Local and regional authorities can play a critical role in countering hate crime and hate speech, breaking down barriers to reporting incidents of hate crime, and preventing discrimination and exclusion. This is the key message delivered by the European Committee of the Regions during the 30 November plenary session, by adopting recommendations that support the European Commission's proposals to add hate speech and hate crime to the list of crimes recognised in EU policy.  

Better rules and a stronger role for the EU Intellectual Property Office are key to preserving the essence of Europe's cultural and gastronomic heritage, accounting for €74.76 billion in sales 

Islands, rural areas, cross-border and mountain regions need tailor-made measures to keep them attractive, tackle inequalities and thus counter-balance their geographic handicaps, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) states in an opinion drafted by the President of the Corsica Regional Assembly. 

The European Committee of the Regions underlines in its opinion that the EU's ambitious innovation policy goals set in the New Innovation Agenda for Europe can only be achieved by reducing fragmentation among projects and stepping up cooperation in cities and regions between businesses, academia and regional and local authorities. Cities and regions also emphasise the need to set up ERA Hubs, as outlined by the Council of the EU one year ago, in order to speed up the emergence of competitive R&I ecosystems across the EU. 

Urban areas with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants house around 66% of Europe's urban dwellers and play an essential role in making the digital and green transitions happen. For this reason, in an opinion adopted by the European Committee of the Regions at the plenary session of 1 December, regional and local leaders demand targeted financial support for smaller urban areas to ensure a balanced territorial development. 

As inflation and high energy prices continue to mark the political agenda in the European Union, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) advocates for cities and regions, small businesses and households to have direct access to EU technical and financial support to tackle the energy crisis, help vulnerable households and move climate action forward.