The Italian Chamber of Deputies hosted the 7th plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (UFM) on Thursday the 3rd and Friday the 4th of March. The meeting was jointly chaired by the President of the Chamber, Gianfranco Fini and the President of the Senate, Renato Schifani.
The Assembly includes Parliament representatives from the 27 member states of the European Union, from the European Parliament, from the Parliament of the ten southern Mediterranean countries belonging to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership (Algeria, Palestinian National Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) and from the Parliaments of the other six countries in the UFM (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Mauritania, Monaco and Montenegro).
The Assembly's five commissions (for political affairs, security and human rights; for the promotion of quality of life, exchanges in civil society and culture; for the rights of women in the Mediterranean; the economic and financial commission for social affairs and education, and the commission for the environment, energy and water) met on Thursday March 3.
The meeting of the office of the presidency followed at 18:00, in Montecitorio's Sala della Lupa, and was attended by the Presidents of both Italian Chambers, the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, the President of Morocco's Chamber of Representatives, Abdelwahad Radi, and the representative of the Parliament of Jordan, Abdul Hadi Majali.
Talks in the plenary session opened on Friday with an inaugural session dedicated to the Union for the Mediterranean and developments in the situation in the region, and was attended by Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, and by the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Philippe Maystadt. Three themed sessions followed, dedicated respectively to policies for immigration and integration, the protection of the environment in the Mediterranean area and financial instruments for the region's development.
The meetings ended with Italy handing over the Presidency of the UFM's Parliamentary Assembly to Morocco.
During the meeting, the president Capasso congratulated with the friend Abdelwahed Radi, remembering the role of Fondazione Mediterraneo on the birth of the PA-UfM.
On Friday 4 March 2011 at 12: 20 a.m., in the Sala Vesuvio at the seat of the Fondazione Mediterraneo – “Maison de la Paix” (130, Via Depretis, Naples – 4th floor ), the official programme of the initiatives to be held in Turin for the 150th Anniversary of the Italian Unity was presented.
On 2 March 2011 Michele Capasso, president of Fondazione Mediterraneo met the president of the Moroccan Parliament Abdelwahed Radi in Rome and the mayor of Turin Sergio Chiamparino in Naples, playing the role of “carrier” of the Totem for Peace.