The Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) met online on 22 February to highlight concerns about access to COVID vaccines, urging “political actors to facilitate fair and equitable access for health”.

ARLEM’s recommendations for 2021 welcome the EU’s “reinforced commitment to its Southern neighbours” expressed in the “Renewed Partnership with the Southern Neighbourhood – A New Agenda for the Mediterranean”, stating that “delivering tangible outcomes through cooperation is crucial to find a way for a more prosperous, equitable, sustainable and safer future for the Mediterranean region”. It also calls on the EU and its partner countries “to systematically take into account local and regional authorities as drivers of a territorial development that is close to the people, when planning economic development, trade and investment in this context”.

The 23 recommendations also cover COVID-19, climate action, sustainable economic development, sustainable urban development, women’s empowerment, the EU’s 2021-27 budget, and supports the UfM’s proposal for a Day of the Mediterranean every 28 November.

The Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) is an assembly of local and regional representatives from the European Union and its Mediterranean partners. It was set up in 2010 by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) together with territorial associations active in this context allowing elected representatives from the three shores of the Mediterranean Sea to represent their local and regional authorities politically, including towards the EU and the Union for the Mediterranean (Uf​M); maintain political dialogue and promote interregional cooperation.

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Press release

ARLEM recommendations for 2021

Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM)