Trade effects of Brexit likely to become clearer only after 1 October, senior EU official tells EU and UK local and regional politicians at meeting that puts spotlight on Northern Ireland and Gibraltar. Movement across the United Kingdom's borders with Ireland and Spain were central issues discussed at a meeting of British and EU local and regional politicians that focused on connections at risk of being lost by the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

In two letters addressed to Maria do Céu Antunes , Minister for Agriculture of Portugal, who is holding the rotating Presidency of the Council, and to Janusz Wojciechowski , Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) call on the co-legislators to ensure a comprehensive and common European approach to the governance of regional interventions in the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The letters were sent ahead of the Agriculture Council's meeting (26 April) and ahead of a new round of negotiations between the European Union's Institutions on the future CAP. The Agriregions Coalition, AREFLH, AREPO and Euromontana have joined the claims of the CoR.

De omvang van de reserve voor aanpassing aan de brexit verhogen van 5 naar 6 miljard euro; de steun voor de visserij aanpassen aan de regionale impact; meer flexibiliteit bieden met betrekking tot staatssteun en lokale en regionale vertegenwoordigers betrekken bij het ontwerp en het beheer van het nieuwe instrument. Dit zijn de belangrijkste verzoeken in het advies van Loïg Chesnais-Girard (FR/PSE), voorzitter van de regioraad van Bretagne, dat is goedgekeurd door de voltallige vergadering van het Europees Comité van de Regio’s (CvdR).

Charles Michel, President of the European Council, will on 17 March make his first address to the European Committee of the Regions, starting a plenary session that will bring into focus local and regional perspectives on policies to end the COVID-19 pandemic and to promote a green and inclusive economic recovery. Four European Commissioners will lead debate about COVID-19 vaccinations and building resilience in EU's regions, the economic recovery package, the Green Deal, and integration of migrants. An award to honour the memory of Paweł Adamowicz, late mayor of Gdańsk, will be launched and the winners of the European Entrepreneurial Region Award will be announced.