This Wednesday, a new city was born in the South. The Eurocity Ayamonte-Vila Real de Santo António was officially created yesterday in a ceremony that took place on the main link between the two cities, the River Guadiana, and opens new doors for the cross-border cooperation between the two councils.
The mayors of the Portuguese and Spanish cities yesterday signed a collaboration protocol, where the first lines of action of the new Eurocity were agreed, taking into account the historical, cultural and commercial ties of the two cities.
This centuries-old link between VRSA and Ayamonte was, moreover, highlighted by the various participants in the ceremony. In other words, to a certain extent, the creation of the Eurocity and the formalization of a relationship that has existed for a long time. The substantial difference is that the relationship becomes official, with the opportunities that this brings.
In addition to opening the possibility of accessing specific community funds through joint applications, the first Eurocity in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (there are two more in the north, on the border between Portugal and Spain) will allow citizens on both sides of the border to enjoy equipment and services on the opposite side as if they were locals.
The economy will also benefit, those responsible for the two municipalities believe, as this will allow "to join efforts, points of view, cultures and institutional ties", according to the mayor of Vila Real de Santo António Luís Gomes.
«Although we are signing this document today, for over a month we have been working together on a concrete action plan», revealed the Portuguese mayor. A strategy that will take into account "the reality that the two countries are going through" and which will be based "on concrete actions that promote this Eurocity and project it at an international level".
Gaining dimension is, moreover, one of the bases for this type of cross-border agreement. It is also the first of five concepts that the Secretary of State for Local Administration Paulo Simões Júlio, present at the ceremony, considered that should underlie the creation of Eurocities.
In addition to the territorial dimension, Paulo Júlio stressed the need for a "complementarity" of services and offers, a "strategic vision around resources", "networking" and "leadership", so that what is on paper is transferred to the ground.
Earlier, the mayor of Ayamonte António Rodriguez Castillo had already considered that “the kick-off for an exciting project had been given moments ago” and that there was hope of the populations on both sides of the border that “this is a moment of join efforts to improve their living conditions”.
For the Andalusian mayor, Ayamonte and VRSA "have been an example to follow in terms of cross-border cooperation, especially in recent years", namely since the accession of Portugal and Spain to the Schengen Area, which abolished the borders between the two countries.
Announcement of the desilting of the Guadiana was «the big news of the day»
The end of the afternoon was dedicated to formalizing the Eurocity Ayamonte-Vila Real de Santo António (Euro AAA), but the «great news of the day», in the view of Luís Gomes, was the announcement by the president of the Algarve-Alentejo Euroregion- Andalusia that there are financial conditions to move towards the removal of a large part of the Lower Guadiana and that it intends to carry out the work this year.
The mayor of VRSA thanked “the gift of the day of the Kings” and said that a few days before he had been meeting with businessmen from his municipality and that the navigability of the Guadiana had been one of his main demands.
“It is unacceptable that a river with the potential of the Guadiana has been asphyxiated for decades. I don't believe that there are many countries that, having a river like this, can abandon it and its resources», considered Luís Gomes.
On the sidelines of the session, David Santos, also chairman of the Algarve Regional Development Coordination Commission, confirmed that the funds exist, as a result of the approval of Euro AAA candidacies for community funds, but was more cautious about the dates, as it is necessary that the environmental authorities on both sides of the border sit at the same table, so that it is possible to move forward with the work.
Even so, he reaffirmed his belief that the work can advance and be completed during 2013, as he had done before during the ceremony, at least in the section between Foz do Guadiana and Alcoutim. "Even Pomarão will be more difficult," he admitted.
At issue is an intervention “which is not very heavy” and therefore not very costly. David Santos preferred not to advance values, as the intervention's base of incidence has yet to be defined, but he guaranteed that what is at stake «is the removal of sand from specific points of the river and the marking», in other words, the marking of a waterway via buoys.
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