Members of CoR delegation back Albanian accession to EU, but stress need for sustained improvements.

The European Union needs to increase support for cities and regions and border countries that are on the front line of managing migration, the European Committee of the Regions said on 22 March. The EU's assembly for local and regional politicians expressed particular concern about the challenges faced by islands and coastal regions in the Mediterranean and called for greater shared European responsibility and investment.

On 22 March Dimitris Avramopoulos, European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, will discuss progress of the European Union's migration agenda with local and regional politicians, many of whom host refugees and new arrivals from the Middle East and North Africa. The migration debate kicks off the European Committee of the Regions' plenary session in Brussels that will also focus on the EU's possible enlargement to the Western Balkans. Johannes Hahn, the EU's Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiation, will participate in the debate.

Leaders of the European Union need to step up their support for cities and regions dealing with the large numbers of refugees and migrants and to recognise that European cities and regions contribute to the management of migration beyond the EU's borders, the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 21 June told a high-level conference on migration hosted by Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament.