Basque Government Chairs 2025 Atlantic Arc Commission General Assembly

• The Assembly will tackle important challenges affecting the present and future of the Atlantic seaboard

The Basque Government will chair the Atlantic Arc Commission General Assembly to be held today and tomorrow in Seville. It is the sixth General Assembly presided by the Basque Country, which holds the Presidency of the Atlantic Arc since 2020. The General Assembly of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR), which took place in Malta in October 2024, appointed President of the Basque Country Imanol Pradales as president of the Atlantic Arc Commission (CAA) for the period 2024-2026.

The Lehendakari sent apologies for his absence on both days, due to his attendance at the Conference of Presidents in Barcelona tomorrow. Representing the Basque Executive were the Secretary General for Foreign Affairs and a Global Basque Country, Ander Caballero; the Director of European Affairs, Mikel Anton; and the Basque Country’s delegate to the European Union, Marta Marin.

The Assembly - which brings together the political representatives of the European territories that make up the Atlantic Arc, along with Quebec - will look at the major issues of the day and the future of the Atlantic seaboard. So, in addition to reviewing the most significant achievements and activities of the year 2024, progress will be made in the work relating to internal organization, including governance and communication strategy.

Moreover, the meeting will also serve to address important proposals and debates currently taking place in the EU, and which are of particular interest to the members of the Atlantic Arc Commission, such as the new European financial framework post 2027, and future EU port strategy.

With respect to the Atlantic Macroregion project, the flagship proposal of the Basque presidency, the objective is to approve the road map, “a fundamental step towards consolidating our voice and shared ambition In the European space,” underlined Ander Caballero.

The meeting concluded with the adoption of a joint policy declaration establishing a series of commitments, constituting a qualitative leap in the collaboration with members of the Atlantic Arch Commission.

Atlantic Arc Commission

The Atlantic Arc Commission is one of six geographic commissions of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) and its activity, although specific for the expectations of the member regions, comes under this more general framework,

The Atlantic Arc Commission was created in 1989 at Faro (Algarve, Portugal) and is comprised of non-State regions and nations, and home to some 12% of the European population with 60 million inhabitants.