13th Meeting of the Thematic Steering Group for Pillar 3 – Environmental Quality
Welcoming words from Slovenian National Coordinator for Macro-regional strategies Andreja Jerina on the future of EUSAIR: "We don't need revolution, but would need evolution!"
On 17th December 2020 the members of EUSAIR Thematic Steering Group 3 (TSG 3) had their 13th meeting, that was held online. Eight out of nine member countries were present. The members were greeted by Andreja Jerina, National coordinator of Slovenia who first commended EUSAIR pillar members and coordinators for their work and for the results they have achieved, and thus for raising the visibility of macro-regional strategies despite the trying conditions brought to us by the pandemic. Ms. Jerina took the opportunity to introduce some details regarding the Slovenian presidency, which started on 1 June 2020, and will end on 31 May 2021. At the meeting the co-chairs presented the outcomes of the Mediterranean coast and macro-regional strategies week in September 2020 and the main outcomes and key messages of the first EU Green Deal workshop: “The opportunities of the Green Deal for macro-regions”, which was organized by EUSAIR Pillar 3 and INTERACT. They also shared some main achievements of the Pillar 3 such as the adoption of the 3 flagships and the preparation of concrete projects and the submission of project ASOSCoP to the DG ECHO call and. The members also approved 2 project proposals from Greek partners and 1 interpillar project proposal featuring TSG 2, 3 and 4. Two guest speakers were present on the meeting. Mr. Vedran Nikolič from EU Commission presented the possibility of cooperation, coordination and the role of EUSAIR in the Marine protected areas in the Adriatic and Ionian basin with the goal of making them a priority in the strategies in the coming years, which the members welcomed. Ms. Paloma Mallorquin, Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU), presented their role and work in the Adriatic-Ionian region and the possibilities of cooperation in the bio-economy sector which puts together innovation and environmental protection and is therefore strongly connected to the objective of the European Green Deal. The Pillar 3 members discussed the topic of their panel session at the upcoming 5th EUSAIR Forum in Serbia in January 2021 and also at the 6th EUSAIR Forum in Slovenia in May 2021.
