” The European Committee of the Regions stands ready to
sign and endorse the Joint Declaration of the
Conference on the Future of Europe, on behalf of all 1
million locally and regionally elected leaders,
representing the vote of the citizens living in 300
regions and over 90.000 municipalities.
I welcome the reference in the Joint Declaration to the
regions and cities, and to the regional and national
parliaments. We are prepared to start our work, via our
political and local dialogues, to ensure that the
Conference goes beyond capital cities.
We recently established a High-Level Group on Democracy
led by President Herman van Rompuy. We will team-up
with the business sector and the civil society, with
the territorial European and national associations,
with the European Movement International and the
European Youth Forum, amongst others. Our foreseen
local dialogue on 9th of May will mark the territorial
dimension of the conference. In addition to our many
Local Dialogues across Europe, we will organize a
regional and local Summit during the French Presidency.
As Governors, Presidents of Regions, Mayors we have
been at the forefront, fighting the pandemic, and now
we are ready to start the recovery. Today Europe and
its people need trust and leadership and the Conference
must enable this.
This Conference is not an objective per se. Our common
goal must be to honestly engage with people, and in
particular with the young people. We want less
institutional complexity and bureaucracy. We want a
better democratic representation of people’s trust via
their vote in the European, national, regional and
local elections. Let’s reinforce our common House of
European Democracy by strengthening its roof – the EU,
its walls – our Member States, and its foundations -
the regions, cities and villages.
Let’s bring Europe closer to people.”
President's Spokesperson:
Michele Cercone
Tel. +32 (0)498 98 23 49
Michele.Cercone@cor.europa.eu