at 23h59. Please note that the call is launched on a “first come first served” basis and the call may therefore be closed before the deadline if the amount of applicants already reaches the threshold.