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Baltic Sea region’s future at stake

Representatives of national and regional parliaments in the Baltic Sea region, ministries, the European Parliament, Baltic Assembly and the Nordic Council, pan-Baltic organisations and other experts gathered on 27-29 August 2023 at the German Bundestag in Berlin for the 32nd Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. The event focused on discussing the future of our region, and building its democratic, digital and maritime resilience.

Cooperation and reliable neighbourhoods were considered to be the key elements to anchoring resilience in region. In the session dedicated to strengthening the resilience of maritime ecosystems, Ronald Lieske, Director of the Managing Authority/Joint Secretariat of Interreg Baltic Sea Region, shared a wide portfolio of the Programme’s contributions. These cover project achievements in multiple thematic fields, such as adapting to climate change, pollution reduction, nutrient recycling, use and reuse of water, combatting invasive species, risk assessment and management, and incorporating local knowledge into planning and decision-making.

Two project examples of EMPEREST (removing organic micropollutants from wastewater) and Baltic Sea2Land (providing tools for authorities to harmonise land and marine planning) showcased how our projects mobilise institutions across governance levels to develop practical solutions on the ground.

The conference participants also learned about a special call for project applications handling dumped munitions in the Baltic Sea, which coincided with one of topics of the event.

Interreg integrated into the call-to-action resolution!

The participants of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference agreed on a joint resolution, and called on governments, the Council of the Baltic States and the EU to act together. Within a document covering 65 different actions relevant for the region, expanding Interreg cross-border, transnational, interregional cooperation is stated as one of them. Interreg cooperation is considered to be one of the ways of achieving peaceful and reliable neighbourliness.  In relation to that, the role of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region is highlighted as well.

In order to reinforce the importance of building social resilience, the resolution calls for support to awarding local authorities as ‘Baltic Sea Region Cultural Pearls’ for engaging communities through culture. In fact, it is the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project BSR Cultural Pearls that is behind this great initiative.

The resolution listed many more actions in other fields vital for the Baltic Sea region, including digitalisation, democratic resilience, climate change, biodiversity, resilience of maritime ecosystems and munitions resting on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Celebrate with us!

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