Representatives of Europe's local and regional authorities have again voiced their concerns over the lack of sub-national involvement in the implementation, further planning and evaluation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans. In an opinion drafted by Rob Jonkman (NL/ECR), Alderman of the municipality of Opsterland, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) underlines that local and regional authorities are responsible for more than half of public investment in the EU and that the objectives of the EU's €750 billion recovery package Next Generation EU can't be reached without their involvement. The opinion was adopted by the CoR's Commission for Economic Policy (ECON) on Wednesday following a debate with Maarten Verwey, European Commission's Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN).

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.

While countries across Europe are seeing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, EU cities and regions are engaged in a continuous cooperation to keep the Green Deal at the heart of the recovery. Direct access to EU funds as to deliver the Green Deal and a just transition locally remain the top priority for local and regional authorities across the EU.

​The role of EU Regions is crucial in designing the new industrial strategy for a greener Europe , the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) points out in an opinion drafted by Jeannette Baljeu (NL/RE) , Member of the Council of the Province of Zuid-Holland . The opinion calls for a reinforced place-based dimension in the new EU Industrial Strategy. This could allow regions and cities, as the governments closest to citizens and ecosystems, to take ownership of the twin green and digital transitions of their industry.