On 31 May
and 1 June, European Committee of the Regions hosted a number of representatives
of local and regional authorities from Western Balkan countries and Turkey, in
the framework of its annual Enlargement Day.
On 31 May,
members of the European Committee of the Regions and their counterparts from
enlargement countries held four meetings, namely Joint Consultative Committee
meetings with Serbian, Montenegrin and Turkish local authorities, as well as a
meeting of the Working Group on the Western Balkans which, in this edition,
dealt with the situations in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to
general assessments of the enlargement process in each of the respective
countries, and the role of local and regional authorities in it, topics
discussed included sustainable urban development, difficulties in the use of pre-accession
funds, promotion of entrepreneurship and the empowering of local authorities.
During the
Plenary session held on 1 June, the discussion was focused on the dynamics of
the enlargement process and its importance in the stabilisation of the region,
as well as on connectivity and building of transport and energy infrastructure
in the Western Balkans.
Councillor
Hughie McGrath (Tipperary County, Ireland), made closing remarks at the plenary
session in which he called for the meetings with local and regional authorities
from enlargement countries to be practical and show real value to the partners
in the Western Balkans and Turkey. "We need to share our experiences –
both good and bad", he said, adding that "this can be on diverse
subjects, from energy efficiency to recycling; from social policy to creating
local jobs." He concluded by saying that "doing this and linking it
to the European Union's policy will make a real difference."
In addition to Cllr McGrath, for whom this was also the last
meeting as chair of the Joint
Consultative Committee with Montenegro, EA group members who took part in the
meetings include Mr Tadeusz Truskolaski (City of Bialystok, Poland) in the
Joint Consultative Committee with Serbia, Mr Marc Hendrickx (Mechelen,
Flanders) in the Working Group on the Western Balkans, Mr Józef Kotyś
(Opolskie, Poland) in the Working Group on Turkey and Mr Uno Silberg (Kose
Municipality, Estonia) who is a member of the Joint Consultative Committee with
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.