Moderator & Keynote speaker:
Elsa Nunes [IrRADIARE – Natural Heritage Mission]
Panelists:
Sophie Scarvelis [Interreg Euro-MED Programme]
Raquel Soares Lourenço [Mayor of Sobral de Monte Agraço, Portugal]
Valentina Muñoz [Sciaena – Partner of the INCOREMED Thematic Project]
Olga Bertran [ISE Temia – Palestine]
Agenda here.
On November 27th, more than 37 participants from across the Mediterranean joined the Interreg Euro-MED cross mission webinar “Stay by Choice, Not by Chance – Unlocking smart and green solutions for thriving Mediterranean Communities and Territories”, organised under the European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC 2025). The webinar allowed participants to come together, addressing interesting topics and adding value to the sessions testifying their own experience.
During the webinar, results from the participation of the 4 EURO-MED Missions in the stand of EWRC 2025 in Brussels were shared.
Answers were sought, to predominant questions such as the following:
- Question 1: “From your experience building a local business in a coastal territory, what conditions made it possible for you to stay — and what would have made it easier for others your age to do the same?”
- Question 2: “How can place-based cooperation across borders help regions retain their people — and what are the biggest blind spots or policy gaps we still need to address to make the ‘right to stay’ a reality?”
- Question 3: “In your view, what does ‘the right to stay’ mean for people in territories shaped by crisis or marginalisation — and how can communities themselves co-create the services and spaces they need to thrive?”
- Question 4: “Would you give one/two concrete examples of tangible results achieved through those projects that demonstrate the impact on your territory?”
Sophie Scarvelis, from Interreg Euro-MED Programme highlighted that the program brings together 870 partners across 69 regions in 14 countries, creating a network of trust and knowledge. It showcased that the program drives innovation in sustainable economy, sustainable tourism, natural heritage, and green living areas with a focus on the territories. Also staying by choice not by chance means that every initiative starts with local needs and ends with tangible benefits for citizens.
Olga Bertran, from the B-HUB at Birzeit University in Palestine, delivered a captivating speech, as her angle touched base with the most fundamental human right, the right to “life”. The way she put it, “most Palestinians want to stay by choice, but they are not given the chance”. This perspective clearly differentiates the deliberate decision most people make to live in a particular place, from that taken away from people in times of war! She stressed that “Palestinians are currently facing a different reality, whereby they are being denied the basic prerequisite to choose where to live, they are denied the right to live in their own land”. Several challenges were laid out, such as no border control, no fiscal policy, rising poverty and transaction costs. Furthermore, labor and brain drain, growing inaccessibility in education, and families displaced were also mentioned.
Among others, Olga explained tools, actions and challenges to implement and overcome as an anchor to staying:
- Community Entrepreneurship – Providing full business and technical support
- Circular and Green Products’ Design
- Building Pools of expertise based on mentors
- Crisis marketing
- Stepping Stones programme
- Reducing Operational Costs
The strongest pillars for keeping living in Palestine were education, economic opportunities, health and cross border cooperation.
Raquel Soares Lourenco, Mayor of Sobral de Monte Agraco in Portugal, delivered a vivid speech, full of optimism, inviting the young generation to live and enjoy the city of Sobral de Monte Agraco. She outlined the predominant challenges of sustainability for attracting people to the municipality. Issues tackled were summarised as follows:
- Increasing youth participation
- Creating teaching materials and structured support spaces
- Boosting business attraction, innovation and circular economy
- Expanding and investing in Ecotourism and green entrepreneurship
- Creating a Municipal Observatory for Adaptation to Climate Change
The importance of the local river was also presented as a strong point towards enhancing the ecosystem value, strengthening the community and revisiting the municipal climate adaptation plan.
In essence, innovation was recognized as a criticality to live and work in the city, but also a motivation for visiting Sobral de Monte Agraço.
Valentina Munoz, from SCIAENA a Non Governmental Organisation in Portugal, shared her professional experience in collaboration with communities and people using the case of Culatra Island. The case that was presented emphasised in the importance of balancing all interests, and weighing factors in the specific region. Matters at stake were the economy of fisheries, the preservation of the natural habitat and ocean environments, tourism and local businesses, and of course policy considerations to match multistakeholders’ needs (economic, social, environmental and administrative issues). The approach was both bottom up and top down expanding around pillars such as action, monitoring and results.
