While the EU Heads of State and Governments are meeting in Brussels to review the state of play of the economic recovery, the results of a new study commissioned by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) unveil the lack of involvement of local and regional authorities in the preparation and implementation of National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs). The study was presented during the meeting of the CoR's Commission for Economic Policy (ECON) . ECON Members have also voiced serious concern that the inadequate attention to territorial disparities displayed by the plans and the insufficient coordination with cohesion policy targets bear the risk of overlapping funds.

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.

A group of officials and technical experts from a diverse set of Libya's leading coastal cities visited Galicia in mid-July on a study visit intended to advance the development of a local fisheries industry in Libya, complementing a project already launched with the support of the European Committee of the Regions and the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.