OSCE PA's Pere Joan Pons meets with Greek Minister of Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas in Athens, 30 May 2022ATHENS, 30 May 2022 – Spanish parliamentarian Pere Joan Pons, Chair of the OSCE PA’s Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, was in Athens today for meetings with the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) and relevant Hellenic authorities.
In discussions with officials from UNEP/MAP, a regional co-operation platform established in 1975 under the UNEP Regional Seas Programme, Pons and interlocutors explored ways to strengthen strategic partnerships to better address growing environmental and development related challenges in the Mediterranean region. Among the priorities identified were co-operation on water issues, biodiversity protection, and environmental pollution, including curbing plastic waste.
Accompanied by OSCE PA Director for Economic and Environmental Security Marco Bonabello, Pons met with UNEP/MAP Coordinator Tatjana Hema and other officials, with the sides discussing the OSCE PA’s recent joining of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development, which operates within the UNEP/MAP as a multi-stakeholder advisory body to promote sustainable development policies in the Mediterranean region. The OSCE PA’s membership in the MCSD was adopted at the Conference of the Parties of the Barcelona Convention in Antalya, Turkey, in December 2021, and today’s meetings were intended to facilitate co-ordination between the PA and the UNEP/MAP.
The PA delegation also met with Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou, Chair of the Special Permanent Committee on Environmental Protection at the Hellenic Parliament, and Greek Minister of Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas. In these meetings, discussions focused on strategies to address the energy crisis, as well as the need to boost renewable sources to promote energy security across the OSCE area.
The sides also discussed the impact of the war in Ukraine on citizens in terms of energy costs, high inflation and rising costs for food. Limiting the social costs of the ongoing crisis should be the priority, they said, while implementing strategies to promote energy diversification and transition to renewables.
