North Sea Commission

Recently our International President, Trish Robertson, delivered a presentation on the joint work being done by the North Sea Commission Sea and KIMO to secure a ban on the use of toxic #PFAS. It was a wonderful opportunity to expand awareness on this vitally important issue to regional politicians from across the North Sea area. We look forward to sharing more detailed information with you after the summer holidays!

It was a true pleasure to have acting Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) President Gunn Marit Helgesen at our recent Annual Business Meeting. Years ago, Cllr. Helgesen was actually a North Sea Commission president! It was a lovely opportunity to reminisce, as well as to contextualise NSC initiatives within the greater CPMR policy work. It also just goes to show that once a member of the NSC family, always a member of the NSC family 🌊 We are already counting down the days till the CPMR General Assembly in Gozo, Malta! 📆 2 - 4 October 2024

Last week, we had the North Sea Commission's 2024 Annual Business Meeting in Vestland fylkeskommune 🇳🇴. A few key takeaways from the meeting: 📌We need to continue the conversation on the future of cohesion policy. Regions are crucial to this discussion and the importance of regions in the actual execution of cohesion policy cannot be dismissed. 📌Our members were involved in 'mini-focus group sessions' with the Interreg North Sea Programme in order to take part in their stakeholder consultation this year. We were really happy to be involved in the input, which Interreg will be sending on to the Commission later this year. 📌The NSC appointed a new Vice-Chair for our Energy & Climate Change Group. Newly appointed Vice-Chair Camilla Eidsvold (Østfold), will be joining Chair Erlend Jordal (Rogaland fylkeskommune) and Vice-Chair Henrik Qvist (Region Midtjylland). 📌Youth representatives gave a presentation on the possibility of formalising the role of the NSC Youth Committee within the framework of the North Sea Commission. This discussion will be continued at our ExCom in October. 📌In order to better ingrain project development into the functioning of our working groups, we will be taking another look at some of the structural elements of our projects initiative. To revisit our meeting, take a look at the photos ➡ https://lnkd.in/eNQtZQps Read through the Final Declaration ➡ https://lnkd.in/ePRRHiJp #NorthSea #NorthSeaRegions #RegionalCooperation #YouthinPolitics

We had the beautiful mountains surrounding Bergen as our backdrop for the North Sea Commission's 33rd Annual Business Meeting last week. On Thursday, over 100 people from across our many regions gathered together and our Final Declaration was adopted! Read the NSC Final Declaration here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ePRRHiJp Vestland fylkeskommune #NorthSea #NorthSeaRegion #regionalcooperation

Vi kan forstaa hverandre! These wise words were used repeatedly during our NSC dinner last night and can be translated to “we can understand each other”. Especially after meetings such as these, it is undeniable that the 27 regions that are members of the #NorthSea Commission have so many commonalities. From language to culture to current priorities in policy and projects, our regions prove that the North Sea and all of its peripheral regions are one large community (or family, if you will). We would like to extend our utmost gratitude to Vestland fylkeskommune for hosting our 33rd Annual Business Meeting. The past three days have been filled with informative study visits, thematic meetings, and glimpses into Bergen’s rich culture. We will be sharing key takeaways from the ABM shortly, but for now we would just like to thank our gracious hosts and wish everyone safe travels home!

aaand our 33rd Annual Business Meeting has officially begun! We are really looking forward to the next few hours filled with presentations, debates, and many engaging discussions. Seeing everyone together in one room only reiterates the importance of cooperation between our #NorthSea regions. We are also very lucky to have both KIMO International and the Interreg North Sea Programme together with us in Bergen. The North Sea Commission’s cooperation with both of these organisations is incredibly important. Follow along to hear more about the discussions that we have today 🌊

Good morning from beautiful Bergen ☀️ 🇳🇴 Our Annual Business Meeting kicked off yesterday with a wonderful welcome by our host, Vestland’s County Mayor Jon Askeland, as well as speeches from the North Sea Commission President, Elisabet Babic, and CPMR’s Acting President, Gunn Marit Helgesen. Cllr. Gunn Marit Helgesen concluded her speech by shared a wonderful sentiment that local and regional politicians can truly bring hope to our citizens. We look forward to carrying this with us today as we continue on with our thematic working group meetings and the ABM. #NorthSea #NorthSeaRegions

Some of our NSC Secretariat is already in Bergen, Vestland fylkeskommune 🇳🇴 in preparation for the North Sea Commission’s Annual Business Meeting over the next days. We wish all of you coming to our ABM safe travels and are looking forward to seeing many friendly faces tonight ✈️🚌

With the European Parliament elections coming up this week, on 6-9 of June, the lead candidates chosen by the EU political groups to head the European Commission – spitzenkandidatens – are in the spotlight, as one of them is likely to become the next Commission President. In this context, Members of the CPMR Political Bureau want to extend their concerns on different topics, ranging from energy to Cohesion policy, innovation or regional specificities. In a series of videos, regional leaders from peripheral and maritime regions have asked short sharp questions to the Spitzenkandidat. Check the videos cpmr.org/eu-elections-2024 and spread the word so that the future President of the European Commission gives Regions in Europe the importance they deserve!  #CPMRAsks #EUelections2024 

Our North Sea Commission President, Cllr. Elisabet Babic spoke at a panel discussion on cities’ missions to restore our oceans and waters during #EMD2024 Listening to the interventions by each of the EMD cities (Brest, Cork, Den Helder, Ravenna, and Svendborg) it is clear that #coastalcommunities across Europe share the same challenges. Coastal communities are at the frontline and deal with exacerbated weather and natural disasters; we all need to do our part in ensuring their resilience. Thus, efforts on climate change adaptation across local, regional, and national levels need to be intensified. Regardless of whether cities belong to a region in the North Sea, we strongly advocate for an approach where local and regional authorities work together – along with other relevant actors. #NorthSea #regionalpolicy