EU strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian region

KEY POINTS

Common challenges

Historically, the region has faced difficult economic and political circumstances, as well as conflict. Challenges that it faces include:

• contrasting socioeconomic disparities between countries and regions;
• weak transport infrastructure and poor accessibility;
• inadequate interconnection of electricity grids and low investment in gas networks;
• increased human use threatening marine and coastal ecosystems (e.g. the pressure of tourism on waste water infrastructure);
• natural and man-made hazards and risks from climate change (e.g. more frequent forest fires);
• need for capacity building (i.e. developing skills, abilities, processes, etc.) in national, regional and local administrations and bodies.

Action plan

The strategy is accompanied by an action plan. It expands the maritime dimension to include the region’s hinterland and is structured around four interdependent pillars, as described below.

1. Blue growth: to drive innovative maritime and marine growth by promoting sustainable economic development, jobs and business opportunities in the blue economy, including fisheries and aquaculture (i.e. fish-farming).
2. Connecting the region: improving the connectivity of transport and energy networks.
3. Environmental quality: cooperation to contribute to good environmental status for marine and coastal ecosystems, reducing marine pollution, mitigating and compensating soil sealing (i.e. the loss of soil resources due to the covering of land for housing, roads or other construction work), reducing air pollution and halting the loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems.
4. Sustainable tourism: developing the region’s potential in terms of innovative, sustainable, responsible quality tourism by diversifying tourism products and services, along with tackling seasonality.

Climate change mitigation (reducing the risks of climate change to human life and property) and adaptation, as well as disaster risk management, are also incorporated within each of these pillars.

In addition, two cross-cutting aspects are identified, as follows.

• Capacity building, including communication, for efficient implementation and for raising public awareness and support.
• Research and innovation to boost high-skilled employment, growth and competitiveness. Cooperation within transnational networks can bring ideas to markets and help develop new products and services.