​On 8 October at the opening session of the European Week of Regions and cities, the EA President and member of the Flemish parliament, Karl Vanlouwe called on the EU to fully comply with the subsidiarity principle and take decisions at the appropriate level of governance. Addressing Commission President Juncker he said that "the subsidiarity principle, the principle that should ensure that legislation is applied at right level, closest to the citizens, seems to be applied only as far as the Member State level. We need mechanisms enabling regions, especially those with legislative powers, to have a greater say in EU decisions.

In his speech he also referred to the current situation in Catalonia and underlined that in some case, central governments even suppress powers, autonomy and freedom of subnational governments and their elected representatives. "It is a shame that in Europe there are again political prisoners and democratically elected leaders in exile who cannot return home simply because they have acted in accordance with their people wish and aspirations".