EUSAIR - Final Report

»Spatial
maritime plans
are one of the
foundations of
the realization
of the Green
Plan«
Interview with Danilo Markočič,
Mayor of the Municipality of Izola
How do you look at the one-year Slovene Presidency
now, after the end of the 6 th EUSAIR Forum,
which your colleagues from the Izola Municipality,
especially the Public Institute for the Promotion
of Entrepreneurship and Development Projects of
the Municipality of Izola, successfully carried out
in close partnership with the capital?
That’s what it’s all about, two-way traffic: that, on the
one hand, international, cross-border, regional projects
such as EUSAIR only really prove their worth when
they are felt by citizens; on the other hand, without the
active participation of “locals”, no national, let alone
international, initiative can succeed. The Mediterranean
teaches us at every step and with every wave that
there are no partial solutions: what the tide does here
is experienced as the ebb there; if the fish stock pays
the price of development on one coast, the other coast
will experience it too. So all the right solutions are really
holistic. That’s also why our 6 th Forum had the slogan
Along the Coasts of the Shared Sea.
The Slovene Presidency focused on the Green
Pillar, the quality of the environment and Green
Connectivity. One could say that Izola and Istria
are vitally interested in each of the four “sails”,
and especially in Blue Growth and sustainable
tourism.
The Covid-19 epidemic has taught us how many things
stop if tourism stops. Not only jobs and travel, but literally
life: catering, culture, crafts – all this is closely linked
with tourism in Slovene Istria, as well as on most of the
Adriatic and Ionian coasts. This topic certainly marked
the year of the Slovene Presidency. I must say, though,
that we also monitored and actively participated in the
Pillar of Blue Growth in great detail – long before the
Presidency, which only intensified our activities.
Let me look back a little: in April 2019, experts gathered
at the Piran Marine Biological Station of the National
Institute of Biology to discuss the potentials for Blue
Growth and define development priorities in Slovenia.
Colleague Škerlič then presented the concept of Blue
Growth, as written in the EUSAIR thematic section,
and then through discussions on Mediterranean and
Slovene needs, they came to five essential contents
of Blue Development, to which were added two more
that appeared most often in the discussion. Why is this
important? Because it seems that our priorities are set
in a global context, while carefully thought out locally.
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