Euroregions |Congress of Local and Regional authorities- Council of Europe

Council of Europe Euroregions

Local and regional authorities of European seas have expressed for many years now, the will to develop cross-border and regional cooperation projects aimed at achieving greater prosperity, stability and security of their populations. For this reason the Congress decided to launch the initiative of establishing Euroregions around these seas such as, the Adriatic Euroregion and the Black Sea Euroregion project.

These Euroregions are new associative structures, which bring together coastal cities and regions in order to achieve a sustainable management of their sea basins according to the specific needs of coastal populations. Local and regional authorities belonging to the countries part of these Euroregions can promote cooperation projects ensuring the social and economic development, the reinforcement of regional and local democracy and territorial cohesion.

Official Launch of the Black sea Euroregion

After the Adriatic one, the Congress launched the Black Sea Euro-region initiative at the conference in Constanta, Romania, in March 2006, which was followed by conferences in Samsun, Turkey, in November 2006 and in Odessa, Ukraine, in June 2007. Territorial authorities taking part in the Black Sea Euroregion initiative met in Varna (Bulgaria) on 26 September 2008.

14 Territorial authorities from 4 countries signed the Constituent Act and Statutes of the Euroregion during the Varna Conference. A result of the initiative launched by the Council of Europe Congress in 2006, this Euroregion is a platform for co-operation complementary to existing national intergovernmental co-operation initiatives, acting in the remit of regional and municipal competencies. It will serve as a launching pad for multilateral initiatives using existing national, European and international financial instruments. The Euroregion will take the shape of a non-profit association designed to facilitate inter-regional and inter-municipal co-operation in the Black Sea basin. (more...)

Déclaration finale

Adriatic Euroregion

On 6 February 2006, at an official Conference held in Venice, the Adriatic regions of six countries signed the “Joint declaration for the launching of the Euroregion”. The declaration contained in its appendix the draft Statute of the Euroregion, to be implemented by the Adriatic Council. The Adriatic Euroregion was officially founded on 30 June 2006, in Pula (Croatia) which hosts its headquarters. Ivan Jakovčić, President of the Istria Region (Croatia), is its President. The Adriatic Euroregion aims to "protect natural resources, reinforce social cohesion by joint projects in the fields of agriculture, fish, tourism and transports, and to assure a platform of cultural cooperation and exchange".

Around 22 million people live in the area of this Euroregion, which includes:
7 Croatian regions,
7 Italian regions,
1 Slovenian municipality,
1 Bosnia and Herzegovina canton,
5 Albanian municipalities, and
1 Montenegro municipality.