CONFERENCE OF PERIPHERAL MARITIME REGIONS

BALKAN & BLACK SEA REGIONAL COMMISSION

SINOP DECLARATION

22 June 2012 in Sinop, Turkey: More 4 More- More support for the Black Sea Strategy, More activities in the Adriatic, More coherence between macro-regions and neighbourhood programmes, More Regional involvement at EU level !
On 8 July 2011 in Varna, the CPMR Balkan and Black Sea Regional Commission (BBSRC) voted on a Declaration for an integrated EU strategy for the Black Sea Region. On 14 February 2102, in a seminar organised in Athens by the European Commission, on behalf of the BBSRC, its President, Pavlos Damianidis, maintained the commitment of the Regions of the CPMR Geographical Commission to also support the initiatives of the European institutions in favour of the launch of an Adriatic-Ionian macro-region. The Regions of the Balkans and the Black Sea therefore want to be actors of a new organisation of territories in Europe around larger areas of cooperation such as macro-regions. They are involved in the CPMRs work in this area that aims to propose to the European institutions a conceptual and operational content to this new approach. A variety of strategies are in place: the pre-accession strategies concerning Turkey and the Western Balkans, the Neighbourhood Policy in its Eastern Partnership and Mediterranean Partnership, the new status of Russia as a strategic partner, the EU Strategy for the Danube. This makes it urgent and necessary to clarify the existing landscape for South East Europe. The BBSRC jointly with the CPMR wishes to congratulate the Councils approach proposing a three yeses rule: more complementary in funding, more institutional coordination and more new project development for the macro-regions on 13 April 2012. In this context, it supports the Alfonsi Report (from the European Parliament) on macro-regions, which also highlights the necessary coherence between Neighbourhood Policy and the macro-regional approach. When the Council and the European Parliament are negotiating the priorities, the budget and the legislative texts for the 2014-2020 programming period, the BBSRC reasserted and clarified in Sinop its own priorities, its expectations and also expressed its strong expectation for an acceleration of the pace of political developments. 1-Towards accelerating the concrete implementation of an EU Strategy for the Black Sea The Ungureanu Report approved by the European Parliament on 20 January 2011 regretted the delay in the implementation of the European Commissions 2007 Communication on a "Black Sea Synergy," and found that "no ministerial conference has been held since 2008, as well as a lack of institutional and political commitments and a lack of targeted human and financial resources". Despite the success of the Black Sea Basin Cooperation Programme supported by the ENPI, which actually demonstrates the relevance of this area of cooperation, the need for stronger commitment of the EU
Sinop Declaration - BBSRC General Assembly & Meeting with non-member Turkish maritime provinces 22 June 2012, Sinop (TK) p. 1

institutions vis--vis this area remains a reality. The speech made by Commissioner Fle on behalf of Baroness Ashton on 17 April 2012 before the European Parliament, does not contradict this finding. The resolve and determination expressed at the meeting can only be welcomed ("the EU needs to renew its interests in the Region - including the strategic, political, and economic dimensions") as long as the EU institutions act decisively to realise the commitments already made. The BBSRC however warmly welcomes the initiative taken by Commissioner Maria Damanaki to develop an integrated approach to Maritime Policy in the Black Sea and wishes to be involved with the conference that the Commission is organising next November in Bucharest to launch this initiative. Whatever the status upheld for the Black Sea Region in the future organisation of European territory in macro-regions, it is essential that it receives special attention, which takes the form of a more ambitious cooperation programme than the current "sea basin" programme on topics as strategic as energy, transport and the maritime and coastal environment. The BBSRC asks the European Commission to consider this request when preparing - with relevant key stakeholders, including the regional authorities of the EU and neighbouring countries - the implementation of the cross-border cooperation programmes of Neighbourhood Policy for after 2013. In this regard, it welcomes the statement made by the representative of the European Commission at the CPMR Political Bureau in Helsinki 8 June 2012, recognising the need to increase the funds in Cross-Border Cooperation Programmes for the Black Sea, and agreeing with the need to actively review the creation of a Black Sea Strategy. 2 Towards a fuller participation of the Regions in the definition and implementation of the AdriaticIonian Strategy In contrast to the Black Sea Region, the Adriatic-Ionian area is the subject of a broad consensus within the EU institutions as an area of implementation of an integrated strategy, and benefits from genuine mobilisation. The BBSRC invites its Member Regions, from the Eastern coast of the Adriatic (Greece and Croatia), to be fully involved in this area and, under this favourable context, to develop specific projects with partner regions from the two coasts of the Adriatic. The Maritime Regions are active in the fields of blue growth, maritime safety, integrated coastal zone management, maritime transport and tourism. The Regions of the BBSRC are therefore available to contribute to the development of a strategy and an action plan for the Adriatic-Ionian macro-region, in partnership with those of the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission. An event could be organised with the support of the CPMR in second half of 2012 to make this inter-regional contribution a reality. 3 Towards a greater involvement of the Regions in the implementation of pre-accession and neighbourhood policies for 2014-2020 Along with local authorities, the Regions are major players in the success of human ("people to people") and economic cooperation that justifies neighbourhood and pre-accession policies and turns them into a reality. The European Commission rightly decided in May 2011 to prioritise ("more for more") the projects and the actors that contribute to the advancement of humanistic values in its external policy. As well as the European Parliament, it advocates an increasing involvement of Civil Society Organisations in the programmes. The CPMR BBSRC welcomes this development. However, it invites the European institutions to also involve the local and regional authorities of Member States and neighbouring and candidate countries in the preparation and implementation of these policies.

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It is an area where this involvement will be instrumental and contribute to successful programmes: crossborder cooperation, both those supported by the future IPA II (pre-accession) and by the future ENI (neighbourhood). The BBSRC and the CPMR therefore invite the European Commission to closely involve inter-regional organisations, in particular the CPMR which is shaped in a macro-regional fashion, in the preparation of future cross-border cooperation programmes. They particularly wish to be involved in the annual Interact conference in October 2012, in order to be able to present the lessons learnt from the on-going programmes and to make useful suggestions regarding programmes for the future period. With regard to the vast and unique opportunities that the Black Sea represents, the BBSRC invites all relevant stakeholders to explore all avenues in order to structure sound and concrete cooperation projects, particularly in fishing, transport, and tourism. Those would increase interdependence among the partner Regions, and strengthen existing bonds. The BBSRC wishes to invite its Member Regions and partners to Odessa for its next General Assembly in 2013. On this occasion and only a few months before the launch of the next programming period of EU policies, an update will be provided on the results of the BBSRC actions and proposals to the EU institutions. The work and specific mobilisation of the Regions to inject precise content to these policy guidelines will also be addressed.

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