​On 20 and 21 September, members of the CoR's CIVEX commission gathered in Athens, Greece for their annual external meeting and conference "Security challenges – Regional and local approaches."

The members had a fruitful exchange of views and experiences in addressing security challenges at the local level with representatives of Greek local authorities, European Commission, academia and Greek Ombudsman, as well as the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

European Alliance Group delegation included Cllr Tony Buchanan from the East Renfrewshire Council in Scotland, as well as three Polish members, Mr Marian Adam Buras, Mayor of Morawica, Mr Stanisław Szwabski from the Gdynia City Council and EA Group's coordinator for the CIVEX commission, Mr Dariusz Wróbel, Mayor of Opole Lubelskie.

Addressing the Commissioner Avramopoulos, Cllr Buchanan said that local and regional authorities can help address underlying causes of terrorism, by helping people establish strong positive relationships within the community and build confidence through community-led activities. Talking about migration and integration, Cllr Buchanan added that local and regional authorities are at the forefront of integration efforts but are often hostages to central governments' decisions which do not pay enough attention to the challenges faced at the local level.

The next meeting of the CIVEX commission will take place in Brussels on 29 November 2018.