The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) calls on the Commission to examine whether the current management of forest issues and the approach to such issues, as well as resources in the EU, are adequate and up-to-date. In an opinion drawn up by member of Lapinlahti Municipal Council Ossi Martikainen (FI/ALDE), the Committee stresses that forests have a key role to play in the development of Europe's bioeconomy and biodiversity, as well as in the transition to a low-carbon, green economy.

The integration of migrants and the respect of fundamental rights and EU values in all Member States will be the centrepieces of two debates at the European Committee of the Regions' (CoR) plenary on 10-11 April. Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, will take part in the launch of the CoR's new "Cities and Regions for Integration" initiative, while Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, will assess current threats to fundamental rights and EU values.

Members of the Commission for Natural Resources (NAT) of the European Committee of the Regions met in Gozo with the blue economy on top of the agenda. With a turnover of €566 billion, EU's blue economy generates 1.3% of total EU GDP and employs 3.5 million people ( EC 2018 ). Additional main points discussed in Gozo include cross-border cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and a new European agenda for the development of maritime industries. Attended by over 100 delegates, the NAT conference and meeting has been organised by Samuel Azzopardi (MT/EPP), President of the Gozo region and Mayor of its capital, Victoria.

​The European Union can do more to communicate the social and economic benefits of forest management to the general public, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) argues in a set of recommendations adopted on 16 May that also emphasise that the sustainable management of forests should be "treated on a par with other measures aimed at reducing CO2 emissions" by the EU.