Programma di Cooperazione Italia - Francia Marittimo 2014 - 2020 La cooperazione al cuore del Mediterraneo Programma di Cooperazione Italia - Francia Marittimo 2014 - 2020 The added value of maritime cooperation Input paper from the Knowledge of the seas network (Interact) Evento annuale Genova, 16/11/2017 1

Climate change affecting coasts; Raise of alien species; Do we need maritime cooperation (programmes) post 2020? What can be achieved only by combining (the framework of) Interreg with maritime cooperation? As many countries have the sea as their border, maritime cooperation programmes are logically needed. There is a lot of potential for maritime cooperation, we have to see the sea as a natural cooperation area – especially there where there is a strong cooperation culture and history across maritime borders. In maritime geographies where there is a mind-set/feeling/perception of distance, of being abandoned (e.g. islands), maritime cooperation can be used to overcome these obstacles. At the same time, this feeling of (geographical) distance due to the sea in between might by an obstacle to cooperation and needs to be tackled to enable cooperation. Beyond the aspect of a maritime geography, there are certain topics and global threads related to the sea that can be tackled only in cooperation. First ideas of topics for maritime cooperation post 2020 by sea basins - Mediterranean Sea, are: Climate change affecting coasts; Raise of alien species; Cultural heritage; Maritime clusters in priorities of the WestMed Initiative creating impact; Accessibility; Maritime safety and security (coordination of competences, cooperation between administrations, good governance); Create common frameworks of maritime transport between islands. 2 2

What is the unique selling point of maritime cooperation programmes and projects? Is maritime cooperation, are maritime Interreg programmes something special, an own category of cooperation? It is about a shared area, not about a border that divides respectively unites two countries. There are no real borders at sea whilst joint policies are needed to effectively address the maritime issues at stake. Others replied that a maritime border is wider than a land border as in between there is an area to be taken care of. Reducing ‘maritime’ to the nature of the border is artificial. What is ‘maritime’ should rather depend on topics. If ‘maritime’ is understood as thematic, then maritime cooperation does not only affect coastal areas but also other parts of the country. Use the concept of Blue Growth as the door opener to understand the horizontal character and impact of maritime cooperation. Maritime cooperation is rather about joint problems in a shared area, not so much about same problems in two separate border regions. However, in reality maritime projects are rather often mirror projects, even if they should go beyond. 3 3

What would make maritime cooperation more effective and easier in the future? Macro-regional/sea basin strategies or similar strategic frameworks might bring more focus on maritime cooperation in the future. Maritime cooperation could bring more if it was linked to a strategic framework with a territorial approach. Use e.g. the WestMed Initiative as strategic framework, as starting point for the post 2020 discussions and create maritime clusters in WestMed priorities to achieve impact. Setting up more a focused, specific direction/objective/priority for maritime cooperation within programmes replacing thematic concentration to be more effective in terms of public spending and policies. Some say that by being more focused, less money is needed. A focus on maritime in the future would though not change the challenges and topics, but would change the way how programmes communicate what they want to achieve. 4 4