Medjimurje Energy Agency Ltd. held a meeting with regional officials from Medjimurje County related to the development and implementation of Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) for local governments located in Medjimurje region.
As part of the CEESEU project activities, Medjimurje Energy Agency Ltd. (MENEA) organized on October 20th 2022 a meeting with regional public officials from Medjimurje County – a regional government located in the northern part of Croatia. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the topic related to the creation and implementation of Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans – SECAPs for local governments in Medjimurje county.
During the first part of the meeting, employees from MENEA presented the CEESEN – Central and Eastern European Sustainable Energy Network in order to familiarize the representatives from Medjimurje County with the network’s vision, mission and activities. After the introductory words on the CEESEN network, the participants discussed the possibility of MENEA becoming a member of this network and since the vision and the mission of the network correspond to the work that MENEA deals with on daily basis, the head of the administrative department for international cooperation, project management and investments at Medjimurje County stated that Medjimurje County supports the idea. Accordingly, she will discuss the final decision with Medjimurje County Prefect.
In the second part of the meeting, the CEESEU project with a focus on established cooperation with Croatian-associated municipalities – Municipality of Nedelišće and Municipality of Sveti Juraj na Bregu was presented which opened a discussion on the groundwork for future collaboration with Medjimurje County in Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) development and implementation at the regional level. Medjimurje County as the regional authority will provide their support in encouraging municipalities to develop SECAPs because currently there is a weak interest from the municipalities to develop such documents at the local level. Medjimurje County representatives stated that local energy and climate planning is a crucial step before investments are in place because they help in identifying the needs and setting priorities in the implementation of energy and climate-related projects which are relevant for the communities.
Since MENEA plans to organize local workshops within the CEESEU project for local and regional officials in order to raise their capacities in developing and implementing SECAPs, Medjimurje County will help in the promotion of the events and encourage local governments to participate in the events and raise their knowledge and recognize the benefits which SECAPs could provide for their local development.