On 9th March 2022, the members of the European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) gathered in a hybrid form for the Annual General Assembly. The two main items on the agenda were the evaluation of ECRN activities in 2021 and the adoption of the Action Plan for 2022.
ECRN President, Minister Fabrizio Sala (Lombardy), chaired the Assembly remotely, while the two ECRN vice-presidents, Minister Stephan Satjin (Limburg) and Director Marcin Wajda (Mazovia), were both able to attend in person.
The Assembly also welcomed the representatives of the new affiliated member of ECRN, the West Pomerania Chemical Cluster “Green Chemistry”, President Jacek Drozdal and vice-president Przemysław Wojdyla. Importantly, Mr. Wojdyla presented his candidacy to become the new Treasurer of ECRN, which was unanimously approved by the Assembly.
Moving to the evaluation of ECRN activities, in 2021 the Network multiplied its efforts to consolidate its position and visibility in Brussels, increasing its presence on the social media and organizing a number of successful events throughout the year. These included the conference “Circular Chemical Industries for Zero Pollution in EU Regions” during the European Green Week and the conference “EU Regions as Key Players in the Transition to the Sustainable & Circular Chemical Sector” during the 1st Global Sustainable Chemistry Week.
ECRN also renewed its advocacy activities with position papers and several contributions to open consultations, in order to convey the messages of the European chemical regions on relevant EU policy and legislative initiatives, including the new Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.
Looking ahead to 2022, the Assembly agreed on three priority topics:
- Waste shipment and management;
- Bridging the skills gap in the chemical industry;
- Reshoring basic chemicals production.
At the same time, ECRN will step up its participation in EU projects, starting with the Horizon Europe project SYSCHEMIQ, which is currently in the Grant Agreement phase. ECRN has also been invited to join two additional project proposals under Horizon Europe and Erasmus+.
The underlying objective and the mission of ECRN is to strengthen and expand a valuable network of partners in Brussels and all over Europe, to make the voice of chemical regions heard at the European level.
