“Privileged interlocutor in Southern Europe and leader for Euro-Mediterranean policy”: these are the objectives of the new “Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion”, a project officially launched at the beginning of November and involving two French Regions (Midi-Pyrenées and Languedoc-Roussillon) and three Spanish ones (Aragon, Catalogna and Balearic Islands). The new Euroregion that is added to a dozen or so similar experiences currently in operation in Europe – represents 12.7% of the total GDP of France and Spain and 13.2% of their population. Apart from Euro-Mediterranean policy, the five Regions, by their fusion, intend to develop joint projects in the sector of infrastructures and transport and draw on EU funds at the disposal of local authorities. The “Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion”, which could be enlarged to the Region of Valencia and the State of Andorra in the near future, has announced the opening of a common office at the European Union “with the aim of raising its profile in Brussels in a Union of 25 member states and 350 Regions”.
