Isabelle Boudineau (PES/FR), Vice-President of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region in charge of European and international affairs was re-elected President of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER) at the Committee's constitutive meeting on 13 February. She will chair the COTER commission's work for the next 2.5 years.

Portugal's Prime Minister António Costa champions economic and social convergence, while CoR threatens legal action to prevent diversion of money from regions to national governments

Modernising the European road transport sector in an efficient, sustainable and socially fair way was at the heart of the discussion of two opinions adopted during the European Committee of the Region's (CoR) plenary session on 1 February. The opinions are based on the European Commission's initiative "Europe on the Move", which aims to help the transport sector to stay competitive in a socially fair transition towards clean energy and digitalisation.

Portugal's Prime Minister António Costa, Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, and the European Commission's First Vice-President, Frans Timmermans, will share their views on the future of the European Union with regional and local leaders in separate debates on 31 January and 1 February. Their speeches will be the political centrepieces of the European Committee of the Regions' (CoR) first plenary in 2018, during which the EU's assembly of local and regional politicians will also set out its views on the future EU budget as well as – amongst others – the EU's cohesion and mobility policy.