Important role of local government in reconstruction in spotlight ahead of international Ukraine Recovery Conference. The governments of Ukraine, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and representatives of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the European Commission and the OECD have agreed that continuing Ukraine's pre-war efforts to decentralise government will help to bolster Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction and to drive forward its ambition to join the EU. 

​At a joint debate at the Committee of the Regions' Plenary sitting, the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Vasco Alves Cordeiro, and the newly elected President of the European Economic and Social Committee, Oliver Röpke, underlined their joint commitment for a social Europe that leaves no one behind, ahead of their participation in the Porto Social Forum on Saturday, 27 May, Portugal. 

With nearly 6 million Europeans who have been actively seeking employment for at least a year, long-term unemployment has a significant social impact. Its high cost to society would be offset by providing unemployed people with decent jobs at local level, the European Committee of the Regions underlines in an opinion drafted by Yonnec Polet (BE/PES), Deputy Mayor of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe. The opinion, which was adopted at the plenary session on 25 May, calls for the European Commission to take stock of the success of the Youth Guarantee, to earmark some ESF+ funds for local "zero long-term unemployment" initiatives and to set up ad hoc fund to combat long-term unemployment. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has thanked cities and regions in the European Union for giving shelter to Ukrainians following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He also urged the EU's cities and regions to join the work of ensuring an "effective recovery of Ukraine", saying that "we will recover every ruin that russia brought with its war… to show that our strength – the strength of our Europe – is obvious". 

Przywódcy lokalni i regionalni wzywają Komisję Europejską do opublikowania ram prawnych dotyczących zrównoważonych systemów żywnościowych zgodnie z planem, jeszcze w tym roku, oraz do zapewnienia spójności między różnymi politykami związanymi z żywnością – z zastosowaniem zharmonizowanego podejścia opartego na zrównoważonym rozwoju środowiskowym, społecznym i gospodarczym. Władze lokalne i regionalne pragną również być w pełni zaangażowane w model zarządzania, który ma zostać ustanowiony przez Komisję. Takie są kluczowe postulaty zawarte w opinii w sprawieram prawnych dotyczących zrównoważonych systemów żywnościowychsporządzonej przezJoke Schauvliege(BE/EPL), przyjętej na sesji plenarnej Europejskiego Komitetu Regionów (KR-u) 26 maja. 

Regional and local administrations have a "key" role to play in the European Union's efforts to promote discrimination-free societies, the President of the Committee of the Regions, Vasco Alves Cordeiro, defended in a debate focused on promoting diversity in the EU with EU Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli.