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 .

Člani komisije Evropskega odbora regij (OR) za državljanstvo, upravljanje ter institucionalne in zunanje zadeve (CIVEX) so s predstavnikoma Evropskega parlamenta Antoniom Tajanijem in Helmutom Scholzem razpravljali o tem, kako vključiti milijon lokalnih in regionalnih politikov v projekte in pobude, ki lahko Evropo približajo ljudem in prispevajo k uspehu konference o prihodnosti Evrope. Pri tem so zlasti pozvali k sodelovanju članov OR v pilotnem projektu „Building Europe with Local Entitites“ (BELE), pobudi odbora Evropskega parlamenta za ustavne zadeve (AFCO).

Evropski odbor regij je skupaj z Mednarodno mrežo mest zatočišč in mestom Gdansk ter ob navzočnosti komisarke za notranje zadeve Ylve Johansson danes napovedal ustanovitev nagrade župana Paweła Adamowicza. Nagrada, poimenovana po županu Gdanska in članu OR, ki je bil umorjen leta 2019, bo počastila tiste, ki se borijo za svobodo in solidarnost ter proti nestrpnosti, zatiranju in ksenofobiji.

Local and regional politicians from the European Union voiced short-term relief mixed with long-term caution and concern at their first meeting with UK counterparts since the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement was settled on 24 December. Politicians from both the EU and the United Kingdom emphasised a wish to develop new ties in the wake of an agreement that ended most region-to-region programmes and envisages no role for regions in overseeing and developing the deal.