10 years, already!

Published the 5 December 2018

Ten years after their first meeting, partners of the European Straits Initiative are looking forward to renew their commitment.

When they met for the first time in 2009 - before officialising their cooperation with the signature of a first Memorandum of Understanding on 23 November 2010 - partners of the European Straits Initiative probably did not imagine that they would all be around the table again in 2019.  Nevertheless, 10 years later and with many more partners, they are all invited to renew their commitment in this unique cooperation.

In their first letter to local authorities bordering straits’ areas, Pas-de-Calais County Council and Kent County Council highlighted that “the European Union reopened a debate on the question of territorial cohesion. The subject is not new, but it is undoubtedly framed very differently now from what it was only ten years ago. (…) Territories concerned by maritime straits are at the forefront of this evolution.” Ten years later and at the heart of the debate for 2021-2027 cohesion policy framework, this is not only still relevant but more than ever a challenge for straits.

In October 2014, strong of the results of NOSTRA project, the partners of the European Straits Initiative had renewed for the first time the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Coquelles in 2010. The next political conference of the European Straits Initiative, at the spring 2019, will be the opportunity to come back on the work undertaken so far and results of this cooperation; it will also be a chance to highlight the fore coming challenges and to give a new impulsion to the collective work of ESI with the signature of a new Memorandum of Understanding.