Maritime straits at the heart of Open Days 2015

Published the 10 November 2024

The Open Days are organised every year by the Committee of the Regions to highlight the role of local authorities in Europe; beyond the Brussels’ conferences, a certain number of events happening on territories of the European Union (and beyond) are labelled “local event” of Open Days. In 2015, two Open Days local events celebrate European straits.

The political conference of the European Straits Initiative, on 8th October 2015 in Vlora, received the label Open Days’ “local event” at the request of Region Vlora, organising the conference. This important political moment gathered about 40 participants from Albania, United-Kingdom, Italy, Estonia, Greece, Finland, Sweden, France and Tunisia. This meeting highlighted the particular stakes of Straits of Otranto and Corfu, at the crossroads of Adriatic and Ionian Seas. It also gave a new impulse to ESI thanks to the creation of four thematic commissions. The conference was the only Open Days’ “local event” in Albania, now officially entered in the accession process to the European Union as a candidate country. More information in the dedicated article.

The Province of Reggio Calabria also wished to give this Open Days’ European dimension to the presentation of its action plan from the INTERREG IVC NOSTRA project through the organisation of a public meeting on 28th October 2015. This meeting gathered almost 100 persons, elected representatives, citizens and experts, around the integrated development of the Strait of Messina. Among the issues raised, particular attention was given to the implementation of European policies at local level and to the governance of maritime areas such as the Strait of Messina, at the heart of the Euro-Mediterranean region. This action plan is one of the many results of NOSTRA project: it enables the transcription at local level of the exchanges and good practices identified at the scale of 8 straits.