The forward-looking analysis carried out on the Metropolitan Marseille Area (November 2001) with the backing of the European Commission’s Regional DG, made it possible to propose the conditions and tools required to make the role and the position of Marseille and the MMA legible in the Europe of tomorrow. At a time when Europe is expanding to the East, the voice of a metropolis from the South, a traditional city that stands for dialogue, cultural diversity, sharing and solidarity, must make itself heard.
The city of Marseille must become a key player in the implementation of the Barcelona Process, the only framework making it possible to maintain dialogue and cooperation in all countries from the region, in relation to the EU, national public authorities and civil society. Because Marseille wants to take its destiny in hand and develop with the whole of Europe, the Maghreb region, the Middle East as well as America and China, in-depth dialogue, fruitful cooperation, and renewed solidarity.
By synergising all of the city’s strengths, the ICCM is going to federate the movement whose economic, social and cultural consequences will be considerable. Because this council is making wide use of the intellectual and technical resources of its players, the city of Marseille, energetic and daring, is giving itself the means to achieve its ambition: to be a generator of ideas and initiatives and to become an institutional European capital.
The ICCM is going to make it possible to federate the different energies, chambers of commerce, businesses, associations, universities and sports clubs. Each one of them, in their own way and in their own area of expertise, is contributing to bringing Marseille closer to the rest of the world and the rest of the world closer to Marseille. "Think global, act local" is for many observers the key to success in a world split between globalisation and a desire to maintain identities. With the creation of this International Council, the city of Marseille is giving itself the means required.
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