Local and regional leaders reaffirmed their readiness
to develop a Network of Regional and Local EU
Councillors to reinforce citizens' engagement via the
over one million local and regional leaders across
Europe.
Local and regional leaders held today a debate with
Dubravka Šuica, European Commission Vice-President
for Democracy and Demography. The members of the
European Committee of the Regions' (CoR) praised
the role the Commission is playing in making sure
that the voice of regions, cities and villages are
represented in an adequate manner within the
Conference. They reiterated their call to ensure
that the debate on Europe's future reaches citizens
through local and regional authorities, responding
to their demands.
During his
opening speech
,
Apostolos Tzitsikostas
,
President of the European Committee of the Regions and
Governor of the Greek Region of Central Macedonia,
said:
“I thank Vice-President Šuica for her hard work as
Co-Chair of the Conference on the Future of Europe
and for her support to all EU regional and local
leaders. With each and every action that she
undertakes, she is clearly proving that she is one
of our best friend in Brussels. All regional and
local delegates will work hard for the success of
the Conference to bring Europe closer to its
people.”
Dubravka Šuica
, the European Commission's Vice-President for
Democracy and Demography stated: "Without the
involvement and dedication of the Committee of the
Regions, the Conference could not fulfil its
potential in reaching out to every citizen, from
the mountains to the islands.
The CoR’s commitment to “Bringing Europe closer to
its people” and to reinforcing European democracy
at all levels of government, and most importantly
from the very roots, is instrumental to making
democracy fit for the future.”
Vasco Alves Cordeiro (PT/PES)
, First Vice-President of the European Committee of the
Regions and Member of the Azores Regional Parliament,
Cordeiro said: “
The issue of dialogue with citizens cannot be just
an exercise that ends with Conference on the Future
of Europe. This dialogue brings an enlightened and
informed exercise of citizenship and must continue
after the Conference. The former President of the
Committee, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, presented the idea
of permanent structured dialogue with citizens.
This project, together with the role of the
Committee of the Regions and also the possibility
of treaty changes, are questions that will need to
be answered the day the Conference ends."
Taking part in all formats of the Conference Plenary,
the CoR delegation's work is to:
- provide written contributions with support of the
High Level Group on European Democracy
, an independent advisory body of seven wise men and
women chaired by former European Council President
Herman van Rompuy whose mission is to support the CoR's
political and institutional role by providing strategic
political analysis with focus on local and regional
aspects.
- organise dialogues and debates in their constituency
and report back about these dialogues.
- build alliances of like-minded delegates in the
Conference to jointly promote recommendations that are
of relevance to regions, cities and villages across the
EU.
- mobilise its networks like the associations of local
and regional authorities across the EU,
the network of former CoR members
and
the newly launched network of EU local
councillors
in order to encourage local and regional politicians to
organise citizens' debates The results of these
consultations will be reported at the Conference
Plenary.
All of the CoR's contributions to the Conference, will
feed into a report to be presented at the
9th European Summit of Regions and Cities
in Marseille on 3-4 March 2022.
Background:
The
Conference on the Future of Europe
(CoFoE) was launched on 9 May 2021. It is consultation
exercise and a unique opportunity for citizens to
express their views about the future European Union.
The CoR is represented on the Conference's Executive
Board by the President, and at the Conference's Plenary
by a
delegation
of 30 representatives. Their objective in the plenary
sessions of the Conference is to reach out to the other
420 delegates to strengthen the role of local and
regional authorities in the democratic functioning of
the European Union and to promote the territorial
dimension of EU policies.
Here
is an overview of what matters to EU regions and cities
on the nine topics of discussion of the Conference.
Contact:
Ella Huber
Tel. +32 2 284 24 18
ella.huber@cor.europa.eu
Marie-Pierre Jouglain
Tel. +32 (0) 473 52 41 15
mariePierre.Jouglain@cor.europa.eu