​On 10 October, during the 125th plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions, president of the CoR Karl-Heinz Lambertz delivered the first annual "State of the European Union: the View of Regions and Cities" speech in the presence of the president of the European Council Donald Tusk.

In his speech, Mr Lambertz gave an overview of the current situation in the EU from the perspective of local and regional authorities and outlined some of the main challenges for the coming period which, among others, include EU institutions' efforts to reconnect with citizens, future of the cohesion policy, EU budget and public investment, migration and Brexit.

Addressing the assembly, EA group president Mr Karl Vanlouwe stressed the necessity to have a real devolution of powers within the EU, all the way down to the level closest to the citizens. He said that we must challenge the current model where communication is largely effected between member states and the EU and that the true respect for the principle of subsidiarity means  giving people and their local representatives powers which are already guaranteed on paper by the EU treaties.