Populism, nationalism, disinformation, hate speech and conspiracy theories are widespread in the European public and political sphere, which is leading to polarisation and intolerance. The deterioration of fundamental rights in one Member State has a negative impact across the EU. Therefore, in the 8th meeting of the CIVEX Commission, members welcomed the European Commission's initiative on the European Democracy Action Plan (EDAP) and adopted an opinion that puts forward a set of proposals for tackling disinformation and hate speech, as well as for promoting media literacy and critical thinking, including the setting up of a European agency linked with the CoR. The members also pointed out that local and regional leaders can play an important role in strengthening citizenship, as they are the closest authorities to citizens and the ones that aremost trusted, according to the EU annual regional and local barometer published in October 2020 .

The new European Commission (EC) communication on Better regulation: Joining forces to make better laws sets the scene for better law-making in the European Union and enhances the EC's commitment to make its policymaking processes more transparent, inclusive and efficient. The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) welcomes that the Commission commits to involve local and regional authorities more effectively along the entire policy-cycle, and that it acknowledges the need to develop a territorially sensitive approach to legislation.

Τα μέλη της επιτροπής «Ιθαγένεια, διακυβέρνηση, θεσμικές και εξωτερικές υποθέσεις» (CIVEX) της ΕτΠ εξέτασαν με τους εκπροσώπους του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου, Antonio Tajani και Helmut Scholz, δυνητικούς τρόπους συμμετοχής του ενός εκατομμυρίου τοπικών και περιφερειακών πολιτικών σε έργα και πρωτοβουλίες που μπορούν να φέρουν την Ευρώπη εγγύτερα στους πολίτες και να συμβάλουν στην επιτυχία της Διάσκεψης για το μέλλον της Ευρώπης. Ζήτησαν, ειδικότερα, τη συμμετοχή των μελών της ΕτΠ στο πιλοτικό έργο «Οικοδόμηση της Ευρώπης μαζί με τις τοπικές οντότητες» (BELE) που εγκαινιάστηκε από την Επιτροπή Συνταγματικών Υποθέσεων (AFCO) του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου.

The second plenary meeting of the Fit for Future (F4F) Platform for better and less burdensome EU legislation chaired by European Commission’s Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maroš Šefčovič took place on 4 March with three CoR members Mark Speich (DE/EPP), Anne Karjalainen (FI/PSE) and Ulrika Landergren (SE/RE) and 27 representatives of EU Member States. Purpose of the meeting was to discuss and agree on the annual work programme of the Platform and its rules of procedures. The CoR advocated for having topics in the work programme in the fields of public procurement, ambient air quality legislation, cross-border healthcare and state aid legislation. All these proposals were taken up by the Platform.