The 12th meeting of the Thematic Steering Group for Pillar 3 - "Environmental Quality" of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region (EUSAIR) took place in Belgrade, Serbia on 4-5 March 2020 and was attended by representatives of 4 participating countries of the EUSAIR and the European Commission (DG REGIO) in person and by Croatia and DG ECHO ia Skype.
Initially a recap of the past activities and achievements was summed up. Followed by an intense discussion regarding operational conslusion of the 11th GB meeting regarding the task for TSGs to further develop the list of priorities in up to 2 flagships per Pillar. The flagships should primarily be focused on mainstream ESIF and IPA programming and should show a conglomerate of similar or different activities among the countries, which all contribute to the same macro-regional goal/impact (building blocks).
Regardless of the fact that the date of the 5th EUSAIR Forum is not finally confirmed yet, the TSG 3 members discussed possible themes for the panel session. Within the discussion was stressed that the identified theme should: - follow the EU Green Deal goals by implementing TSG 3 activities, - take into account eco-connectivity as connection between transport and green corridors (e.g. INTERREG Danube project Transgreen), - demonstrate an approach that include all A-I countries, also those without sea, - include biodiversity and its importance for all A-I countries especially landlocked, - take into account that all TSG 3 priorities can be inter-pillar and - give recognition of all the work done so far. Following the discussion TSG 3 members agreed on the theme regarding green and blue corridors: “Importance of blue and green infrastructure in a light of the new EU Post 2020 biodiversity framework: How to enhance the delivery of essential ecosystem services throughout the Adriatic – Ionian Region?” TSG 3 members agreed also on organizing a side event, the theme of which was not yet finetuned.
FP PP Izola presented the roadmap of activities done for the project development from last TSG 3 meeting in November 2019 untill 12th TSG 3 meeting in Belgrade. Mono-pillar project concept ICZM&MSP is being developed by the external support, whereas the project proposal ASOSCoP is in the preparation for the open call of DG ECHO.
TSG 3 also approved the final version of Monitoring and evaluation of the EUSAIR MRS in the framework of Facility Point and agreed to send an official letter to JRC to ask for the support to build the cluster, based on its offer of scientific support to the EUSAIR stakeholders (especially those coming from the Western Balkans). The aim is to improve 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 meeting proved an important step forward done by TSG3 and despite poor attendance this time, partly due to the force majeure of the medical issues of Corona virus (COVID - 19), it is achieving its set goals.
