Climate change is having wide-ranging impacts on ecosystems, economic sectors, human health and well-being in Europe. From 1980 to 2016, the total reported economic losses caused by weather and other climate-related extremes in Europe amounted to over EUR 436 billion, according to the European Commission. In this interview, Markku Markkula (FI/EPP) answers four questions on climate adaptation. The Chair of Espoo City Board and President of the Helsinki Region is the rapporteur of a draft opinion on climate adaptation to be adopted at the next plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions on 8, 9 and 10 December 2020. 

Wednesday 25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On this occasion, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has reiterated its call to adopt legislative measures at EU level to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women and girls. According to the United Nation database by September 2020, 48 countries had integrated prevention and response to violence against women and girls into their COVID-19 response plans, and 121 countries had adopted measures to strengthen services for women survivors of violence during the global crisis. 

The European Committee of the Regions has given its preliminary backing to a set of recommendations aimed at ensuring that the European Union embraces agro-ecological principles and techniques in its efforts to reduce agriculture's contribution to climate change, secure the EU's food supplies, and support rural communities. 

To strengthen Europe's knowledge base at local and regional level and to support the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) will step up its cooperation with European Commission's services in the field of research and innovation, education and culture. A new Action Plan signed between the two institutions aims to provide regions and cities with the latest data and knowledge and to help them tackle innovation divide and brain drain, address educational inequalities and deliver EU's political priorities, such as the Green Deal. 

​​​The current EU budget and recovery plan impasse, the ongoing trilogue negotiations on the cohesion policy package 2021-2027 and the need to establish cohesion as a fundamental value for rural areas are keeping the demands of the #CohesionAlliance relevant. It is time for another push! 

​​With over 11 million infected people and more than 270,000 dead in Europe the pandemic crisis highlighted the essential role of all regional, intermediate, and local authorities in delivering public services as close to citizens as possible. They manage all the necessary sanitary actions at the local level such as quarantine measures and contact tracing.