President of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas delivers speech on behalf of the 1 million regionally and locally elected politicians and the 300 regions and 90.000 municipalities of Europe.

​​The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe met today to prepare its contribution to the inaugural meeting of the Plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe to take place on 19 June in Strasbourg. The delegates wish to seize the opportunity presented by the Conference to strengthen the democratic dimension of the European Union and to restore citizens' trust in the European project. The CoR, as representative EU body of the level of government that is closest to citizens, is committed to bringing to the Conference the voices of local and regional authorities.

We, the members of the Bureau of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), call on the Belarusian authorities to ensure the respect of fundamental values, human rights and freedoms, and we strongly condemn all violence, repression and arrests of peaceful protesters.

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted a resolution on 2 July setting out its three priorities for the next five years. The political assembly aims to make the European Union more resilient, sustainable and cohesive, by strengthening the involvement of involving regions and cities in EU policy-making and implementation.