​On 26 July all 36 contact points of the regional hubs network received their questionnaire for the network's second consultation via EU Survey. The topic is the EU's air quality policy. 

 

​​​​​​​In 2019, 137 sub-recommendations - i.e., single recommendations included in the broader CSRs as numbered by the Commission - were either directly/indirectly addressed to LRAs or had a territorial impact, up from 120 in 2018. ​These CSRs, which we call "territory-related", represent 62% of all CSRs. This and other findings of the CoR's territorial analysis of the 2019 confirm the key role of EU cities and regions in delivering on the CSRs, and the need to involve them as partners in designing the National Reform Programmes.  

Envisaged budgetary cuts and centralisation still risk jeopardising the capacity of 2021-27 European Structural and Investment (ESI) funds to reduce gaps and spread sustainable and inclusive growth across the EU. The partners of the #CohesionAlliance – an EU wide alliance in favour of a strong cohesion policy after 2020 –discussed how to overcome such risks in a debate with newly appointed members of the European Parliament, held at the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 10 July.  

​The needs of Europe's coal regions in the context of the EU's energy transition were at the top of the agenda of the European Committee of the Regions' (CoR) commission for economic policy (ECON) on 9 July in Brussels. In an opinion drawn up by Mark Speich, Secretary of State for Federal, European and International Affairs from North Rhine Westphalia, ECON members called for adjusted state aid rules and additional funding for affected regions in the framework of cohesion policy 2021-2027. 

The city of Ramallah and the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities on 30 June hosted a meeting of the executive board of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), to discuss how cities and regions can collaborate to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Local and regional leaders, working together in the context of the Union for the Mediterranean, also considered ways to develop the blue economy in the Mediterranean and to deepen integration and economic relations between local and regional authorities throughout the Mediterranean.